- What is Markdown and why is it used?
- Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It uses plain-text symbols (e.g. # for headings, ** for bold) to represent formatting, making it easy to write without HTML tags. It is widely used for README files, documentation, blogs, and content management systems.
- What Markdown syntax is supported?
- The converter supports headings (# through ######), bold (**text**), italic (*text*), strikethrough (~~text~~), inline code (`code`), fenced code blocks (```), unordered lists (- item), blockquotes (> text), horizontal rules (---), links ([text](url)), and images ().
- What is the difference between CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown?
- CommonMark is a standardised Markdown specification. GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) extends CommonMark with tables, task lists, strikethrough, and auto-linked URLs. This converter implements core CommonMark plus GFM strikethrough. For full GFM including tables, consider a dedicated library like marked or remark.
- Can I use the output HTML directly in a webpage?
- Yes, the HTML output is valid, semantic HTML that can be pasted into any webpage. For styling, wrap the output in a container with CSS classes or use a typography framework like Tailwind CSS prose classes or GitHub's markdown CSS stylesheet.
- Is Markdown case-sensitive?
- Yes. # must be lowercase and at the start of a line. **Bold** requires matching asterisks. Link syntax [text](url) is case-sensitive for the URL. Heading levels use exactly 1–6 hash symbols with a space after them.
- How do I add a table in Markdown?
- GFM table syntax uses | as column separators with a header row and a separator row: | Header | Header | \n | --- | --- | \n | Cell | Cell |. This converter's built-in parser does not yet support tables — for table support, use the marked JavaScript library.
- Where is Markdown used in practice?
- GitHub (README files, issues, pull requests), GitLab, Bitbucket, Stack Overflow, Reddit, Discord, Notion, Obsidian, Ghost CMS, Jekyll/Hugo/Gatsby static site generators, Jupyter notebooks, and most modern documentation platforms all support Markdown natively.