{"id":7837,"date":"2014-12-23T12:12:48","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T19:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=7837"},"modified":"2014-12-23T12:12:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T19:12:48","slug":"markdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=7837","title":{"rendered":"Markdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Markdown is a text based language basically designed to allow you to do simple code while working in a text editor. The curious can learn more here: daringfireball.net\/projects\/markdown\/<\/a>. I bring this up because as it is approaching the end of the year, I have been tidying up my annual book list (2013<\/a>, 2012<\/a>) to get ready to post in the new year. In the past I have prepared the formatting of this list\u00a0a number of ways from using search and replace to typing it directly into WordPress.\u00a0In the end, I have found that maintaining a text file using IA Writer which syncs between all my mobile devices and that has the prepared html code has been easiest. I use this:<\/p>\n

<i><strong>title<\/strong><\/i> author (date)<br>
\n<b>series<\/b> Book # – ebook; reread<\/p>\n

And it shows\u00a0this:
\ntitle<\/strong><\/i> author (date)
\nseries<\/b> Book # – ebook; reread<\/p>\n

I simply copy and paste the code, fill in the proper info and am good to go. The only downside is occasionally I forget to copy the code and then have to recreate the code template. But that’s not too much effort so I haven’t worried about it. But a little reading about Markdown is convincing me that next year I should be able to simplify the procedure. The theory is if I type:<\/p>\n

_**Cally's War**_ John Ringo &amp; Julie Cochrane (2004)<\/code>
\n**Cally's War** Book 1 - ebook; reread<\/code><\/p>\n

It should come out as:<\/p>\n

Cally’s War<\/strong><\/em> John Ringo & Julie Cochrane (2004)
\nCally’s War<\/strong> Book 1 – ebook; reread<\/p>\n

And look at that, it totally does… You can agree that it’s a whole hell of a lot less typing to format the entries using Markdown than traditional html. I just have to learn a little new syntax.<\/p>\n

To enable Markdown for use on my WordPress blog I had to activate the default JetPack plugin and sign in to WordPress.com. After that simply activating the Markdown portion converts the code on the fly without destroying the original text-based code. That should make it easier to write all sorts of entries in my text editors.<\/p>\n

Markdown Syntax<\/h3>\n

Here are a few more \u00a0examples of Markdown syntax:<\/p>\n

This is an H1\n=============\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
This is an H1<\/p>\n
===<\/p>\n
This is an H2\n-------------\n<\/code><\/pre>\n
This is an H2<\/h2>\n
or<\/p>\n
# This is an H1<\/code>
\n## This is an H2<\/code>
\n#### This is an H4<\/code><\/p>\n
etc.<\/p>\n
This is an H1<\/h1>\n
This is an H2<\/h2>\n
This is an H4<\/h4>\n
Pretty simple stuff. The rest of this post is an abridged cut-and-paste from the Markdown Syntax page<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Markdown uses ><\/code> characters for blockquoting. If you’re
\nfamiliar with quoting passages of text in an email message, then you
\nknow how to create a blockquote in Markdown. It looks best if you hard
\nwrap the text and put a ><\/code> before every line:<\/p>\n
> This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,<\/code>
\n> consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus.<\/code>
\n> Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.<\/code>
\n><\/code>
\n> Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse<\/code>
\n> id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.<\/code><\/p>\n
\n  This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
\n  consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus.
\n  Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.<\/p>\n
  Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse
\n  id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Markdown allows you to be lazy and only put the ><\/code> before the first
\nline of a hard-wrapped paragraph:<\/p>\n
\n  This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
\n  consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus.
\n  Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.<\/p>\n
  Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse
\n  id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Blockquotes can be nested (i.e. a blockquote-in-a-blockquote) by
\nadding additional levels of ><\/code>:<\/p>\n
> This is the first level of quoting.<\/code>
\n><\/code>
\n> > This is nested blockquote.<\/code>
\n><\/code>
\n> Back to the first level.<\/code><\/p>\n
\n  This is the first level of quoting.<\/p>\n
\n    This is nested blockquote.\n  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
  Back to the first level.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Markdown supports ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.<\/p>\n
Unordered lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens — interchangably
\n— as list markers:<\/p>\n
* Red<\/code>
\n* Green<\/code>
\n* Blue<\/code><\/p>\n
or<\/p>\n
+ Red<\/code>
\n+ Green<\/code>
\n+ Blue<\/code><\/p>\n
is<\/p>\n