README files are written in Markdown and rendered by someone else's parser. MarkdownShift gives you a live HTML preview in the browser so you can see whether the table actually aligned before you push. Use it for GitHub-flavored-ish drafts, notes, and posts. Do not use it as a CMS, a knowledge base, or a guarantee that GitHub, GitLab, and Discord will render the same. Flavors differ on tables, task lists, and autolinks. Preview here, then still glance at the PR UI. HtmlShift is for entities, not for writing the post.
Type or paste Markdown. See HTML. CommonMark-ish: headings, lists, links, code fences, emphasis. Tables and strikethrough may work if the previewer is GFM-like. Raw HTML in Markdown is a foot-gun; a preview that allows it can execute what you pasted. Treat untrusted Markdown as untrusted HTML. This is a local preview, not an email client.
When not to use it: you needed a full static site generator with front matter, or you needed to diff two READMEs (DiffShift). Also skip huge generated docs; the tab is an editor, not a build. WordShift will count the source including syntax. For a published post, the CMS parser is the one that matters.
Privacy is local. Unreleased docs stay in the tab. Export by copy. There is no cloud note. If you pasted a secret in a fence, it is still a secret on screen. Front matter is not a static site generator here; Hugo and Eleventy still own that job. Re-check the PR UI on GitHub or GitLab; flavors still diverge on tables, task lists, and autolinks.
A README with a three-column table and a bash fence. The preview shows the table aligned and the fence highlighted enough to spot a missing close. You catch that `**bold` never closed. GitHub's PR view matches closely. Discord would have eaten the table; you did not paste there. The doc never uploaded to a markdown host. Export by copy; there is no cloud note, and a secret in a fence is still a secret on screen.
MarkdownShift previews in the browser. Source stays on the device. Unreleased READMEs do not upload. If the preview allows HTML, untrusted pastes are still a local risk. Close the tab when the draft is back in git. Task lists and some tables differ; the pull-request preview on the host is still the boss of README rendering.
Full policy: Shift Privacy Policy. Questions: [email protected].
Usually close for boring Markdown. Task lists, alerts, and some tables can differ. The PR preview is still the boss. Prefer pure Markdown for README work; raw HTML in a naive preview is how untrusted pastes become scripts.
If the previewer passes it through, yes, and that is dangerous for untrusted strings. Prefer pure Markdown for README work. Many previewers skip mermaid; do not assume a GitHub fence works here or that this fence works on GitHub.
Only if this previewer includes them. Many do not. Do not assume a GitHub mermaid fence works here or vice versa. Print HTML if you must; this is not a typesetter, and EpubPdfShift is for ebooks rather than READMEs.
Copy HTML and print, or keep Markdown. This is a previewer, not a typesetter. EpubPdfShift is for ebooks, not READMEs. Huge generated docs hitch the tab; the editor is for drafts, not for a 4 MB generated reference dump.
Related tools: HtmlShift · DiffShift · WordShift
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