Markdown.md

Markdown

Spec Markdown is first and foremost Markdown. More specifically, it's based on Github-flavored Markdown.

This section explains the syntax and capabilities of Markdown that Spec Markdown supports and augments.

Character Encoding

Markdown allows you to write text which uses &, <, and >. The output HTML will automatically use the &, <, and > entities.

Well formed HTML entities can be written inline directly. If you write ©, it will appear in the HTML output as ©.

Escape sequence

Markdown makes use of certain characters to format text, in order to render one explicitly, place a backslash before it.

You can type *literal asterisks* instead of emphasis by typing \*literal asterisks\*.

Escaping does not apply within code.

Spec Markdown provides backslash escapes for the following characters:

\   backslash
`   backtick
*   asterisk
_   underscore
{}  curly braces
[]  square brackets
()  parentheses
#   hash mark
+   plus sign
-   minus sign (hyphen)
.   dot
!   exclamation mark
<   less-than    <-- added in Spec Markdown
>   greater-than <-- added in Spec Markdown
|   pipe         <-- added in Spec Markdown

Inline formatting

Markdown allows for inline stylistic and structual formatting. Inline formatting is allowed in paragraphs, list items, and table cells.

Inline HTML

Markdown is not a replacement for HTML and instead leverages HTML by allowing its use inline within paragraphs, links, etc.

This code has blinking and emphasized formatting.

Markdown syntax can continue to be used within inline HTML.

Links

Use [ ] square brackets to indicate linked text followed immediately by ( ) parenthesis to describe the URL the text will link to.

The linked text can contain any other inline formatting.

This is an [-->*example*<--](https://www.facebook.com) of a link.

Produces the following:

This is an -->example<-- of a link.

Todo: Links do not yet support a reference style short-form.

Todo: Links do not yet support a title attribute.

Emphasis

Wrapping asterisks (*) indicate emphasis. Like Github-flavored Markdown, Spec Markdown does not treat underscore (_) as emphasis.

Example of **bold** and *italic* and ***bold italic***.

Produces the following:

Example of bold and italic and bold italic.

Inline Code

Wrapping back-ticks (`) indicate inline code, text inside back-ticks is not formatted, allowing for special characters to be used in inline code without escapes.

This is an `example` of some inline code.

Produces

This is an example of some inline code.

Todo: Markdown's double-back-tick syntax is not yet supported.

Images

![Specs](http://i.imgur.com/aV8o3rE.png)

Produces the following:

Also, consider using images for support of more complex features like graph diagrams. For example, with Graviso:

![How spec-md works](http://g.gravizo.com/svg?
  digraph specmd {
    markdown [shape=box];
    ast [shape=box];
    html [shape=box];
    markdown -> parse [weight=8];
    parse -> ast;
    ast -> print;
    edge [color=red];
    print -> html;
  }
)

Produces the following:


TODO: the title attribute is not yet supported

Blocks

Markdown allows for block-level structual formatting. Every block is seperated by at least two new lines. Spec Markdown makes use of Markdown's blocks to produce more specific structural formatting.

Block HTML

Markdown is not a replacement for HTML and instead leverages HTML by allowing its use as complete blocks when separated from surrounding content by blank lines.

Note: Markdown formatting syntax is not processed within block-level HTML tags.

For example, to add an HTML table to a Markdown article:

Unrelated previous paragraph followed by a blank line

<table>
<tr>
<td>Table cell</td>
<td>

<table>
<tr>
<td>*Tables in tables*</td>
</tr>
</table>

</td>
</tr>
</table>

Produces the following:

Unrelated previous paragraph followed by a blank line

Table cell

*Tables in tables*

And using <pre> produces a simple code block:

<pre>
Buffalo Bill ’s
defunct
       who used to
       ride a watersmooth-silver
                                stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
                                                 Jesus
he was a handsome man
                     and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death
</pre>

Produces the following:

Buffalo Bill ’s
defunct
       who used to
       ride a watersmooth-silver
                                stallion
and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat
                                                 Jesus
he was a handsome man
                     and what i want to know is
how do you like your blueeyed boy
Mister Death

Section Headers

Regular Markdown supports two styles of headers, Setext and atx, however Spec Markdown generally only supports atx style headers.

# Header

Setext headers are not supported by Spec Markdown.

Header
------

The number of # characters refers to the depth of the section. To produce an, <h3>, type ###. Optionally, a header may be "closed" by any number of # characters.

Note: Spec Markdown requires that documents start with # and that each section contained within is only one level deeper. An <h1> section may only contain <h2> sections.

Paragraphs

Paragraphs are the most simple Markdown blocks. Lines are appended together to form a single <p> tag. Any inline syntax is allowed within a paragraph.

Lists

Markdown lists are lines which each start with either a ordered bullet 1. or unordered bullet, *, -, or +. Lists are optionally indented by two spaces.

Lists can be nested within other lists by indenting by at least two spaces.

  1. this
  2. is
  3. a
    - nested
  4. list

Produces the following:

1. this
2. is
3. a - nested
4. list

Code Block

A block of code is formed by either indenting by 4 spaces, or wrapping with ``` on their own lines.

```
var code = sample();
```

Produces the following:

var code = sample();

Block Quotes

Spec markdown does not yet support Markdown's > style block quotes.

Horizontal Rules

Spec Markdown does not yet support Markdown's --- style <hr>.

Automatic Links

Spec Markdown does not yet automatically link urls.