[Feature Request] A tiny image preview that protects your flow

[katwalk]

I discovered CudaText about a year and a half ago, and it’s been my primary editor ever since—everything I write starts in CudaText. Its perfect to me for editing plain text. When I’m writing Markdown, though, there’s one small speed bump that keeps knocking me out of the zone, and I’m guessing others feel it too.

The pain point:
When we insert a local or web image, we have to bounce between the file explorer and CudaText just to confirm the link works. That quick “let me take a peek” is enough to pull you out of deep focus. Every switch chips away at your attention.

A simple idea that could make it fly:
What if we had hover + Ctrl = image preview?

Imagine this: hover over an image path, hold Ctrl, and a small floating preview appears. Release, and it vanishes. Smooth and frictionless—your eyes and thoughts never leave the document.

This isn’t just “preview”; it’s a flow guardian. It keeps you immersed when the words are pouring out, instead of letting tiny checks derail you.

I honestly think this small tweak would level up Markdown writing in CudaText. Just a humble idea—hope it gets noticed!

[main Alexey]

(del)

[main Alexey]

I added this Markdown support into HTML_Tooltips plugin, it is now named:
HTML-CSS-Markdown_Tooltips.

It works for local pictures and URLs. default download timeout is 4, can be changed in config file (see readme.txt).
How it works, test pls?

[katwalk]

I’m really impressed with how the markdown_image plugin works. It shows images directly and looks great, which I honestly didn’t expect. I figured CudaText, being a plain-text editor, couldn’t do that, so I was considering a hover preview instead.

I installed it right away, but now I’m stuck getting it to actually work. I tinkered for a while and the images still won’t appear.

Screen recording below:

https://origin.picgo.net/2025/09/27/Cud ... 50139e.mp4

https://origin.picgo.net/2025/09/27/Cud ... 7378d4.mp4

[katwalk]

I added this Markdown support into HTML_Tooltips plugin, it is now named:
HTML-CSS-Markdown_Tooltips.

It works for local pictures and URLs. default download timeout is 4, can be changed in config file (see readme.txt).
How it works, test pls?

Thanks a ton! Gonna install this plugin and give it a try right now. It's awesome that it supports both local and web pics

[main Alexey]

First about Markdown_Image.
It supports these links, note than filename is NOT quoted:

Code: Select all

Local links, they are supported:
![alt text](a.jpg "title a1") #relative path
![alt text](abc/a.jpg "title a2") #relative path
![alt text](C:\aa bb\2023-12-30.png "title a3") #absolute path

1- I am not sure that QUOTED filenames are correct, pls try unquoted.
2- Also pls don't edit so fast as in video. you need some 1-3 secs pause so that on_change_slow event fires in app. Its delay is configurable in user.json: "py_change_slow".

3- avif / webp types are not supported yet.

[main Alexey]

4- In the code of Markdown_Image (not my code) I found

Code: Select all

    def on_change_slow(self, ed_self):
        carets = ed_self.get_carets()
        x1, nline, x2, y2 = carets[0]
        txt = ed_self.get_text_line(nline)
        self.insert_file(ed_self, txt, nline)

it means: plugin handles on IDLE event (about 2 secs idle pause) only image from caret's line.

to handle ALL lines in file, reopen the file.

[katwalk]

How it works, test pls?

Thanks!

I finally figured out how markdown_image works: I need to hover over the image path for a moment before the image shows up.

Here’s what I got testing HTML-CSS-Markdown_Tooltips: local images work, but images hosted on the web don’t preview.

Screen recording:
https://origin.picgo.net/2025/09/27/Cud ... 0f31bd.mp4

My take on the two plugins: HTML-CSS-Markdown_Tooltips feels more stable and feature-rich. It support WEBP (which I use a lot) and claim supporting remote images, though in my own tests remote images still wouldn’t load—that’s exactly where markdown_image falls short.

For now I have to use both: keep markdown_image on because I usually want images to display, and switch to HTML-CSS-Markdown_Tooltips for WEBP files and remote links.

It’s not ideal. If markdown_image could support WEBP—and, even better, remote images—that would be a win. Direct display works best in most cases. I also noticed the GitHub repo hasn’t been updated in a while. So, gently putting in a request: if you can add WEBP support (and maybe remote images too), that would be awesome. Honestly, just WEBP support would already make me happy.

HTML-CSS-Markdown_Tooltips will stay as my backup—for times when I don’t want images rendering automatically, or when I’m editing HTML, etc.

Thanks so much for the help!

[main Alexey]

Tooltips plugin:
1. pls copy/paste your MD file with URLs to pictures here.
2. pls see Console panel - maybe some error happened in plugin?

[main Alexey]

This MD file: both remote pics are shown by Tooltips plugin:

Code: Select all

![alt text](https://telegram.org/file/400780400709/2/RorFwwKBYv4.261880.jpg/38bc73c3c25b5c2b76)

![123](https://imgsrv2.voi.id/u8IqQyk8hfhpnzGJPZRPex1ROwEMzaAod4qT5t0eKec/auto/1200/675/sm/1/bG9jYWw6Ly8vcHVibGlzaGVycy83NDAyNC8yMDIxMDgwNzE1MjYtbWFpbi5qcGc.jpg)