The Markdown Guide

by Matt Cone

The Markdown Guide is a comprehensive reference to the Markdown markup language. New users will get a brief overview of the language and available applications, then hit the ground running by experimenting with the syntax. Advanced users will appreciate the careful attention to syntax details.

Genres: Computer Science, Nonfiction, Coding, Technology, Writing, Programming, Reference

51 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2018

Reviews

[Mohamad Kalaaji · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read and worth reading it as well!

Recently been using an app called Foam which utilize the use of Markdown for creating a "Second Brain" or "Zettelkasten" along with referencing your ideas together

This book provides the right amount of information to learn Markdown and I would highly recommend it!

[Carlos Ramos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is a great introduction to Markdown, specially for those who have never used a markup language, and has the huge advantage of mentioning some of the problems you might have with the processors and across different versions.
Worth a read if you are a newbie to markup languages. If you are somewhat computer literate, a cheat sheet is enough and you can skip this book.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Markdown, according to the English Wikipedia, 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 intended to be easy to read in its source code form. Markdown is widely used for blogging and instant messaging, and also used elsewhere in online forums, collaborative software, documentation pages, and readme files."

The Markdown Guide (2018) by Matt Cone is a short introduction to Markdown and is enough to get a person started. Markdown is pretty simple, so marking up your document is the easy part. You might have a little more trouble figuring out your workflow, that is, what editor you are going to use, and what software tool(s) you will use to convert your Markdown documents into your target formats (which could be HTML, LaTeX, PDF, etc.). My initial workflow uses Notepad++ as my editor, Pandoc as my converter to HTML, Firefox as my HTML previewer, and Blogger to publish the HTML. It would be simpler if Blogger accepted Markdown as an input format directly, but oh well. I was invited to guest-blog on a Blogger blog so I'm using that. I can, of course, just edit blog posts in HTML directly, but I thought it would be more fun to try Markdown. I have more experience editing in wikitext, and Markdown is somewhat similar to wikitext in that both of them are meant to be as "lightweight" as possible. The goal is to let you edit content as quickly as possible, without having to type a bunch of complex markup as you do with HTML, DocBook, or LaTeX, and for the source document to remain readable.

Since the original Markdown is very simple, lots of people have added extensions to give it more capabilities. Naturally this can lead to compatibility problems between the various tools and output formats. If you stick to simple documents you should have fewer problems. If you plan to write elaborate documents such as books, you might find yourself in a kind of walled garden as a result of your tool choice - so choose wisely.

I give the book four stars for brevity and readability, and an extra star because the electronic version is free. According to Cone:

Where to Get This Book

I want everyone to read the Markdown Guide. That’s why it’s free to download in PDF, MOBI, and EPUB format. I hope you share it with your friends and family. The vast majority of the book is also available online at https://www.markdownguide. org.

And on the title page:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

In addition to covering the Markdown syntax, Cone describes some tools. One I can probably use is the Markdown Tables Generator. I've been editing tables in wikitext the dumb way for years, usually by copying an existing table and editing it. The Tables Generator can convert tables between multiple formats (Markdown, HTML, LaTeX, wikitext) which is pretty cool. So, thanks for that.

Oddly, Cone credits Gruber for creating Markdown but doesn't mention the late Aaron Swartz. I'm not sure whether that was an oversight, or something political, but whatever.

[Oleksandr Golovatyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touch Typing (promo)

Best book notes:

Markdown has succeeded where other markup languages have failed because it strikes the right balance between power and simplicity. It’s easy to learn and simple to use. Its tremendous success means it’s ubiquitous enough to replace WYSIWYG editors on websites like Reddit and GitHub. But Markdown is also powerful enough to create documents, books, and technical documentation. Markdown is literally everywhere.

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.

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, docu- ments, 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 Mark- down 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.
Dillinger is one of the best online Markdown editors.

Heading:

# H1
## H2
### H3

Bold:

**bold text**

Italic:

*italicized text*

Blockquote:

> blockquote

Ordered List:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item

Unordered List:

- First item
- Second item
- Third item

Code:

`code`
Horizontal Rule:

---

Link:

[title](https://www.example.com):

Image:


Footnote:

Here's a sentence with a footnote. [^1]
[^1]: This is the footnote.

Task List:

- [x] Write the press release
- [ ] Update the website
- [ ] Contact the media

Learn to type without looking at the keys (promo)

[Ralph Palm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clearly written, but without some familiarity with basic HTML, it might be hard to follow. It seems oriented toward 'Markdown instead of HTML', rather than 'Markdown instead of a word processor'.

I see the appeal for people used to typing code, because the syntax is very easy. But for me, used to typing text, it seems like it would really slow me down. I suppose I could type without formatting, then go back and insert it, but then the main advantage of Markdown seems lost.

I'll give it a try. It might be useful for short texts, like -Goodreads- posts.

[Shamim Hafiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has basic coverage for content, but overall it really doesn't qualify as a book. It is a collection of articles that somehow fit one after another. Well, writing a book about the topic itself is challenging anyway since core Markdown definition is very limited on what it has to offer.

The upside of downfall is, the book is very concise for a quick read.

[Stan Skrabut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Markdown language has become increasingly indispensable for many who work with text, from developers to writers like myself. This is especially true if you use tools like ChatGPT to clean up transcripts. ChatGPT will natively export the results in  Markdown language. Preparing content for a blog post or book section can be a pain, so I sought solutions. Recently, I delved into Matt Cone’s The Markdown Guide to enhance my understanding. I immediately improved my workflow because of what I learned. Read more

[Gerardo Avalos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a swift and simple manual. It does the trick of introducing Markdown. It provides a few handy websites. I would have liked to see more examples (and difficult ones, such as introducing figures and complex tables).

[Federico Lucifredi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book form teaching resource for Markdown — concise, mapping functionality, extensions, and best practices. Not a long read, but if you like documentation in book format (I do), this is the book for Markdown syntax.

[Yazan Monshed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good book it provides good reverence for markdown language. I enjoyed reading this book

[Luke Darling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has enough references in the book to make it really useful for those learning Markdown. Markdown is pretty easy after you read this book.

[Anupama · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not worth $10. Save the money, find the info online

Great info that’s could all be found for free. If you are trying to save money, just google this info.

[Tao Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book to learn markdown syntax for beginners.

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clean and simple little guide. I'm not sure it was any more helpful than a free website, but it was also cheap.

After all, Markdown is pretty tiny.

[Russell John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect for reference when needed!

[Hugo Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ta nice.

[Pratyay Dhond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to understand, good examples and to the point! Loved it.

[Ari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple book for entry level or beginner, can read it just 2 hours.

[Igor Lobo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Básico y sencillo de leer. El lenguaje Markdown no da para mucho más que las apenas 60 páginas que tiene el libro.

[Abdul-Haleem Osama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice & Simple View of Markdown

[Mahlangu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good intro to Markdown that is easy to read and understand. It basically goes over the basics of Markdown with great examples to show how it works.

[Soban Ejaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you need offline reference book for Markdown then it is the book.

I just skimmed through it to learn most of it in under 15 mins.

[Monqeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

لغة "مارك داون" ليست لغة برمجية ولكنها أشبه بالأكواد التي كنا نستخدمها في المنتديات، وتستخدم في تنسيق الصفحات التقنية للبرامج والتطبيقات على المتصفح أو ما يسمى Documentation
وأشهر مكان تراها فيه هو صفحات البرامج مفتوحة المصدر على GitHub
تحت عنوان README.md

كتاب لطيف وسهل، يضع المثال بلغة مارك داون
وأيضا بلغة HTML المسؤولة عن كتابة الهيكل الأساسي لأي صفحة انترنت.

وكأي لغة برمجية كانت أو غير برمجية، فإن الممارسة هي ما تجعلك تحفظ

[Vũ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Markdown là một thứ tuyệt vời. Nó đơn gian hóa mọi thứ ta cần khi soạn thảo một văn bản nào đó. Cuốn sách này cũng vậy nó đơn gian hóa cho ta việc học và hiểu markdown. Với cuốn ebook này một đứa trẻ cũng có thể sử dụn markdown mà không cần biết quan nhiều về kỹ thuật hay công nghệ. Cuốn sách có phong cách trình bày đơn gian và rất đẹp có những ví dụ trực quan và phù hợp cho tất cả mọi người. Hơn nữa cuốn sách này hoàn toàn miễn phí. Cảm ơn tác giả rất nhiều.