Why write in Markdown
Markdown gives you formatting without leaving the keyboard and without the invisible state a rich-text editor accumulates. The source is plain text, so it diffs cleanly in version control, survives being pasted between tools, and never carries hidden styling from a document you copied three months ago.
It is also close to universal now. READMEs, issue trackers, documentation sites, static site generators, note apps and chat clients all accept it, which means one syntax covers most of the writing a developer does.
Where Markdown flavours differ
Headings, emphasis, links, lists and code blocks behave the same everywhere. Beyond that, dialects diverge. Tables, strikethrough, task lists and automatic link detection come from GitHub Flavored Markdown and are not in the original specification, though most modern renderers support them.
Footnotes, definition lists and inline HTML are much less consistent. If a document has to render identically in several places, stick to the common core and test in the destination - the surprise usually arrives when a table that looked fine in one editor renders as a row of pipes somewhere else.
Getting the HTML out
The rendered HTML is useful when you are pasting into a CMS that does not accept Markdown, building an email, or generating a static page. Copy it directly rather than copying the rendered view, which picks up styling from whatever page it was displayed on.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my Markdown uploaded?
- No. Rendering happens entirely in your browser, so drafts and internal documentation never leave your device.
- Which Markdown flavour is supported?
- GitHub Flavored Markdown, which covers the standard syntax plus tables, strikethrough, task lists and automatic link detection.
- Can I copy the generated HTML?
- Yes. Copy the HTML output directly, which is what you want for a CMS or an email template - copying the rendered view instead drags along page styling.
- Why does my table not render?
- Tables are a GitHub Flavored Markdown extension, not part of original Markdown. Check that the header separator row is present and that every row has matching pipe characters.