Markdown Extra Specification (First Draft)

[Jacob Rus]

Sherwood Botsford wrote:

> four things:

> 1. Sometimes the link is *(@*&^(^ long. So if I'm editing with vi, I 

> have everything else in 60-70 column

> lines, then this great bloody honker.


Vi can't handle line wrap?  Why do you need to look at the end of the URL?


> Eg. the usual unix convention of \ with optional trailing whitespace

> means continued on next line, with the \ and whitespace going to the bit 

> bucket.


There's an RFC which recommends wrapping URIs in plain text in `<>`s.  I 
suggest if you are bothered by long lines, you use that format.



> 2. I'd like some way to hook references to an external file, or database 

> lookup instead of doing them internally.


Just make a tool which concatenates your files first, then runs markdown 
on it.


> 3. Why three versions of quoting characters for the title?


Presumably either in case you want to use the others in the title, or 
just so you don't have to think about what the quoting character is when 
you're writing.  I think it's unnecessary.


> 4. Why the <> around the URI?


There is as mentioned an RFC which recommends this.  It has been the 
accepted format in plain-text emails for decades.


> Since many tables are done without a title or header, the pipe syntax is 

> the usual.

> You can spent some time pretty printing it.

> Suggested implementation would have warnings when the number of cells 

> per row is inconsistent.


Go back and look through this list's archives.  3-4 years ago there was 
a long and fruitful discussion of table syntax.


> I suggested that * be used for strong (default bold) and _ be used for

> emphasis. (default italic) This gives three combinations possible with 

> the same set of symbols, and fits the general  intuitive nature of

> markdown.



> 2.4.6 Hard line break

> This one bites me regularly, as I learned to touch type in high school 

> and to end a sentence with [...]

> 

> I would favour ending a line with a forward slash. You sometimes see 


I put your chances of selling John on these at about zero.

-Jacob