Markdown

Markdown is a lightweight markup language for creating formatted text using a plain-text editor. John Gruber and Aaron Swartz created Markdown in 2004 as a markup language that is appealing to human readers in its source code form. Markdown is widely used in blogging, instant messaging, online forums, collaborative software, documentation pages, and readme files.

It Converts to HTML Easily

Now, if you’re going to be writing HTML, you should just…write HTML. But if you’re, say, writing an email or a readme file where you need HTML’s formatting options but not the full breadth of its features, Markdown is perfect.

Markdown converts to HTML flawlessly, sparing you the hassle of opening and closing all those tags. So. Many. Tags.

In fact, Markdown has the software to convert the plain text to HTML built in! So Markdown is actually a text-to-HTML conversion software in addition to being a markup language.

Plus, have you ever tried to convert from a .docx file to HTML? You often get so much extra formatting and spacing that it’s not worth the effort.

Text using Markdown syntax

Heading
=======

Sub-heading
-----------

# Alternative heading #

Paragraphs are separated 
by a blank line.

Two spaces at the end of a line  
produce a line break.

Text attributes _italic_, **bold**, `monospace`.

Horizontal rule:

---

Bullet lists nested within the numbered lists:

  1. fruits
     * apple
     * banana
  2. vegetables
     - carrot
     - broccoli

A [link](http://example.com).

![Image](Icon-pictures.png "icon")

> Markdown uses email-style
characters for blockquoting.
>
> Multiple paragraphs need to be prepended individually.

Most inline <abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr> tags are supported.

Corresponding HTML produced by a Markdown processor

<h1>Heading</h1>

<h2>Sub-heading</h2>

<h1>Alternative heading</h1>

<p>Paragraphs are separated
by a blank line.</p>

<p>Two spaces at the end of a line<br />
produce a line break.</p>

<p>Text attributes <em>italic</em>, <strong>bold</strong>, <code>monospace</code>.</p>

<p>Horizontal rule:</p>

<hr />

<p>Bullet lists nested within numbered list:</p>

<ol>
  <li>fruits <ul>
      <li>apple</li>
      <li>banana</li>
  </ul></li>
  <li>vegetables <ul>
      <li>carrot</li>
      <li>broccoli</li>
  </ul></li>
</ol>

<p>A <a href="http://example.com">link</a>.</p>

<p><img alt="Image" title="icon" src="Icon-pictures.png" /></p>

<blockquote>
<p>Markdown uses email-style characters for blockquoting.</p>
<p>Multiple paragraphs need to be prepended individually.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Most inline <abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr> tags are supported.</p>

Text viewed in a browser

Heading
Sub-heading
Alternative heading
Paragraphs are separated by a blank line.

Two spaces at the end of a line
produce a line break.

Text attributes italic, bold, monospace.
Horizontal rule:

Bullet lists nested within the numbered lists%[Link]:
fruits
apple
banana
vegetables
carrot
broccoli

A link.
Image

Markdown uses email-style characters for blockquoting.

Multiple paragraphs need to be prepended individually.

Most inline HTML tags are supported.

Thanks for reading!