Anything that makes email development easier is great I guess, but have personally found MJML great for solving the issues you'd run into, and not sure I want yet another abstraction layer on top of that which makes it more limited...
This appears to be a MJML wrapper with a Markdown→HTML converter attached to it. I think generating HTML from code is easier than generating Markdown, since there are many templating tools that understand HTML escaping. And writing HTML is not that hard, especially for your typical emails, so I'm not really sure if this library would be helpful in the long run.
I like the idea of this tool, as writing Markdown for some people is probably easier than HTML. I mean, use whatever floats your boat. I like that this exists.
Great project! And if you don't mind a little workaround and some Python scripting, you can turn a regular Obsidian folder into an automatic outbox. Write markdown, drag, drop, and ship.
I like how you aren't hiding the fact this is MJML under the hood and don't layer complex abstractions over MJML spec like similar projects (cough react email cough).
The devs maintaining MJML deserve so much credit for dealing with Gmail/Outlook's monopoly bullshit and 2007 html.
Nice idea for those who manage content in markdown. I've moved away from putting emails in my codebase, but seems great for founders moving fast.
What about images, links?
Formatted text like bold or underline?
I also prefer plain text, but in most of my emails I talk about technical stuff, or I send transactional emails that require actions, in which case showing buttons is a much better user experience than plain text.
Embedded images aren't really compatible with Markdown. They just aren't. (Oh, syntax for it is defined, all right (in Gruber's implementation, even). But it doesn't really cohere with the rest of Markdown—in the way that Markdown is an opinionated way of formatting your plain text documents so that they can optionally be mechanically translated for typesetting systems that have richer formatting options.)
Any serious Markdown-to-email should probably look like this:
Markdown, formatted as readable plain text (i.e., not the way that GitHub encourages people to treat it as just alternative "lightweight" markup syntax that you just tickle differently when you want the end result to show up how you want; Markdown is supposed to be readable in raw form) and sent as plain text email, no HTML or multipart/alternative in sight
+
A convention of including a special header (or trailer in the message body) that denotes to the mail client, "This is plain text, but it happens to be valid Markdown, and the author wishes to express their intent that it be treated as such, with richer formatting for the recipient (to be overridden at the recipient's desire)."
Every MUA I've used allows the reader to set a font size, so changing font sizes is 100% a feature of plain-text emails. Then they get the link the size they need to read it correctly and it's absolutely easy to read. This here comment is pain text. Is it hard to read this link:
I think the OP app is meant for creating transactional emails (or bulk-send emails like newsletters).
Those templates should account for all types of people and accessibility levels (including things like ADHD, where you need a big red button to click, otherwise you get overwhelmed by a block of text).
Using a URL shortener obviously. But you are right, if they only send plain text, they won't be able to include those 1x1 images at the bottom to track whether you have opened the email. Any sane email client blocks images by default, but whatever.
31 comments:
Anything that makes email development easier is great I guess, but have personally found MJML great for solving the issues you'd run into, and not sure I want yet another abstraction layer on top of that which makes it more limited...
This appears to be a MJML wrapper with a Markdown→HTML converter attached to it. I think generating HTML from code is easier than generating Markdown, since there are many templating tools that understand HTML escaping. And writing HTML is not that hard, especially for your typical emails, so I'm not really sure if this library would be helpful in the long run.
I like the idea of this tool, as writing Markdown for some people is probably easier than HTML. I mean, use whatever floats your boat. I like that this exists.
Also a way to use fewer standards for storage of input and created text.
Markdown is the secret winner of the AI early years.
cries in org-mode
Curious why the CLI function is `mvd` instead of `mdv`?
I hope .md domains do not become a security hole as Markdown raises in popularity...
This reminds me of the infamous dot zip domain and the security chaos that had followed.
Great project! And if you don't mind a little workaround and some Python scripting, you can turn a regular Obsidian folder into an automatic outbox. Write markdown, drag, drop, and ship.
I am working on smth similar markdown reader for humans, not agents - https://mdview.io
Any "HTML emails" get filtered straight into the spam folder here. I think I'm not part of the target audience here.
I like how you aren't hiding the fact this is MJML under the hood and don't layer complex abstractions over MJML spec like similar projects (cough react email cough).
The devs maintaining MJML deserve so much credit for dealing with Gmail/Outlook's monopoly bullshit and 2007 html.
Nice idea for those who manage content in markdown. I've moved away from putting emails in my codebase, but seems great for founders moving fast.
Thanks! I agree - the MJML team has laid so much groundwork and it frankly made this project possible.
I wish people just sent plain text.
What about images, links? Formatted text like bold or underline?
I also prefer plain text, but in most of my emails I talk about technical stuff, or I send transactional emails that require actions, in which case showing buttons is a much better user experience than plain text.
Embedded images aren't really compatible with Markdown. They just aren't. (Oh, syntax for it is defined, all right (in Gruber's implementation, even). But it doesn't really cohere with the rest of Markdown—in the way that Markdown is an opinionated way of formatting your plain text documents so that they can optionally be mechanically translated for typesetting systems that have richer formatting options.)
Any serious Markdown-to-email should probably look like this:
Markdown, formatted as readable plain text (i.e., not the way that GitHub encourages people to treat it as just alternative "lightweight" markup syntax that you just tickle differently when you want the end result to show up how you want; Markdown is supposed to be readable in raw form) and sent as plain text email, no HTML or multipart/alternative in sight
+
A convention of including a special header (or trailer in the message body) that denotes to the mail client, "This is plain text, but it happens to be valid Markdown, and the author wishes to express their intent that it be treated as such, with richer formatting for the recipient (to be overridden at the recipient's desire)."
I don’t want buttons in my emails.
But they are a lot easier to see and click (accessibility, larger hit area).
You could have a larger text instead of a button, but changing font size is also HTML and not plain-text anymore.
Every MUA I've used allows the reader to set a font size, so changing font sizes is 100% a feature of plain-text emails. Then they get the link the size they need to read it correctly and it's absolutely easy to read. This here comment is pain text. Is it hard to read this link:
http://microsoft.com/
I don't think so. I certainly didn't have to resort to HTML to make that link readable and clickable.
I don’t have problems seeing and clicking normal text, thank you very much. I don’t want buttons on my emails.
I think the OP app is meant for creating transactional emails (or bulk-send emails like newsletters).
Those templates should account for all types of people and accessibility levels (including things like ADHD, where you need a big red button to click, otherwise you get overwhelmed by a block of text).
You can just send a link, and the user's client will probably highlight it even if it is plain text.
Yea, but how will they hide all the tracking URLs and base64 encoded PII from you in the email?
Using a URL shortener obviously. But you are right, if they only send plain text, they won't be able to include those 1x1 images at the bottom to track whether you have opened the email. Any sane email client blocks images by default, but whatever.
Yeah, the first example on that site doesn't need any formatting. It just says your code is <code>
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Plain text? Pffft.
Human language is an unnecessary abstraction, just like images.
I wish everyone would communicate in pure Binary.
templates are cool but seems too heavy to land in primary inbox
"Write markdown. Ship emails." - I see a particular group of people interested in this, but they have their tools already.
I think you should probably let that group of people speak for themselves.
I'm in this "group" and see an immediate usefulness of this over what I'm doing now.