How to use Markdown

The quick and easy way to format web pages

Markdown makes formatting text for web pages super easy and intuitive. There's just a few things you need to know. Use this page as a reference until you get the hang of it.

Take a look at the examples below. You type a few text characters for Markdown syntax that will create the HTML code displayed underneath each example.

URL link

Type the < and > characters on each end. Use this format to make a web address URL into a clickable link.
<http://www.example.com>
http://www.example.com

Email link

Use this format to make an email address into a clickable link.
<address@example.com>
address@example.com

Center align text

Add -> before and <- to the end to center all text in between. Use this format to make stuff appear in the middle of the page
->THIS TEXT IS IN THE CENTER!<-
Will be displayed centered:
THIS TEXT IS IN THE CENTER!

Bold and italic text

*one asterisk on each end makes the text italic*
one asterisk on each end makes text italic

**two asterisks on each end makes text bold**
two asterisks on each end makes text bold

***three asterisk on each end makes text bold and italic***
three asterisk on each end makes text bold and italic

Text link

Use brackets around the text that will be clickable. and parentheses around the URL next to it. This format makes any text into a clickable link.
This is an [example link](http://example.com/).
This is an example link.

Multiple links can be done like this

This is a more advanced way to format lots of text links. Place brackets around the text you want clickable, and then add corresponding numbers in this format:
I use [Google][1] more than [Yahoo][2] or [Bing][3].
[1]: http://google.com/ "Google Search"
[2]: http://search.yahoo.com/ "Yahoo Search"
[3]: http://www.bing.com/ "Bing Search"
Will display this:
I use Google more than Yahoo or Bing.

Online images

You can display an online image using the URL in this format. The brackets contain the alt text for screen readers, and parentheses go around the URL next to it.

Image links

To make an image into a clickable link to a web page you need the URL for the link and the URL for the image.
[![alt text][2]][1]
[1]: http://www.google.com/
[2]: http://simplpost.com/images/sample1.jpg (hover text)
Will display this:

Headings or headlines

These are made by placing pound signs at start of the line

#Heading 1

Heading 1

##Heading 2

Heading 2

###Heading 3

Heading 3

####Heading 4

Heading 4

#####Heading 5

Heading 5

Bullet lists

A list is made by making plus signs the first character of a new line. There needs to be a blank line above each item in the list, and a space between the plus sign and the text of the item.

+ Candy.

+ Gum.

+ Booze.

Will be displayed as:

• Candy.
• Gum.
• Booze.

Blockquotes

> Greater than sign at the start of each line makes a blockquote
> This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,
> consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus.
> Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.
>
> Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse
> id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

Greater than sign at beginning of each line makes a blockquote

This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.

Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

Code blocks

Four or more spaces at the start of a line gets converted into a block of code.
And it gets displayed like this.

Four or more spaces at the start of a line gets converted into a block of code.

And it gets displayed like this.

Horizontal rules

*****

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A row of asterisks make a horizontal line across the page.