Markdown Lite

[John Gruber]

Matthew Mullenweg <m at mullenweg.com> wrote on 01/09/05 at 5:55pm:

> In the spirit of:
> 
> "Markdown is not a replacement for HTML, or even close to it. Its syntax 
> is very small, corresponding only to a very small subset of HTML tags. 
> The idea is not to create a syntax that makes it easier to insert HTML 
> tags. In my opinion, HTML tags are already easy to insert. The idea for 
> Markdown is to make it easy to read, write, and edit prose."
> 
> If the project were to head in a "heavier" direction seeking to replace 
> more of HTML (attributes, classes, IDs) might I suggest a limited subset 
> of the Markdown syntax (dubbed "Lite") be standardized at the same time, 
> allowing for a fast, easy-to-learn and -remember writing syntax that had 
> Markdown's robust handling of core constructs.

This is the best criticism thus far. The bigger question I'm mulling
over isn't the specifics of how to assign tag attributes, but
rather, does doing this at all fit into Markdown.

I'm leaning toward "yes", which is why I've started this thread, but
there's no doubt in my mind that it toes the line.

But to me, something like this:

    > The 6A comment spam article was written by John Gruber?
    
    {cite = "http://photomatt.net/2005/01/06/6a-aquires-gruber/"}

Is actually pretty Markdown-y, in terms of figuring out a way for
blockquotes to include cite attributes pointing to the source URL.

And I'll emphasize that this entire feature is something that
Markdown users will never need to worry about if they don't care
about it. They should never trigger it by accident. The question is,
is it worthwhile for the people who might use it?


> My personal interest in this is that it would be more in line with the 
> philosophy of the tools I'm working on.

How do you think it differs from the philosophy those tools?

The other big idea I'm thinking about is a mode -- or an off-shoot
of Markdown, where existing 'raw' HTML tags are stripped out.
Markdown seems to be getting a lot of use in comment forms, and I
think allowing HTML tags in comment forms is a horrible idea.

-J.G.