Editing Markdown on the Linux Desktop with Scratchmark

While I’m quite happy using Apostrophe as my main Markdown editor, that doesn’t mean I can’t look at other similar applications from time to time. Which is what I did recently with an editor called Scratchmark.

While simple, Scratchmark lets you focus on your words. Let’s take a look at it.

Getting Scratchmark

You can either install Scratchmark as a flatpak or get it from your Linux distribution’s software centre. I’m sure you can also grab the editor’s source code and compile it for yourself. Since that’s not my thing, I didn’t look into that option.

Once it’s installed, you can launch Scratchmark from your application menu.

How Scratchmark Deals with Files

Before wading into Scratchmark, I’d like to spend a couple of moments going over how it deals with files.

I’m used to opening a Markdown file either by:

• Starting an editor and using the File menu (or equivalent) to choose what I want to edit, or
• Going into my desktop’s file manager, right clicking on a file, selecting Open with and then choosing the application to use.

Scratchmark doesn’t work that way. Instead, it’s based around the idea of projects and folders. The project is an writing project made up of multiple files. The folders contain the individual files that are part of the project, which you plan to edit. With most of what I write, I don’t think in terms of projects (or even folders). Instead, my focus is on standalone, individual pieces of writing.

That said, I’m finding a new appreciation for the folder/project-based concept if only because it can help me quickly find what I’m working on.

If you’re wondering, here’s a peek at the folder structure for my blog post drafts in Scratchmark:

Editing with Scratchmark

To get started, fire up Scratchmark. You’ll see something like this:

You’ll need to add a project to Scratchmark. That can be, for example, the folder where you save your Markdown files. To do that, click the stacker menu in the left pane (called the Library) and then click Add Project. In the window that displays, find and click on a folder and then click Select.

If, like me, you have Markdown files in a couple of locations, you can repeat the above for those folders.

You might have noticed the Drafts folder at the top of the Library. You can create a file in there by clicking on the folder and then clicking the New Document icon in the editing pane. Give the document a name, then click Create.

From there, start typing. Here’s a look this post being written in Scratchmark:

You can add Markdown formatting by hand or by click the Formatting Toolbar icon (the capital A in the top-right corner of the header bar) to display icons that let you add basic formatting. Here’s what that looks like:

You can only apply this formatting using the toolbar:

• Bold, italics, and strikethrough.
• Highlighting.
• Two levels of headings.
• Blockquote.
• Code.

Click the Document Info icon in the top-right corner of the header bar to display a document’s character, word, and line counts. Here’s what that looks like:

Scratchmark also has a focus mode (which you can trigger by clicking the stacker menu and selecting Focus Mode) that shows only the text you’re working on but no application controls.

Something I found wonky about focus mode is that when I moved my mouse, the editor drops out of focus mode. But when I started typing again, Scratchmark snaps back into focus mode. It’s a bit jarring.

Customizing Scratchmark

You don’t have all that many options to do that. To access those options, click the stacker menu and then select Preferences. This window displays:

You can:

• Change the font that the editor uses (but not its size).
• Display a minimap (which I’ve never found useful in any editor).
• Change the settings for the editor’s width.
• Display (or not) hidden files in the Library pane.

Aside from changing the font that it uses, you can probably get away with using Scratchmark’s out-of-the-box settings.

What Scratchmark Doesn’t Have

I’ve pointed out a couple of areas in which the editor is lacking: the ability to change the size of the font and the minimal number of options on the formatting toolbar.

There’s also no preview or split view. On top of that, you can also save raw Markdown. You can’t export your files as HTML or PDF (as you can in most Markdown editors).

The deal killer for me, though, is the lack of a spelling checker.

Having said that, Scratchmark is still fairly young and those features might be added to the editor over time.

Final Thought

Scratchmark was an interesting Markdown editing diversion. While it has its good and not-so-good points, Scratchmark definitely won’t replace Apostrophe as my Markdown editor of choice. There’s no reason you can’t take it for a test drive. Who knows, Scratchmark might be an editor that grows on you.

— Scott Nesbitt