Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown is now one of the world’s most popular markup languages.
You might be wondering why people use Markdown instead of a WYSIWYG editor. Why write with Markdown when you can press buttons in an interface to format your text? As it turns out, there are a couple different reasons why people use Markdown instead of WYSIWYG editors.
Markdown can be used for everything. People use it to create websites, documents, notes, books, presentations, email messages, and technical documentation.
Markdown is portable. Files containing Markdown-formatted text can be opened using virtually any application. If you decide you don’t like the Markdown application you’re currently using, you can import your Markdown files into another Markdown application. That’s in stark contrast to word processing applications like Microsoft Word that lock your content into a proprietary file format.
Markdown is platform independent. You can create Markdown-formatted text on any device running any operating system.
Markdown is future proof. Even if the application you’re using stops working at some point in the future, you’ll still be able to read your Markdown-formatted text using a text editing application. This is an important consideration when it comes to books, university theses, and other milestone documents that need to be preserved indefinitely.
Markdown is everywhere. Websites like Reddit and GitHub support Markdown, and lots of desktop and web-based applications support it.
| Title | Content | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Bold | Markdown | Add ** before and after the content. |
| Italics | Markdown | Add _ before and after the content. |
| Strikethrough | Add ~~ before and after the content. | |
| Link | Markdown | Add link name inside [] and add url inside (). |
| Image |  |
Use alternate text inside ![] and use image url inside (). |
| hr | Use — for horizontal rule. | |
| Hard break | Use double enter for hard break | |
| Soft break | Use double space for soft break | |
| h1 | Use # for Markdown | |
| h2 | Use ## for Markdown | |
| h3 | Use ### for Markdown | |
| h4 | Use #### for Markdown | |
| h5 | Use ##### for Markdown | |
| h6 | Use ###### for Markdown | |
| Ordered list | 1. apple. 2. orange. 3. grapes. |
Use order for ordered list like numbers, alphabets etc. |
| Unordered list | * apple * orange * grapes |
Use * for unordered list. |
For table use the following format:
| table-heading |
|---|
| table-data |
{:.table}
Example for the table:
| table-heading |
|---|
| table-data |
For task list use the following format:
- [x] this is a complete item
- [ ] this is an incomplete item
- [x] @mentions, #refs, [links](),
**formatting**, and <del>tags</del>
supported
- [x] list syntax required (any
unordered or ordered list
supported)
Example for task list: