Ios

MultiMarkdown on iPad - an update I have updated my list over how well iPad Markdown writing apps handle the more advanced MultiMarkdown rendering. I also added some new apps to the list of the features I tested. Since I wrote the article, a new favourite writing app of mine, Editorial has been added to the list, and also IA Writer which now has MultiMarkdown support. Almost all of the apps on the list supports Dropbox syncing, so writing in one application and rendering it in another that supports the features you need isn’t to hard. And with the enormous potential for scripting provided by Editorial, using x-callback-url schemes to send the text to another app for final rendering is pretty easy. ...

Update: A newer, better version has been created. You can download it here. I use the excellent iPad app Editorial as my preferred text editor. I want to be able to upload images directly from Editorial to WordPress, using xmlrpc, so the images ends up in the media gallery, the files in the correct folders, thumbnails made and a Markdown link with the correct URL is created. So I’ve written a workflow you can download that gives you the ability to select some text (that will be the alt text for the image), and either upload the image in the original size, or resize the width to the dimension you specify. After the image is uploaded, the Markdown image code is inserted. Another good thing is that you have the ability to name the image file, which I haven’t seen in other solutions, like in Poster App, where you get the cryptical iOS internal name of the image. Not so SEO friendly. The easiest solution was to use the wordpress_xmlrpc module, so that needs to be installed before you can use the workflow! but I’ve written a guide about how to install the module/library here. If you forget to install it beforehand, you will get this dialog box with instructions on how to install it if you start the workflow. ...

Importing pipista modules in Editorial Lets face it, the Editorial App is a fantastic text/Markdown editor. It’s incredibly powerful with scripting abilities. But one of the most amazing tool for a power user is the ability to write Python scripts that can do almost anything. There are a lot of modules included with Editorial, but how do you add a library if it’s not included? There is a script for Editorials sister application Pythonista, that makes it easy to add modules, and you can use that for importing libraries to Editorial as well. The script is called Pipista. ...

Update: this problem is solved with iOS 8. Apple has opened up the operating system, so you can install alternative keyboards on your iPhone or iPad. SwiftKey is working on an iOS version. I’m just trying out the app SwiftKey on both my iPad and iPhone and it works very well. I can’t understand why they haven’t implemented an URL scheme though. That way you could use apps like Drafts or Editorial together with SwiftKey, and then send text to and from your favorite editor when your done. Hopefully they will implement it soon. ...

When trying to sync a new iPhone to my Google Apps account it seems that it’s no longer possible to use Exchange push mail, address book and calendar syncing. By signing up for their service for free I paid by letting Google rummage through my mail for later use in targeted advertising. But now they killed yet another service that I come to depend on. My trust in Google is totally gone. Now I have to spend hours setting up a mail server, getting passwords from my users and sync all accounts using IMAP. Then I have to help everyone to set up iCloud sync for the address book and calendars instead. Because Google can’t be trusted. All these problems can easily fixed buy paying Google, but why pay twice? Money AND my private life? WTF? ...

I want to be able to share interesting web pages on my Wordpress blog using iOS directly from Safari using a bookmark and a Pythonista Python script. The script takes the URL of the page, any text you copied and the page title, formats it in Markdown and creates a new post in Poster App automatically. ...

Pythonista, finally programming workflow automation for iOS? I’m doing most of my writing on my iPad or occasionally on my iPhone, and I write everything in Markdown. There are some great scripts in my current favorite language Python out there for doing Markdown conversions, image manipulations, etc., but unfortunately, Apple rules regarding programming apps on iOS devices are pretty stringent. But an app for programming Python on iOS called Pythonista have some smart ways of getting around some of Apple’s restrictions. And one of the wonderful things you can do is home screen shortcuts, making your scripts available directly from the home screen of your iOS device. All you have to do to create a Pythonista home screen shortcut is to go to a web page and enter the script name and optional arguments. After that, add the page home-screen with Safari’s bookmarks button. Another way of starting your scripts is directly as bookmarks in Safari or another web browser. I found the app from this article about making life easier by scripting with Pythonista, a great read of all the functions available in the app. Because they added a Python library for managing the clipboard, you can copy pictures or text to it, then start your script that reads from the clipboard and then put the new modified text/picture back to the clipboard, ready for pasting into any app. Very handy! ...

iPad and MultiMarkdown Supported Apps Updated 2014–07–06 Since I originally wrote this article, much has happened. The Elements app looks like it’s been discontinued because I couldn’t find it in the AppStore, so I have removed it from the comparison table. I’ve added my new favourite iOS text editor, Editorial which is an amazing app for configure your text workflow just the way you like it. IA Writer has added support for MultiMarkdown so I added it to the list as well. ...

GeoTagr To be able to tag your DSLR pictures with GPS information is both fun and practical. But to date, most DSLR cameras don’t have GPS built-in or is an expensive hardware add-on option. That includes the Wi-Fi iPad you might own. The last couple of years I’ve used a lot of different solutions to track GPS data while I’m out taking photographs. My first way was to use a Garmin GPS unit and then transfer the information to my Mac, but now, with mobile phones like iPhone and Android, there’s no reason to tug along yet another device. My weapon of choice now is an app for iPhone and iPad called GeoTagr, a universal app for logging GPS tracks while you photograph, and then tag images with location data. For me, the pictures I want to tag are the RAW images that I import into Adobe Lightroom 4. And with this app, it’s straightforward to accomplish. ...