Markdown was created in 2004 by John Gruber with one goal: make plain text readable as-is, while also converting cleanly to HTML. Twenty years later, it's everywhere — GitHub, Notion, Obsidian, Discord, Slack, every documentation tool worth using, and virtually every CMS.
If you're not fluent in Markdown yet, this is the 5-minute read that will get you there.
The Essentials
Headings
# H1 — Page title
## H2 — Section heading
### H3 — Subsection
Use only one # per page. Don't skip levels (going from # to ###).
Emphasis
**bold text**
_italic text_
***bold and italic***
~~strikethrough~~
Lists
- Unordered item
- Another item
- Nested item (2 spaces indent)
1. Ordered item
2. Second item
3. Third item
Links and Images
[Link text](https://example.com)
[Link with title](https://example.com "Hover title")
Code
Inline: surround with backticks — `const x = 1`
Block: use triple backticks with optional language:
```javascript
const greet = (name) => `Hello, ${name}!`;
```
Language hints (javascript, python, bash, json, css) enable syntax highlighting in most renderers.
Blockquotes
> "The best writing is rewriting." — E.B. White
Tables
| Name | Role | Available |
|---------|----------|-----------|
| JSON | Formatter | ✓ |
| Markdown | Renderer | ✓ |
Alignment: add : to the separator row:
|:---|left|---:|right|:---:|center
Horizontal Rule
---
Things That Trip People Up
Blank lines matter. Two list items with no blank line between them are one list. A blank line between them creates two.
Trailing spaces create line breaks. End a line with two spaces to force a <br>. Most of the time you want a blank line (new paragraph) instead.
HTML works inside Markdown. Most renderers allow raw HTML. Useful for things Markdown can't express — colored text, <details> dropdowns, custom layouts.
Escaping special characters. Prefix \ to use a literal *, _, #, etc.: \*not italic\*.
Markdown Flavors
Not all Markdown is the same. GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) adds:
- Task lists:
- [x] Done/- [ ] Not done - @mentions and #issue references
- Autolinked URLs
- Strikethrough with
~~
CommonMark is the standardized spec. Most modern tools follow it.
Try It Now
Open our Markdown Preview tool and write in the left pane — the rendered HTML updates on the right in real time. Split view, source-only, or preview-only. Download the result as a self-contained HTML file, or copy the rendered HTML to paste anywhere.
No account. No upload. Just write.