What do you think about Markdown?

[Kamijou Touma]

Do any of you realize that MD started out on github? It was originally designed to be a simple formatting system for developers that are used to programming and development. What you call 'illogical and doesn't make sense' is what we programmers deal with daily.

Have you never used regex before? Have you never used python or javascript or php or c or c# or C++ or vb, etc before? Do you guys get just how stupid you sound with some of the stuff that has been said here?

Some of the php staff im even disapointed in as i know they use php and i know they know what regex is and yet they say the syntax doesn't make sense.

As for whether or not to use it with php. I say yes HOWEVER it must be an option PER POST like bbcode is. It should not be a replacement for bbcode but rather an optional alternative.

BBCODE should also implement things similar to MD like inline quotes and code (but thats another discussion really).

MD is mostly for those communities that do lots of programming (it has syntax highlighting which benefits these communities). I would gladly welcome it to phpbb.

[JoshyPHP]

Do any of you realize that MD started out on github?

That's not quite right, though. Markdown was invented in 2004, GitHub was founded in 2008. Its target audience was document authors in general and started as a tool to format blog posts and emails.

[Kamijou Touma]

Do any of you realize that MD started out on github?

That's not quite right, though. Markdown was invented in 2004, GitHub was founded in 2008. Its target audience was document authors in general and started as a tool to format blog posts and emails.

I meant that MD didn't get big until github. Until github came around most people and sites knew almoust nothing about MD much less would they talk about it.

[Sajaki]

Do any of you realize that MD started out on github?

yes, it's because (most) of my OSS software being hosted on Github that i started putting phpbb extension readme's in MD format. Also, Visual studio has some nice extensions for formatting MD files.
If you're familiar with the wiki format, then markdown isn't a huge step.
nevertheless, bbcode still appeals to me for forum usage because it's so extensible. Markdown is good for basic formatting only.

[brunoais]

Do any of you realize that MD started out on github?

[...] Markdown is good for basic formatting only.

That is exactly where MD falls short.
I could start this with a question on "how do you define a custom MD?". While thinking that, I believe you would think that BBCode would actually be the best answer due to its extensibility.
Don't get me wrong, though. MD is great but only for its niche. In forum posts... It can be used just fine but then you would have to explain people why some posts appear wrong and how does BBCode and MD at the same time should interact because... Custom MD... That's impossible for the majority of phpBB installation admins'.

[Kamijou Touma]

Sure bbcode is extensible unlike MD which is why I said optional and not a replacement.

Actually what you (could do) is make a BBCode that tells phpbb to parse anything inside it as MarkDown.

Like [MD]*hey I'm italic*[/MD]

Then you could treat it as an extension of the bbcode syntax within phpbb and people could use both without issue.

Just an idea.

[Lumpy Burgertushie]

Hi, I notice that your sig is not working.

1. there is no [center] bbcode that is standard in phpbb so this board does not have it.

2. you left out the http: part of the url to the image.

3. although it will work because the browser will replace it with %20, spaces are not really allowed in a file name anywhere but in windows.

just a little FYI.

luck,
robert

[3Di]

[img]https://ilp.moe/signature/Index%20top.png[/img]

https://ilp.moe/signature/Index%20top.png

^^

There is a space there in the URL between "Index" and "top.png", correctly handled though.

[RadarNyan]

Personally, I'm not really like or dislike Markdown / BBCode, I just use what ever is available. But a huge advantage of mark down is: it's way more easier to read when it comes to tables or lists comparing to BBCode.

I see people saying md is only suitable for basic formatting, well that may stand true, but there's nothing stopping you from creating a md syntax of your own flavor (like Github-flavored Markdown). Sure BBCode is more scalable, but it's more complicated. So... why not just mix Markdown with BBCode? Just add a new BBCode [md] and phase everything inside it!

Take an example from Github:

1. Make my changes
   1. Fix bug
   2. Improve formatting
      • Make the headings bigger
2. Push my commits to GitHub
3. Open a pull request
   • Describe my changes
   • Mention all the members of my team
     • Ask for feedback

When written in BBCode, it looks like this:

Code: Select all

[list=1]
[*]Make my changes
  [list=1]
  [*]Fix bug
  [*]Improve formatting
    [list]
      [*]Make the headings bigger
    [/list]
  [/list]
[*]Push my commits to GitHub
[*]Open a pull request
  [list]
  [*]Describe my changes
  [*]Mention all the members of my team
    [list]
      [*]Ask for feedback
    [/list]
  [/list]
[/list]

If we introduce a new BBCode [md], it should be written like this:

Code: Select all

[md]
1. Make my changes
  1. Fix bug
  2. Improve formatting
    * Make the headings bigger
2. Push my commits to GitHub
3. Open a pull request
  * Describe my changes
  * Mention all the members of my team
    * Ask for feedback
[/md]

Seriously, I would really really love to write in the second syntax rather than the first one. By this way, we take the advantage of the simplicity of Markdown without losing the power of BBCode. If someone wants to write his entire post in Markdown, just put everything inside a [md] block and it's done!

[JoshyPHP]

The sad thing about Markdown is that implementations/flavours vary widely. For instance, this is your example displayed in various libraries (click Preview on the right side for a better view.) You get a better result in the original Markdown by adding a space on the third level.

I like ASCII tables for small tables but personally I don't mind HTML/BBCode for it. They don't come from Markdown though, the original Markdown suggests to use HTML for that. I presume the syntax comes from Textile. reStructuredText have their own slightly different version. Various Markdown implementations support slightly different variations of Textile's syntax.

[brunoais]

I'm actually pro to having a BBCode that "activates" MD parsing inside the tag.
It could possibly bring the best of both worlds into a forum post without bringing any unwanted surprises.