Markdown

Markdown is a lightweight markup language designed to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown's primary goal is to be readable and easily convertible to HTML[6]. It has become one of the world's most popular markup languages due to its simplicity and versatility. This guide provides an overview of Markdown, its syntax, and common use cases.

What is Markdown?

Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid HTML (or XHTML)[7]. The overriding design goal for Markdown's formatting syntax emphasizes readability; the syntax is designed so that documents can be published as-is, as plain text, without looking like they've been marked up with tags or formatting instructions[6].

Basic Syntax

Here's a quick overview of the most commonly used Markdown syntax elements:

• Headings: To create a heading, add one or more # symbols before your heading text. The number of # you use will determine the size of the heading.

  # Heading level 1
  ## Heading level 2
  ### Heading level 3
  

• Bold: To bold text, add two asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase.

  **bold text**
  __bold text__
  

• Italic: To italicize text, add one asterisk or underscore before and after a word or phrase.

  *italicized text*
  _italicized text_
  

• Blockquote: To create a blockquote, add a > in front of a paragraph.

  > blockquote
  

• Ordered List: To create an ordered list, add line items with numbers followed by periods.

  1. First item
  2. Second item
  

• Unordered List: To create a bullet list, add dashes (-), asterisks (*), or plus signs (+) in front of line items.

  - First item
  * Second item
  + Third item
  

• Code: To denote a word or phrase as code, enclose it in backticks (`).

  `code`
  

• Horizontal Rule: To create a horizontal line, use three or more asterisks (***), dashes (---), or underscores (___).

  ---
  

• Links: To create a link, enclose the link text in brackets ([ ]), and then follow it immediately with the URL in parentheses (( )).

  [title](https://www.example.com)
  

• Images: To add an image, add an exclamation mark (!), followed by the alt text in brackets, and the path or URL to the image asset in parentheses.

  ![alt text](image.jpg)
  

Extended Syntax

Extended syntax elements offer additional formatting options but are not supported by all Markdown applications[5]:

• Tables: Create tables by using hyphens (-) for headers, and pipes (|) to separate each column.
• Fenced Code Blocks: Use triple backticks (``) or tildes (~~~`) to create fenced code blocks.
• Footnotes: Add footnotes by using [^1] inline, where 1 is the footnote identifier, then defining the footnote at the bottom of the document.
• Strikethrough: Use two tildes (~~) before and after the words.
• Task Lists: Create task lists by prefacing list items with [ ] or [x].

Common Use Cases

Markdown is widely used for writing documentation, notes, books, presentations, email messages, and web content. Here are some specific use cases:

• Documentation: Many projects use Markdown for their documentation files (e.g., README.md on GitHub).
• Blogging: Platforms like Jekyll and Hugo use Markdown to create blog posts.
• Academic Writing: Researchers and students use Markdown to write papers and reports due to its simplicity compared to LaTeX.
• Note-taking: Applications like Obsidian and Notion support Markdown for taking and organizing notes[3].

Markdown's simplicity and portability make it an excellent choice for content creation across various platforms and devices. Its plain text nature ensures that documents are future-proof and easily convertible to other formats.

Citations:
[1] https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax/
[2] https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/
[3] https://talk.macpowerusers.com/t/use-cases-for-markdown/28700
[4] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16525877/how-do-you-display-a-section-of-plain-text-in-github-markdown
[5] https://www.markdownguide.org/extended-syntax/
[6] https://www.markdownguide.org/getting-started/
[7] https://froala.com/blog/general/react-markdown/
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown
[9] https://confluence.atlassian.com/bitbucketserver/markdown-syntax-guide-776639995.html
[10] https://www.linkedin.com/advice/0/what-benefits-challenges-using-markdown-software
[11] https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax
[12] https://www.markdownguide.org
[13] https://document360.com/blog/markdown-for-technical-writing/
[14] https://www.knowledgehut.com/blog/web-development/what-is-markdown
[15] https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2022/02/thoughts-on-markdown/
[16] https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax
[17] https://dev.to/alexmercedcoder/why-all-developers-should-master-markdown-2lpb
[18] https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/SSYKAV?topic=train-how-do-use-markdown
[19] https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/contributor/contributor-guide/writing-essentials/markdown.html?lang=en
[20] https://intercom.help/sheepcrm/en/articles/1522376-formatting-descriptions-markdown