Markdown generates invalid html for a list immediately followed by a quote

[Michel Fortin]

Le 2007-05-22 à 23:48, Matt Kraai a écrit :


> * foo

> > bar

> > baz


Although it should certainly be valid HTML, the output Markdown  
should generate for that is a pretty tricky question in my opinion. I  
see three valid interpretations according to the Markdown syntax  
documentation. Here is the simplest:

     <ul>
     <li>foo
     > bar
     > baz</li>
     </ul>

It also happens to be PHP Markdown's output. bar and baz are taken as  
part of the list item since the following lines do not need to be  
indented, and since the list item does not contain any blank line the  
content gets treated as a span-level, hence no blockquote.

The next one is what most people would expect I think:

     <ul>
     <li>foo</li>
     </ul>

     <blockquote>
       <p>bar
       baz</p>
     </blockquote>

Blockquote markers are obeyed and are on the same level as the list  
since they aren't indented.

Third option:

     <ul>
     <li><p>foo</p>

     <blockquote>
       <p>bar
       baz</p>
     </blockquote></li>
     </ul>

Blockquote markers are seen as inside the list item since adjacent  
lines do not need indentation, and are obeyed making the list item  
content's block-level.

I think, as a general rule, the explicit syntax should take  
precedence over the lazy one. This would make the second option above  
the preferred one over the others. Other tricky cases could work like  
the following.

A list item containing a "foo" paragraph and a "bar baz" blockquote:

     *   foo
         > bar
         > baz

A list item containing a "foo" paragraph and a "bar" blockquote,  
followed by a "baz" blockquote:

     *   foo
         > bar
     > baz

A list item containing a "foo" paragraph, followed by a "bar baz"  
blockquote:

     *   foo
         > bar
     baz

A list item containing "foo" (no paragraph), followed by a blockquote  
containing "bar", followed by a list item containing "baz" (no  
paragraph):

     * foo
     > bar
     * baz

Basically, I'd eliminate any "half-lazy" syntax were you can be lazy  
about list item indentation while not being lazy on blockquote  
markers. This just creates confusion; syntax markers shouldn't be  
allowed to be lazy.

Removing half-lazy things would also fix a surprising issue with  
blockquotes:

     > foo
     > > bar
     > baz

This would be seen as a blockquote containing a "foo" paragraph, a  
nested "bar" blockquote and a "baz" paragraph, instead of the  
completly counter-intuitive output produced today. To make "baz" part  
of the nested blockquote, you would either go the explicit route:

     > foo
     > > bar
     > > baz

or the lazy route:

     > foo
     > > bar
     baz

but not something in between.


Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://www.michelf.com/