Let's face it: Writing content for the Web is tiresome. WYSIWYG editors help alleviate this task, but they generally result in horrible code, or worse yet, ugly web pages.
Markdown is a better way to write HTML, without all the complexities and ugliness that usually accompanies it.
Some of the key benefits are:
- Markdown is simple to learn, with minimal extra characters, so it's also quicker to write content.
- Less chance of errors when writing in Markdown.
- Produces valid XHTML output.
- Keeps the content and the visual display separate, so you cannot mess up the look of your site.
- Write in any text editor or Markdown application you like.
- Markdown is a joy to use!
Without further delay, let us go over the main elements of Markdown and what the resulting HTML looks like!
Headings
Headings from h1 through h6 are constructed with a # for each level:
# h1 Heading
## h2 Heading
### h3 Heading
#### h4 Heading
##### h5 Heading
###### h6 Heading
The HTML looks like this:
<h1>h1 Heading</h1>
<h2>h2 Heading</h2>
<h3>h3 Heading</h3>
<h4>h4 Heading</h4>
<h5>h5 Heading</h5>
<h6>h6 Heading</h6>
Comments
Comments should be HTML compatible.
<!--
This is a comment
-->
Comment below should NOT be seen:
Horizontal Rules
The HTML <hr> element is for creating a "thematic break" between paragraph-level elements.
In Markdown, you can create a <hr> with any of the following:
___: three consecutive underscores---: three consecutive dashes***: three consecutive asterisks
The rendered output looks like this:
Body
Body written as normal, plain text will be wrapped with <p></p> tags in the rendered HTML.
So this body:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, graecis denique ei vel, at duo primis mandamus. Et legere ocurreret pri,
animal tacimates complectitur ad cum. Cu eum inermis inimicus efficiendi. Labore officiis his ex,
soluta officiis concludaturque ei qui, vide sensibus vim ad.
The HTML looks like this:
<p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, graecis denique ei vel, at duo primis mandamus. Et legere ocurreret pri, animal tacimates complectitur ad cum. Cu eum inermis inimicus efficiendi. Labore officiis his ex, soluta officiis concludaturque ei qui, vide sensibus vim ad.</p>
A line break can be done with one blank line.
Inline HTML
If you need a certain HTML tag (with a class) you can simply use HTML:
Paragraph in Markdown.
<div class="class">
This is <b>HTML</b>
</div>
Paragraph in Markdown.
Emphasis
Bold
For emphasizing a snippet of text with a heavier font-weight.
The following snippet of text is rendered as bold text.
**rendered as bold text**
__rendered as bold text__
The HTML looks like this:
<strong>rendered as bold text</strong>
Italics
For emphasizing a snippet of text with italics.
The following snippet of text is rendered as italicized text.
*rendered as italicized text*
_rendered as italicized text_
The HTML looks like this:
<em>rendered as italicized text</em>
Strikethrough
In [GFM]^(GitHub flavored Markdown) you can do strikethroughs.
~~Strike through this text.~~
The HTML looks like this:
<del>Strike through this text.</del>
Blockquotes
For quoting blocks of content from another source within your document.
Add > before any text you want to quote:
> **Fusion Drive** combines a hard drive with a flash storage (solid-state drive) and presents it as a single logical volume with the space of both drives combined.
The rendered output looks like this:
Fusion Drive combines a hard drive with a flash storage (solid-state drive) and presents it as a single logical volume with the space of both drives combined.
The HTML looks like this:
<blockquote>
<p>
<strong>Fusion Drive</strong> combines a hard drive with a flash storage (solid-state drive) and presents it as a single logical volume with the space of both drives combined.
</p>
</blockquote>
Blockquotes can also be nested:
> Donec massa lacus, ultricies a ullamcorper in, fermentum sed augue.
Nunc augue augue, aliquam non hendrerit ac, commodo vel nisi.
>> Sed adipiscing elit vitae augue consectetur a gravida nunc vehicula. Donec auctor
odio non est accumsan facilisis. Aliquam id turpis in dolor tincidunt mollis ac eu diam.
The rendered output looks like this:
Donec massa lacus, ultricies a ullamcorper in, fermentum sed augue. Nunc augue augue, aliquam non hendrerit ac, commodo vel nisi.
Sed adipiscing elit vitae augue consectetur a gravida nunc vehicula. Donec auctor odio non est accumsan facilisis. Aliquam id turpis in dolor tincidunt mollis ac eu diam.
Lists
Unordered
A list of items in which the order of the items does not explicitly matter.
You may use any of the following symbols to denote bullets for each list item:
* valid bullet
- valid bullet
+ valid bullet
For example:
* Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
* Consectetur adipiscing elit
* Integer molestie lorem at massa
* Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet
* Nulla volutpat aliquam velit
* Phasellus iaculis neque
* Purus sodales ultricies
* Vestibulum laoreet porttitor sem
* Ac tristique libero volutpat at
* Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel
* Aenean sit amet erat nunc
* Eget porttitor lorem
The rendered output looks like this:
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
- Consectetur adipiscing elit
- Integer molestie lorem at massa
- Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet
- Nulla volutpat aliquam velit
- Phasellus iaculis neque
- Purus sodales ultricies
- Vestibulum laoreet porttitor sem
- Ac tristique libero volutpat at
- Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel
- Aenean sit amet erat nunc
- Eget porttitor lorem
The HTML looks like this:
<ul>
<li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</li>
<li>Consectetur adipiscing elit</li>
<li>Integer molestie lorem at massa</li>
<li>Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet</li>
<li>Nulla volutpat aliquam velit
<ul>
<li>Phasellus iaculis neque</li>
<li>Purus sodales ultricies</li>
<li>Vestibulum laoreet porttitor sem</li>
<li>Ac tristique libero volutpat at</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel</li>
<li>Aenean sit amet erat nunc</li>
<li>Eget porttitor lorem</li>
</ul>
Ordered
A list of items in which the order of items does explicitly matter.
1. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
2. Consectetur adipiscing elit
3. Integer molestie lorem at massa
4. Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet
5. Nulla volutpat aliquam velit
6. Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel
7. Aenean sit amet erat nunc
8. Eget porttitor lorem
The rendered output looks like this:
- Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
- Consectetur adipiscing elit
- Integer molestie lorem at massa
- Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet
- Nulla volutpat aliquam velit
- Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel
- Aenean sit amet erat nunc
- Eget porttitor lorem
The HTML looks like this:
<ol>
<li>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet</li>
<li>Consectetur adipiscing elit</li>
<li>Integer molestie lorem at massa</li>
<li>Facilisis in pretium nisl aliquet</li>
<li>Nulla volutpat aliquam velit</li>
<li>Faucibus porta lacus fringilla vel</li>
<li>Aenean sit amet erat nunc</li>
<li>Eget porttitor lorem</li>
</ol>
Task Lists
Task lists allow you to create a list of items with checkboxes. To create a task list, add dashes (-) and brackets with a space ([ ]) before task list items. To select a checkbox, add an x in between the brackets ([x]).
- [x] Write the press release
- [ ] Update the website
- [ ] Contact the media
The rendered output looks like this:
- Write the press release
- Update the website
- Contact the media
Code
Inline Code
Wrap inline snippets of code with `.
In this example, `<section></section>` should be wrapped as **code**.
The rendered output looks like this:
In this example, <section></section> should be wrapped as code.
The HTML looks like this:
<p>
In this example, <code><section></section></code> should be wrapped with <strong>code</strong>.
</p>
Indented Code
Or indent several lines of code by at least four spaces, as in:
// Some comments
line 1 of code
line 2 of code
line 3 of code
The rendered output looks like this:
// Some comments
line 1 of code
line 2 of code
line 3 of code
The HTML looks like this:
<pre>
<code>
// Some comments
line 1 of code
line 2 of code
line 3 of code
</code>
</pre>
Tables
Tables are created by adding pipes as dividers between each cell, and by adding a line of dashes (also separated by bars) beneath the header. Note that the pipes do not need to be vertically aligned.
| Option | Description |
| ------ | ----------- |
| data | path to data files to supply the data that will be passed into templates. |
| engine | engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is the default. |
| ext | extension to be used for dest files. |
The rendered output looks like this:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| data | path to data files to supply the data that will be passed into templates. |
| engine | engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is the default. |
| ext | extension to be used for dest files. |
The HTML looks like this:
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Option</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>data</td>
<td>path to data files to supply the data that will be passed into templates.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>engine</td>
<td>engine to be used for processing templates. Handlebars is the default.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>ext</td>
<td>extension to be used for dest files.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Links
Basic Link
<https://assemble.io>
<contact@revolunet.com>
[Assemble](https://assemble.io)
The rendered output looks like this (hover over the link, there is no tooltip):
The HTML looks like this:
<a href="https://assemble.io">https://assemble.io</a>
<a href="mailto:contact@revolunet.com">contact@revolunet.com</a>
<a href="https://assemble.io">Assemble</a>
Add a Title
[Upstage](https://github.com/upstage/ "Visit Upstage!")
The rendered output looks like this (hover over the link, there should be a tooltip):
The HTML looks like this:
<a href="https://github.com/upstage/" title="Visit Upstage!">Upstage</a>
Named Anchors
Named anchors enable you to jump to the specified anchor point on the same page. For example, each of these chapters:
## Table of Contents
* [Chapter 1](#chapter-1)
* [Chapter 2](#chapter-2)
* [Chapter 3](#chapter-3)
will jump to these sections:
## Chapter 1 <a id="chapter-1"></a>
Content for chapter one.
## Chapter 2 <a id="chapter-2"></a>
Content for chapter one.
## Chapter 3 <a id="chapter-3"></a>
Content for chapter one.
Footnotes
Footnotes allow you to add notes and references without cluttering the body of the document. When you create a footnote, a superscript number with a link appears where you added the footnote reference. Readers can click the link to jump to the content of the footnote at the bottom of the page.
To create a footnote reference, add a caret and an identifier inside brackets ([^1]). Identifiers can be numbers or words, but they can’t contain spaces or tabs. Identifiers only correlate the footnote reference with the footnote itself — in the output, footnotes are numbered sequentially.
Add the footnote using another caret and number inside brackets with a colon and text ([^1]: My footnote.). You don’t have to put footnotes at the end of the document. You can put them anywhere except inside other elements like lists, block quotes, and tables.
This is a digital footnote[^1].
This is a footnote with "label"[^label]
[^1]: This is a digital footnote
[^label]: This is a footnote with "label"
This is a digital footnote1.
This is a footnote with "label"2
This is a digital footnote 2: This is a footnote with "label"
Images
Images have a similar syntax to links but include a preceding exclamation point.
or:
Like links, images also have a footnote style syntax:
![Alt text][id]
With a reference later in the document defining the URL location:
[id]: https://octodex.github.com/images/dojocat.jpg "The Dojocat"