Markdown Guide

What is Markdown and What is it Used For ?

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. More About Markdown.

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Why use Markdown?

You might be wondering why people use Markdown instead of some WYSIWYG editor, it's so much easier to press buttons on an interface to format your text. More about WYSIWYG

Turns out, there are a number of reasons to choose Markdown.

• It is extremely broad. It can be used to create websites, documents, notes, books, presentations, emails, and technical documentation.

• It is portable. Files containing Markdown-formatted text can be opened using almost any application. If you don't like the Markdown application you currently use, you can import your Markdown files into another Markdown application.

• Completely independent of the platform. You can write Markdown text on any device running any operating system.

• It is ready for the future. Even if the application you are currently using stops working at some point in the future, you can still read your Markdown text using a text editor application. This is extremely important when considering books, university theses, and other important documents that must be kept indefinitely.

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How Does it Work?

When we write in Markdown, the text is saved to a plain text file that has an extension .md or .markdown. So how do you transform your Markdown file to HTML?

The simple answer is that it requires a Markdown application capable of processing the file. There are many applications available, from small scripts to desktop applications that look like Microsoft Word. Although they have their visual differences, all applications do the same.

These Markdown applications use a Markdown processor also known as parser or implementation which takes Markdown-formatted text and outputs it to HTML format. It is after this process that your document can be viewed in a web browser or combined with a stylesheet and printed.

Example

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Syntax

Then we will look at examples of basic and structural syntax, to delve into this markup language.

Basic

Component	Syntax
Heading	# H1 ## H2 ### H3
Bold	**Text** or __text__
Italic	*text* or _text_
Blockquote	> Blockquote
Ordered List	1. First Item 2. Second Item 3. Third Item
Unordered List	- First Item - Second Item - Third Item
Horizontal Rule	---
Link	[title](https://www.example.com)
Image	
Line Break	text + double space
Comments	<!---Comment--->

Can get up to 6 different headings depending on the number of #

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Structural

Unordered List

Syntax

    - First Item
        - Sub Item
    - Second Item
    - Third Item  

Example:

• First Item
  • Sub Item
• Second Item
• Third Item

For more information, visit Markdown Unordered List.

Ordered List

Syntax

    1. First Item
        1. Sub Item
    2. Second Item
    3. Third Item

Example:

1. First Item
   1. Sub Item
2. Second Item
3. Third Item

For more information, visit Markdown Ordered List.

Table

Syntax

|Left title  | Title center | Right title |  
| :----  |  :----:  |  ----:  |  
| Left | Center | Right |  
| Left | Center | Right |  

Example:

Left title	Title	Right title
Left	Center	Right
Left	Center	Right

For more information, visit Markdown Tables.

Check List

Syntax

- [x] First option
- [ ] Second option
- [ ] Third option

Example:

• First option
• Second option
• Third option

For more information, visit Markdown Task List.

Line Break

Syntax

Text  <!---Space Space--->
another Text

Example:

Text
Another Text

Comments

Syntax

[comment]: <> (This is a comment, it will not be included)

[//]: <> (This is also a comment.)

[//]: # (This may be the most platform independent comment)`

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Another Syntaxes

Links

Syntax

[Edenia](https://edenia.com/)

Example:
Edenia

Images

Syntax

![EOS Costa Rica logo example](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/eoscostarica/design-assets/master/logos/eosCR/fullColor-horizontal-transparent-white.png)

Example:

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Videos

Syntax

<iframe width="100%" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tss1d0sow0o" frameBorder="0" allowFullScreen loading="lazy"></iframe> 

Example:

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Block Citation

Syntax

> Main Text
>> Text
>>
> * Item
> * Item
> Text 
> Final Text

Example:

Main Text

Text

• Item
• Item Text Final Text

Horizontal Rule

Syntax

---
***
- - - -

Example:

---

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Code

Javascript

Syntax

  var s = 'JavaScript syntax highlighting';
  alert(s);

Phyton

Syntax

  s = "Python syntax highlighting"
  print(s)

Function

Syntax

  function highlightMe() {
  console.log('This line can be highlighted!');
}

For more information about Markdown syntax you can visit the markdown guide Cheat Sheet

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Flavors of Markdown

The most confusing aspect of using Markdown is that almost all applications implement a slightly different version. These versions are commonly known as Flavors.

To understand the meaning of Flavors in Markdown, we can in them as dialects of the language. The people of Mexico speak Spanish just like the people of Costa Rica, but there are substantial differences between the dialects used in both countries. The same is true for those who use different Markdown apps.

So it is our job to master whatever version of Markdown we have implemented in our application.

More information about markdown.