Online Markdown editor: text formatting for the web
Markdown is a lightweight markup language created by John Gruber in 2004. It allows adding formatting (bold, italic, headings, lists) using plain text symbols, which are then converted to HTML. It is the de facto standard for technical documentation, GitHub READMEs, and blogs.
Basic Markdown syntax
- # Heading H1, ## H2, ### H3
- **bold**, *italic*, ~~strikethrough~~
- - list item / 1. numbered list
- [text](url) for links,  for images
- `inline code`, ```code block```
- > blockquote
Markdown on popular platforms
GitHub, GitLab, Notion, Reddit, Discord, Slack, and many other platforms use Markdown or variants of it. Each platform may have its own extensions (GitHub Flavored Markdown adds tables, task lists, and user mentions).
Markdown vs. HTML
Markdown is more readable in plain text but less powerful than HTML. Use Markdown for content people will also read in raw format (READMEs, documentation), and HTML when you need full control over design.