Markdown is a language that can be used to add formatting and design to otherwise plain text. The set of editing rules in Markdown allows the user to make common changes such as: bolding, italics, strikethroughs, etc. However a user is not limited to just simple text editing in Markdown, they can also use it to create links within a page and add images or gifs. A way I like to think of it is that Markdown is more user friendly than HTML but harder than Microsoft Word which allows one to edit text with just the click of a button. Markdown is a wonderful tool which allows us to create simple websites, notes, books, etc.
History Time: Markdown was created by John Gruber and the Aaron Swartz (deceased) in 2004. If you have time, take a look at the history for these two as they both have made interesting contributions in technology
Instead of Markdown, some of us prefer WYSIWG editors such as HTML or CSS. What is a WYSIWYG editor? Well first what does that unecessarily long abbreviation stand for? WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get”. In terms of computing/software development, this refers to creation or input of content which will appear similar to the final output or displayed product.
Headings - Creating a heading like the one above requires using a # followed by your desired text. Between 1-6 hashtags can be used to make a heading larger or smaller respectively. The above heading was created as follows: ### Basic Syntax for Markdown
Emphasis - Creating emphasis requires us to bold, italicize, strikethrough, or use some other combintion. We can bold by adding 2 asterisks before and after a word such as **word**, italics require only 1 asterisk such as *word*, and a combination of both requires 3 asterisks such as ***word***
For more detailed information on Markdown syntax please refer to this GitHub Doc.