FlowerPress 🌸

FlowerPress 🌸

A Substack/Notion-style cloud editor for markdown-based data-rich documents and datasets compatible with Flowershow.app.

  • Primary focus: making it effortless to curate and publish datasets and associated commentary.
  • Medium-term vision: a general-purpose editor for markdown-based rich documents, which can include datasets, tables, charts, and other content.

📺 Watch this first https://youtu.be/YE6VP7srXk4

Core UX Principles

  • Markdown-first: every page is persisted as a markdown file.
  • Seamless media handling:
    • Drop in an image → stored as a separate file → embedded in the markdown.
    • Drop in a CSV/Excel file → stored separately → embedded as a live preview (table/graph).
    • Drop in links or screenshots → directly embedded.
  • Canvas experience: Notion-like block editor, but output is markdown + linked assets.
  • Zero-friction workflow: as simple as GitHub README + Issues, but with Substack-level smoothness.

Document/Data Structure

  • One markdown document (the “readme”) per dataset or data-rich page.
  • Associated assets:
    • Images → stored alongside, referenced in markdown.
    • Data files (CSV, JSON, Excel, etc.) → stored alongside, embedded in markdown via preview.
  • Backend structure:
dataset-name/
  README.md
  data.csv
  chart.png
  screenshot.jpg
  • Frontend rendering: previews, charts, and tables auto-generated for embeds, while markdown provides narrative/context.

References & Inspirations

  • DataHub.io / Evidence.dev etc → markdown-driven data storytelling, embedding SQL + charts.
  • ObservableHQ.com → interactive data notebooks, rich embedding of visualizations.
  • Substack → frictionless publishing flow for blogs/newsletters.
  • Notion / BlockNote / TipTap → block-based editors with markdown persistence.

Appendix: Value Proposition for Data Publishing

1. Problem

Publishing datasets today is either:

  • Clunky: GitHub repos/Issues → powerful but slow, not optimized for quick narrative + dataset publishing.
  • Closed: Platforms like Statista or ObservableHQ lock content into proprietary silos.
  • Fragile: Datasets disappear (URL rot, companies acquired/pivot, etc.).

Need: A fast, markdown-native way to curate and publish data-rich documents that combine narrative (markdown), data (CSV), and visuals (images/tables).

2. Solution

“Flowerpress” provides a Substack/Notion-style editor that outputs markdown + linked assets, making it effortless to:

  • Write a narrative (markdown README).
  • Drop in images → auto-upload + embed.
  • Drop in CSV files → auto-upload + embed preview as a table (and later charts).
  • Publish instantly, with elegant SEO-friendly output (via DataHub or Flowershow)

DataHub.io and Flowershow: how FlowerPress fits into the existing ecosystem

Already have a markdown-based data / content publishing platform (DataHub.io and Flowershow) but lack an editor to easily create the markdown-based documents / repos that get published there.

  • Want to make it easier for (me and team) to curate and publish datasets quickly and informally, with the ability to refine/improve over time.
    • 🚩 Right now I end up dumping things in github issues because it is quick and dirty.
  • Flowershow already provides a markdown-based publishing pipeline that drives DataHub.io
  • Flowerpress is the complementary editor that streamline dataset publishing.