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Markdown in a minute

  • Published: 2024-02-13 09:56
  • Updated: 2024-02-13 11:12

For those, who didn't wrap their heads around the benefits of Markdown, and/or perceive it as a learning obstacle:

Think about Markdown as highly compatible, transferable and future-proof HTML pre-processor. Built into your favorite text-, or code editor. To me, it’s a

  • ⭐Gargantuan time-saver for
  • 📝 Writing and editing anything published online.
  • Natively supported by Wordpress, GDocs, Github, Discord..
    • Document converters like Pandoc

For example Wordpress’ editor…

...can convert any pasted markdown element into corresponding, native Gutenberg blocks—on the fly. Saving a lot of tedious clicks. Especially with longform content.

That should be a minute, yes.😅 For the curious:

What basic Markdown looks like

# This is a 1st-level heading

Normal text after a line-break is a paragraph.

An empty line creates a new paragraph. 

## That's a 2nd-level heading

- Unordered lists
- are supported

1. Just like
2. Ordered ones
    1. Tabbed nesting: check

### 3rd-level heading

The basic syntax includes inline formatting of *italic*, **bold**, `code` and [links](http://linked.url)..

> As well as blockquotes,

![images w/ alt text](image.jpg)

--- and horizontal rules

Mind you: as a syntax showcase, it looks weird. Contrarily—in use of a normal document’ flow, it adds transparency to its structure.

Furthermore, most text/code editors either feature a WYSIWYG markdown mode. Or are capable of sporting it via plugins. Rendering tags as you type, resulting in a focused writing experience.

If you’re missing tags above, most editors support the extended Markdown syntax. Including:

  • Tables
  • Fenced code blocks
  • Footnotes
  • Definition and task lists
  • Emoji
  • Highlights
  • Sub- and superscripts

And more, depending on markdown flavor support.