Using React JS Markdown to Boost Your App’s Rich Text Content

React is undoubtedly one of the most preferred frameworks for building web apps. It allows you enormous flexibility to add unique interface elements. But if you are appointing ReactJS developers to build a text-heavy site, a standard approach with numerous JSX tags might not be feasible.

For instance, if you are creating a website loaded with documentation, lengthy product pages, or a blog section, React developers might have to write more than a hundred JSX tags, which will unnecessarily extend the development lifecycle. To solve this complexity, React JS introduces its Markdown component. 

Now, what’s ReactJS Markdown? Well, it is the concept that allows developers to use lightweight markup language to write any editorial content on web pages. They also have the flexibility to integrate custom formatting and styles for adding content with rich text without worrying about code placements. 

All you newcomers who are new to the ReactJS world might wonder how React Markdown works. So, to help you feel more enlightened about this marvelous framework component, this article will unveil all the facts associated with the React Markdown component. Read along until the end to understand its efficacies! 

What is the Significance of React Markdown?

In the world of React JS development, Markdown is one of the framework components which is meant to render the plain text into HTML safely. The purpose of it is to ensure compatibility of the content across different platforms or browsers.

The simple idea associated with React Markup is to integrate the component to render functions, writing ‘Markup’ between the starting and ending tags. This way, you have the proficiency to generate extremely dynamic content, just through rendering of body from diverse data sources. 

In simpler words, React Markdown is more like an editor with specific functionality for writing markdown-formatted content. It is undoubtedly one of the most powerful tools that developers might use to write or edit plain texts and avoid using HTML tags for adding rich content. 

It supports diverse Markdown syntaxes and is designed with a user-friendly UI and various customization possibilities. The ability to write markdown-formatted texts with utmost ease and proficiency is what makes this component a worthy pick for every one of you who wants to use React for your web app development. 

What are Some of the Features Associated with the React Markdown Component?

To give you a better insight into the efficacies of the React Markdown component, here are some of its features that the professionals adopt for creating your text-heavy site:

1. Syntax Highlighting:

If you hire dedicated ReactJS developers and request them to build a forum or blog website, they will get along with it and write some codes. With the use of the syntax highlighting feature of the React Markdown editor, you can display the source code in different fonts and colors as per the item categories.

With this feature, the developers acquire better readability and get a better context about the code. Not only that, but professionals will also be able to determine any potential syntax errors faster, ensuring the coding stage turns out to be more efficient. 

Following that, the syntax highlighting support with the Markdown component includes highlighting of the code blocks, HTML tags, and the actual syntax. Upon combining this editor feature alongside the Markdown preview, developers will find themselves empowered enough to write & edit the markdown-formatted text. 

2. Split-Screen View:

It is yet again one of the most crucial features of the Markdown editor that your React JS development company professionals will highlight on priority. As the name suggests, using this feature, the developers can split the main screen into two separate windows, where the first one will be the editing window, where most of the work will be done!

And, the second will showcase the Markdown content that’s already rendered. This way, the developers will be able to keep a tab on what they are making out of their efforts. It is quite good for the developers you hired for your React development needs and for you to monitor the rich text content being added to the site. 

3. Security:

Cybersecurity compromise is a big issue even for most of the Markdown editors for ReactJS, as they fall prey to XSS attacks. It mostly happens due to a specific property named dangerouslySetinnerHTML. But as of today, the modern-day React Markdown editors are now leveraging different ways to avoid relying on this dangerous property.

Thus, it enhances the cybersecurity proficiency of both developers as well as business owners like you. So, when you hire ReactJS developers, do ensure they use only the secured Markdown editors for building your text-heavy site. 

4. CommonMark Compliance and Extensibility:

The React Markdown editors are not mandatorily required to adhere to the CommonMark specification. But, complying with the standard will help the developers write markdown-formatted text. In short, if the editors comply with the CommonMark aspects, it will be easier for the developers to boost the rich text content of your web app.

Concerning extensibility, most of the Markdown editors tend to comply with the CommonMark concepts. But some of them tend to offer you added plugins, using which the developers can extend certain editors to include diverse features such as syntax highlighting feature. 

In What Ways Can React Markdown Help Scale the Web App’s Rich Text Content?

React Markdown editors allow the developers to curate formatted content without the need for using much coding skills. But, there are different ways how your developers can approach using the Markdown editor for your web app development process, to ensure the unique needs are met. Some of them include:

1. Markdown Editors are Mobile Optimized

If you have already used any forum or messaging apps built on React, be assured that it has Markdown functionality integrated within. It is because styling the comments or messages using CSS or HTML format might not be preferable for mobile users.

They would like to use the quick formatting approach with the use of special characters. As Markdown Editors are optimized for mobile devices, this can be made possible for the users. 

2. Users Will Stay Focused

If you prefer using the rich text editor, you need to be focused on it. With the use of Markdown, you will just be using the keyboard for formatting the content that you want to upload to the website. Due to this, you will also be able to free yourself from distractions while moving the mouse or using any other app in the process. 

3. Platform-Independence

Most of the apps will support Markdown, as they are just simple texts with different meanings. Therefore, if you are taking the help of your ReactJS developers and creating the Markdown file, you don’t need to change the contents it for any other app to recognize the same. It means Markdown can work well for most of operating systems, browsers, devices, screen sizes, etc. Irrespective of what your preferred tools, tech stack or browsers are, be assured that the Markdown content will be readable by them all. 

How is React Markdown Used?

React Markdown is made available as a standard NPM package. To install the same, you will have to run a command that goes by:

npm install react-markdown –save

The Markdown component of React makes use of CommonMark standards for rendering the markdown-formatted content. This way, the content will be made compatible with the modern-day as well as the legacy browsers. 

You must use the ‘import’ and ‘render’ functions for implementing markdown on the select content. There is no necessity for the Markdown to be mixed up with your usual React code. There is a provision for developers to load Markdown files separately, into the React Markdown component, by using the ‘fetch’ function. 

Using ‘fetch’ enables the developers to pull the data of Markdown files at runtime, while also working on it asynchronously. Not only that, but you can also consider importing the Markdown file directly! 

With React Markdown, you also get to use the custom components as prime targets. You get the freedom to integrate custom styles or further modify the rendering elements within the markdown content. 

Parting Words

React Markdown is one of the simplest ways for you to create and boost the rich text content of your web app. It helps you as well as the developers to be free from using the endless JSX tags. Undoubtedly, the Markdown editor by React is among the most powerful tools for writing or editing markdown-formatted text.

In the future, it is expected that the Markdown proficiency will further be improved and evolved with new enhancements. The ReactJS developers find this tool handy enough for dealing with Markdown edits for clients like you. 

So, if you are planning on creating a web app and making rich text content a part of it, connect with the best developers and let them integrate React Markdown components. This way, your rich text content will be boosted and the speed of development will also be increased.