# Textile

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/textile/

5 people recommended Textile in Hacker News comments and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 12 months, in 3 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

3 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “How Markdown Took over the World”.

**Verdict:** A lightweight markup language that some people prefer to Markdown for its syntax and intuitiveness. Critics note the text on the site can be cut off in some browsers.

Summary written by Claude from 11 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 5 of those comments still count.

## Why people recommend it

- Preferred to Markdown (3 comments in the sample): "I liked Textile a lot better initially, and it came out first." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46559540)) "Textile was the superior Sony Betamax to Markdown's VHS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46560107)) "Textile was better, but less popular IIRC" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47638619))
- Better syntax, more intuitive (2 comments in the sample): "I thought textile had the better syntax" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46560254)) "I find it generally more intuitive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48331442))

## Other markup languages people recommend

- [Markdown](https://hackerapproved.com/p/markdown/): 116 recommend, 25 mixed, 65 criticize
- [AsciiDoc](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asciidoc/): 24 recommend, 11 mixed, 10 criticize
- [Djot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/djot/): 15 recommend, 4 mixed, 4 criticize
- [reStructuredText](https://hackerapproved.com/p/restructuredtext/): 12 recommend, 7 mixed, 8 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Textile", https://hackerapproved.com/p/textile/ (5 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.