Forgetful Notes

Markdown

Markdown is a lightweight markup language that allows you to add formatting elements to plaintext documents. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown is now one of the world’s most popular markup languages. Its philosophy emphasizes readability above all else—a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it’s been marked up with tags or formatting instructions.

Info

This website’s content is exclusively written in Markdown. A Markdown Cheat Sheet is also available for quick reference.

Core Philosophy

Markdown’s syntax is intended for one purpose: to be used as a format for writing for the web. It’s not a replacement for HTML—rather, it’s designed to make reading, writing, and editing prose easier. HTML is a publishing format; Markdown is a writing format.

The syntax consists entirely of punctuation characters that have been carefully chosen to look like what they mean. Asterisks around a word look like emphasis, and Markdown lists look like actual lists.

Essential Syntax

Headers

Create headers using # symbols—the number indicates the level:

# Level 1 Header (H1)
## Level 2 Header (H2)
### Level 3 Header (H3)

Text Formatting

  • Bold: **text** or __text__
  • Italic: *text* or _text_
  • Bold and Italic: ***text***
  • Strikethrough: ~~text~~
  • inline code

Lists

Unordered lists use -, *, or +:

- Item 1
- Item 2
  - Sub-item

Ordered lists use numbers:

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
  • Links: [Link text](URL "Optional title")
  • Images: ![Alt text](image-url "Optional title")
  • Reference-style links: [Link text][reference-label]

Code Blocks

Use triple backticks with an optional language specifier for syntax highlighting.

```javascript
function hello() {
  console.log("Hello, world!");
}
```

Markdown Flavors

One of the most confusing aspects of using Markdown is that practically every Markdown application implements a slightly different version of Markdown. These variants of Markdown are commonly referred to as flavors.

CommonMark

CommonMark is a standardized version of Markdown that aims to create a consistent and universally understood specification. Around 2012, CommonMark was created as a formal and unambiguous specification, providing the foundation for many other implementations.

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) is a popular superset of CommonMark. It adds features like:

  • Tables: Using pipe characters | to separate columns.
  • Task lists: - [ ] for unchecked, - [x] for checked.
  • Strikethrough: ~~text~~
  • Syntax highlighting: In fenced code blocks.
  • Autolinks: Automatic linking of URLs.

Obsidian Flavored Markdown

Obsidian markdown extends standard Markdown with features for personal knowledge management:

  • Wiki-style links: [[Note Title]] for creating internal links between notes.
  • Block references: [[Note^block-id]] to link to a specific block in another note.
  • Embeds: ![[Note Title]] to embed the content of one note within another.
  • Tags: #tag for organization.

Extended Syntax Features

Many Markdown processors support additional elements beyond the basic syntax.

Tables

| Header 1 | Header 2 | Header 3 |
|:---------|:--------:|---------:|
| Left     | Center   | Right    |
| Cell 4   | Cell 5   | Cell 6   |

Task Lists

- [x] Finish project proposal
- [ ] Review pull request
- [ ] Deploy to production

Admonitions

Many static site generators support special blockquotes for callouts.

> [!note]
> 
> This is a note.
 
> [!tip]
> 
> This is a tip.
 
> [!warning]
> 
> This is a warning.
 
> [!danger]
> 
> This is a dangerous action.

Footnotes

Here's a sentence with a footnote.[^1]
 
[^1]: This is the footnote content.

Markdown’s simplicity and versatility make it an excellent choice for documentation, note-taking, and web content creation. Whether you’re writing technical documentation, maintaining a digital garden, or creating content for the web with static site generators, Markdown provides the perfect balance of readability and functionality. Many developers use Markdown alongside Git for version control, creating a powerful workflow for documentation and content management.

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