This is part of my article about plain text formatting.

Markdown

From this:

**I write in plain text a lot**. I want to put stuff on the web a lot. Oftentimes it's the stuff I already wrote in plain text. I wondered if I could learn some conventions that would **convert to XHTML for no extra work** after I'd written the plain text. In fact, I am writing this article now in [Ultraedit](http://www.ultraedit.com/) and later it will go on [bluebones.net](http://bluebones.net) in HTML. And as I wrote ultraedit I wanted to put a link in for that very reason but wasn't sure whether to or not because it then makes this file html and I'd need to go back and put in

tags and so on. Let's just say that I think learning one of these formats would be A Good Idea[tm]. For those wondering **why I don't write in HTML all the time** check out [these good reasons](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyDoesntWikiDoHtml). This seems to have been the [rationale behind Markdown](http://daringfireball.net/2004/03/dive_into_markdown). There are also numerous other text formats like [Textile](http://www.textism.com/tools/textile/) and [Almost Free Text](http://www.maplefish.com/todd/aft.html) with similar or identical motivations. I don't want to learn them all, so which one to pick? I couldn't find a good comparison or even much of a list of alternatives via Google. Answer: have a face off.

To this:

I write in plain text a lot. I want to put stuff on the web a lot.
Oftentimes it's the stuff I already wrote in plain text. I wondered if I could learn some conventions that would convert to XHTML for no extra work after I'd written the plain text. In fact, I am writing this article now in Ultraedit and later it will go on bluebones.net in HTML. And as I wrote ultraedit I wanted to put a link in for that very reason but wasn't sure whether to or not because it then makes this file html and I'd need to go back and put in

tags and so on. Let's just say that I think learning one of these formats would be A Good Idea[tm].

For those wondering why I don't write in HTML all the time check out these good reasons.

This seems to have been the rationale behind Markdown. There are also numerous other text formats like Textile and Almost Free Text with similar or identical motivations. I don't want to learn them all, so which one to pick? I couldn't find a good comparison or even much of a list of alternatives via Google. Answer: have a face off.

The Tests

Two pieces of text to test. A news story from the BBC and this very article

Some things I definitely want the winner to be able to do are:

Unordered lists
Like this one

and

# Code examples like this.
print "This is essential!"

The quality of tools available is also a big plus. For this to reap rewards I must be able to go effortlessly from text to XHTML and (strongly preferred) back again.

And then back to this:

Markdown was the only format where I got a tool working that could do the conversion back again.

**I write in plain text a lot**. I want to put stuff on the web a lot. Oftentimes it's the stuff I already wrote in plai
n text. I wondered if I could learn some conventions that would **convert to XHTML for no extra work after I'd written t
he plain text. In fact, I am writing this article now in [Ultraedit][1] and later it will go on [bluebones.net][2] in HT
ML. And as I wrote ultraedit I wanted to put a link in for that very reason but wasn't sure whether to or not because it
 then makes this file html and I'd need to go back and put in

tags and so on. Let's just say that I think learning one of these formats would be A Good Idea[tm].

For those wondering **why I don't write in HTML all the time** check out [these good reasons][3].

This seems to have been the [rationale behind Markdown][4]. There are also numerous other text formats like [Textile][5]
 and [Almost Free Text][6] with similar or identical motivations. I don't want to learn them all, so which one to pick?
I couldn't find a good comparison or even much of a list of alternatives via Google. Answer: have a face off.

## The Tests

Two pieces of text to test. A [news story from the BBC][7] and [this very article][8]

Some things I definitely want the winner to be able to do are:

  * Unordered lists
  * Like this one

and


    # Code examples like this.
    print "This is essential!"


The quality of tools available is also a big plus. For this to reap rewards I must be able to go effortlessly from text
to XHTML and (strongly preferred) back again.

   [1]: http://www.ultraedit.com/
   [2]: http://bluebones.net
   [3]: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WhyDoesntWikiDoHtml
   [4]: http://daringfireball.net/2004/03/dive_into_markdown
   [5]: http://www.textism.com/tools/textile/
   [6]: http://www.maplefish.com/todd/aft.html
   [7]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4259969.stm
   [8]: http://bluebones.net/news/default.asp?action=read_story&story_id=94