Using nvALT for Markdown editing, conversion to HTML and then posting in Blogger

It may or may not be the most direct way to do things, but steps I have used to post to this entry to this blog were:

1. Create a note using Markdown in nvALT, a Mac-based note editor.
2. Preview the note in html by using
   
   Preview | Save Preview in HTML
   
   I choose not to save it, which means I can just view it.
   
3. Copy the HTML to the clipboard.
4. Paste into the Blogger editor in HTML mode.
5. If I’m keen, then test the weblinks in Blogger by switching back to Compose mode, clicking on the link and clicking on the option to Change.

The window that pops up gives you the opportunity to test the link.

That’s it.

Tips, tricks and gotchas?

• If you forget to put in the http:// in your link, then blogger will add http://www.blogger.com to the start of your URL, thus breaking it real good.
• Toggle on the Preview window by going to
  
  Preview | Toggle Preview Window
• I had to change the settings in Blogger so that the paragraph tag in html was not changed just a br tag when I switched from HTML to Compose view. This used to be a general setting, but now it is changed by going in to a particular post, choosing Options there, and then selecting the option under Line breaks labeled Press “Enter” for line breaks.
• For good measure, I should mention that I use SpiderOak Hive as a way to ensure that the notes I make in nvALT are available from all the systems I work on.
• To get the ordered list above to allow me to put information across several lines into point 2, I had to indent (at least) eight spaces. Something nice and easy to forget, so I’ve logged it here.

Next steps?

It was thanks to posts by Michael Schechter at bettermess.com that I found nvAlt and thought to try out the route to note taking. He’s a big fan of the Byword editor and using that via nvALT, so that might be worth a look. On the other hand, some keyboard shortcuts and productivity aids might be where I should put in some time now.