Features
What it does, one screen at a time.
Every picture is a capture of the real application. Where a feature is only for hosted projects, the page says so.
The editor
The Markdown is the document.
You edit Markdown, and what is saved is exactly the text you typed.
Write mode shows headings, quotes, code and tables in place. Source shows the raw text and Preview shows the rendered page. All three are the same document, so switching between them cannot lose anything.
- A size picker inserts a table, and controls for rows, columns and alignment appear when the caret is inside it.
- Front matter becomes typed fields. Comments, key order and quoting survive an edit.
The project
Links stay true while the writing moves.
- Rename or move a page and every link to it is rewritten, and you are told how many before you confirm.
- A link that points at nothing is underlined where it is written.
- Backlinks, an outline of the open page, a quick switcher and search across the whole project.
- Search and replace across many files leaves one undo.
- One view lists every front matter key in the project, how widely it is used, and which pages are missing it.
Drafts and review
A change is read before it goes in.
Drafts, comparison, review and history are for hosted projects.
Drafts
A draft is a separate copy of the project to write in. The project stays as it was until the draft is put in.
Comparison
Comparing a draft with the project shows what changed by paragraph and by word, so a reader sees the change and not the whole page.
Review
Ask somebody in the project to read a draft. They say yes, or not yet, and you put it in when it is right.
Answering a review takes a seat, which is somebody who can write. Readers can read.
History
A hosted project keeps every version, and you can put an earlier one back. Putting it back is a new version, so nothing is removed.
Your work
What it does so that nothing you wrote is lost.
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A save cannot leave half a page
It is written to a temporary file, forced to disk and renamed over the page.
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A change underneath you is never overwritten silently
If a page changes outside Longmatter, the save is refused and you choose which version to keep.
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Closing waits for the last edit
The window does not close until what you typed has been written.
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A failed save keeps trying
It retries with a backoff, and the page stays marked unsaved until it lands.
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A crashed tab does not take the edit with it
Work that has not reached storage is kept in the browser and offered back.
Teams
Seats for the people who write.
A team holds the seats for the people who write, and a reader is free. Take somebody off the team and their access to every project in it ends together.
You invite people by email, as writers or as readers.
Teams are opening to a first group, so ask us.
Themes
The whole window is yours to set.
Four themes come with it and you can build your own. A theme restyles the sidebar, the tabs and the panels as well as the page.
Where things stand
What is live, said plainly.
Hosted projects, drafts, review and history are live. Teams are opening to a first group. A hosted project has no download button yet.
If you want the pages of a hosted project, write to hello@longmatter.com and they are sent to you.