Over time, we've noticed that writers use the HackerNoon editor every day but still miss some of the features designed to make writing, organizing, and submitting stories easier.
So in the spirit of “we listen, we don’t judge“, we decided to put together a quick walkthrough of some of the features writers may have overlooked in Editor 3.0 and the Chowa Editor.
If you've been writing here for a while and didn't know some of these features existed, our inbox tells us you're not alone.
1. Adding a co-author is easier than you think
Writing with someone else? Add them as a co-author in story settings instead of just mentioning their name in the byline or intro. It gives them proper credit on the platform. You can add as many co-authors as needed, as long as they worked on the draft.
2. You can link your next story before it is published
This is particularly useful for tutorials, multi-part technical series, project updates, and stories that build on one another.
Let's say you are writing a series. You don't have to wait until the next part (say Part 2) is published to add the link.
What you can do is create a rough draft for the second part. When you create a draft, your mobile draft URL may look like:
https://app.hackernoon.com/mobile/6a9134789ac754785f26802d
Swap "app.hackernoon.com” for “hackernoon.com” and "/mobile/" for "preview", so it becomes:
https://hackernoon.com/preview/6a9134789ac754785f26802d
Drop this preview link into your current article wherever you want to point readers to part two. Right now, it just previews the draft. But the second that story goes live, the preview link automatically redirects to the published version. No need to go back and edit old articles to fix broken links.
3. Check your inbox before you assume you've been ghosted
The HackerNoon inbox is located within the Story Settings of your draft. We get a lot of messages asking why a story got rejected, and half the time, an editor already responded in the inbox of your Story Settings. If your story hasn't moved in a while, check the chat of that specific story first. That's where editors mostly leave feedback.
4. Use sticky notes to organize your thoughts
This is probably the most underused feature in our Story Settings. Sticky notes let you leave yourself notes directly on the draft. Outline your sections, jot down a stat you still need to verify, remind yourself to add a source link. It stays attached to your draft and won’t be submitted with the story. It’s for your use only.
5. Add and generate a feature image
Every story needs a feature image. Our story settings give you a few different image generator options.
The trick is to give the generator a prompt that actually relates to your article.
The more relevant your prompt is to the subject of the article, the more fitting the resulting image will be.
6. Editor 3.0 has a shortcut you should know
If you are using Editor 3.0, you may notice that some editing tools are not visible in a toolbar. That's because Editor 3.0 is a Markdown editor, so many formatting options are accessed through Markdown syntax.
Instead of a toolbar, you type / and a menu pops up with headers, dividers, tables, quotes, and other formatting tools. You can also highlight a word or paragraph to bring up the formatting menu.
If you're used to Chowa Editor but can’t find a button in Editor 3.0, you now know it was always one keystroke away.
7. Your code has a formatting button. Please use it.
We see code that arrives looking like regular paragraph text.
const app = express() app.get('/users', async (req, res) => { const users = await getUsers() res.json(users) })
Both Editor 3.0 and Chowa Editor let you properly format code blocks and set the language for each one individually. That is,
If you are writing Python, select Python.
If you are writing JavaScript, select JavaScript.
If it is TypeScript, select TypeScript.
Proper syntax highlighting makes technical code much easier for readers to scan and understand, so if your article contains code, give it the formatting it deserves.
8. Not originally published on HackerNoon?
If your story first went up on your personal blog, don't paste the link into your intro paragraph. We have a feature for that.
Navigate to "Is this story original on HackerNoon" in story settings and select "No." Once you do, a field appears where you paste the URL to the original post. This keeps things properly attributed and cleaner than a random link buried in your opening lines.
9. H2 is not the same as H3
H2 is for your main section headers while H3 is for sub-headings inside those sections. If you use H2 for everything, including a list of examples under one section, your table of contents ends up looking like a flat list of unrelated topics instead of a structured outline. Save H2 for your big sections, drop down to H3 for anything nested inside them.
For example:
Here, "Setting Up the Application" and "Deploying the Application" are the main sections, so they use H2. The smaller sections underneath them use H3.
What happens when everything is H2?
Imagine an article with:
Technically, these are all headings. Structurally, though, the article becomes harder to scan because there is no visual hierarchy showing which ideas belong together.
10. Embed a Link
You can add a regular link to your story, but you can also embed certain links so readers can interact with the content without leaving your article.
In Editor 3.0
Type the text you want to link and highlight it. A set of formatting icons will appear. Click the link icon, then paste your URL into the text field provided.
Once the link is added, hover over the linked text. A pop-up will appear with the option to embed the link.
If you are adding a video link, the editor can detect that it is a video and give you a few options. You can choose to add:
- The video
- The video transcript
- Both the video and transcript
In Chowa Editor
The process is just as simple.
Type and highlight the text you want to link. Click the link icon at the next to a set of other icons, and a text box will appear where you can paste the URL. Once you paste it, another option to embed the link will appear.
Toggle the embed option on, and you can preview the site or video you are about to add. If everything looks good, click Embed Link.
11. Submit your draft
A little birdie tells us that some writers are doing all the hard work, finishing their stories, and then forgetting the final step —submit the story.
There are two places where you can submit a completed draft for editorial review.
- At the bottom of Story Settings
- At the top left of your draft page
So if you have spent hours writing and adding finishing touches to your story, don’t close the tab just yet. Submit it.
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That’s all for this week.
Until next time, Hackers!