Two deliberately incomplete products
I apologize at firsthand if this sounds like a reproach. But I do not understand why nvUltra and MMD Composer are developed as different products. At least for me the only relevant difference is the missing outline in nvUltra and the missing folder indexing in MMD 5. I like to have a Markdown app which contains both features!
-Hermann
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There is certainly a lot of overlap between the two when it comes to the core editor (typing features, syntax highlighting) and the HTML preview. But the purpose of both applications from a design standpoint is quite different.
MultiMarkdown Composer is designed to edit a single text document, usually (but not necessarily) a more complex document with structure (necessitating the interactive TOC outline assistant). It also supports assistants for displaying available reference labels (footnotes, citations, etc.), an assistant for displaying and interacting with CriticMarkup changes, and one for displaying all linked "assets" (e.g. images, etc. that are local files). It can do some more complicated things as well, such as comparing two text file and creating a new file using CriticMarkup to represent the differences. (I have used this to compare two versions of Word Documents I have received from others to ensure that I found all of the differences, for example.)
nvUltra is instead centered around the folder as the "unit of work." It is designed to allow to easily work with many files at the same time. The original Notational Velocity was designed to work with short pieces of text and to very quickly search them to locate/edit the specific note that you wanted. nvUltra adds the ability to view images, PDFs, and any other file that QuickLook supports on your machine. It can quickly search 1000s of files, and can serve as the jumping off point to use those files in their "native" application.
Everyone is different, and has different needs of course. I suspect a large number of people will only need nvUltra as their text files are relatively simple. Some may only need MultiMarkdown Composer as they want to work with single complex files or do more complex things with them, but don't need to work with large folders that require frequent searching. Some (such as myself) need both. I use nvUltra all the time, for a variety of folders. Most of the text files are short and simple, and I edit them directly in nvUltra. But some are more complex and require a bit more from the editor, and I use the "Open In..." functionality to quickly edit those files in Composer. nvUltra contains some other functionality to allow it to serve as a "hub" for your text notes (e.g. URL handlers and AppleScript support for working with Notebooks (folders) as well as the text notes).
Hopefully this helps explain the rationale and design philosophy behind the two products.
Thanks!
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That explains certainly the rationale behind your projects, thank you again. But I have the feeling that you could miss the actual trend of academic writing tools which is represented by products like Marktext, Typora, iAWriter, Ulysses and, most notably, Obsidian. Therefore, I hope for the merger of nvUltra and MMD Composer.
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We'll see. And certainly, there are plans for additional features for both nvUltra and Composer such that they will continue to evolve. But ultimately, users should buy the products that best serve their needs -- for some that will be nvUltra (and/or Composer), and for others it will be another product. And for many, it will likely be a combination of multiple products, each being used when it is most appropriate.
I know my goal is to continue to create software tools that fit my workflow and needs, and include the features I find valuable that don't exist elsewhere. I believe Brett would agree with that (but don't want to speak for him personally.)
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