MarkDown Language

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Introduction

MarkDown is markup language used for basic text formatting introduced by John Gruber in 2004. In comparison to WYSIWYG editors where user is using dedicated buttons to format text, by using MarkDown, user is using simple syntax that is indicating how the format of the text should look like later on. Files written in markdown are usually using .md extension. Let’s try some basic examples.

Simple structure

  • Headings: uses # Title for H1, ## Title for H2, etc.
  • Bold and italic uses asterisk as guiding symbol **bold**, *italic*, ***bold and italic***
  • For lists we can use simple – or * for basic formatting, for sublists tabulator at begining
  • For weblink we can use two approaches, either simple <www.google.com>, or more difficult [Web Link](www.google.com)
  • or a quote using > at the beginning of the text

Where to use it

There are mainly two areas where MarkDown language is practically useful. First is software documentation where versioning tools can easily compare and merge together two versions of the text without any difficulties. Therefore, it is used as primary platform for creating wiki pages for developers within several platforms like Azure DevOps, GitLab, etc.

Second, quite beneficial use case is for simple note taking applications where MarDown language getting more and more support. There are several examples that can be mentioned. Simplenote for simple note taking or Bear that is more advanced note taking tool build mainly for Mac ecosystem.

Another option can be taken simple text editing and MacDown tool represents simple text editor utilizing the power of MarkDown language.

Conclusion

From my perspective simplicity of the language allows to use it in many different scenarios. Language is practical mainly for IT professionals where changes in the text can be easily compared and merged together. On the other hand more complex formatting of the text is not so convenient and in the tools like MS Word can be achieved more from the perspective of text visualisation. On the other hand, user is loosing ability easily track changes and merge them. Therefore, I believe MarkDown language can be conveniently used mainly for creating of basic document.

Useful Links

https://www.markdownguide.org
https://macdown.uranusjr.com
https://simplenote.com
https://bear.app