Title: MultiMarkdown
Tags: MultiMarkdown
"As the world goes multi-platform with all of the new mobile operating
systems, MultiMarkdown provides an easy way to share formatting between all of
my devices. It's easy to learn (even for us mortals) and immediately useful."
> --- David Sparks, [MacSparky.com](http://MacSparky.com/)
"Personally, it's changed my game --- it's how I think now. Can't imagine
writing more than a paragraph in anything that doesn't do MMD."
> --- Merlin Mann, [kung fu grippe](http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/346554639/multimarkdown-in-case-that-last-thing-seemed-too)
## What is MultiMarkdown? ##
MultiMarkdown, or MMD, is a tool to help turn minimally marked-up plain text
into well formatted documents, including HTML, PDF (by way of [LaTeX]),
[OPML], or OpenDocument (specifically, Flat [OpenDocument] or '.fodt', which
can in turn be converted into [RTF], Microsoft Word, or virtually any other
word-processing format).
MMD is a superset of the [Markdown] syntax, originally created by John Gruber.
It adds multiple syntax features (tables, footnotes, and citations, to name a
few), in addition to the various output formats listed above (Markdown only
creates HTML). Additionally, it builds in "smart" typography for various
languages (proper left- and right-sided quotes, for example).
MultiMarkdown started as a Perl script, which was modified from the original Markdown.pl.
MultiMarkdown v3 (aka 'peg-multimarkdown') was based on John MacFarlane's
[peg-markdown]. It used a parsing expression grammar (PEG), and was written
in C in order to compile on almost any operating system. Thanks to work by
Daniel Jalkut, MMD v3 was built so that it didn't have any external library
requirements.
MultiMarkdown v4 was basically a complete rewrite of v3. It used the same
basic PEG for parsing (Multi)Markdown text, but otherwise was almost
completely rebuilt:
MultiMarkdown v5 was largely the same codebase as v4, but the build system was
restructured to use CMake.
MultiMarkdown v6 is the biggest rewrite since v3. The parser was completely
rewritten to improve accuracy and (most importantly) performance. v6 includes
multiple new features, reimagines a couple of existing features, and
deprecates one or two old syntax structures.
For another description of what MultiMarkdown is, you can also check out a PDF
[slide show] that describes and demonstrates how MultiMarkdown can be used.
[slide show]: https://github.com/fletcher/MultiMarkdown-Gallery/raw/master/What-Is-MMD/what_is_mmd.pdf
## Why should I use MultiMarkdown? ##
Writing with MultiMarkdown allows you to separate the content and structure of
your document from the formatting. You focus on the actual writing, without
having to worry about making the styles of your chapter headers match, or
ensuring the proper spacing between paragraphs. And with a little forethought,
a single plain text document can easily be converted into multiple output
formats without having to rewrite the entire thing or format it by hand. Even
better, you don't have to write in "computer-ese" to create well formatted
HTML or LaTeX commands. You just write, MultiMarkdown takes care of the rest.
For example, instead of writing:
In order to create valid
HTML, you
need properly coded syntax that can be cumbersome for
“non-programmers” to write. Sometimes, you
just want to easily make certain words bold
, and certain words italicized without
having to remember the syntax. Additionally, for example,
creating lists:
- should be easy
- should not involve programming
You simply write:
In order to create valid [HTML], you need properly
coded syntax that can be cumbersome for
"non-programmers" to write. Sometimes, you just want
to easily make certain words **bold**, and certain
words *italicized* without having to remember the
syntax. Additionally, for example, creating lists:
* should be easy
* should not involve programming
[HTML]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML
Additionally, you can write a MultiMarkdown document in any text editor, on
any operating system, and know that it will be compatible with MultiMarkdown
on any other operating system and processed into the same output. As a plain
text format, your documents will be safe no matter how many times you switch
computers, operating systems, or favorite applications. You will always be
able to open and edit your documents, even when the version of the software
you originally wrote them in is long gone.
These features have prompted several people to use MultiMarkdown in the
process of writing their books, theses, and countless other documents.
There are many other reasons to use MultiMarkdown, but I won't get into all of
them here.
*By the way* --- this web site is created using MultiMarkdown. To view the MMD
source for any page, add `.txt` to the end of the URL. If the URL ends with
`/`, then add `index.txt` to the end instead. This page, for example, would be
["/multimarkdown/index.txt"](/multimarkdown/index.txt).
[LaTeX]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX
[OPML]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPML
[Markdown]: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/
[peg-markdown]: https://github.com/jgm/peg-markdown
[RTF]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format
[OpenDocument]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument
[User's Manual]: http://fletcher.github.com/peg-multimarkdown/mmd-manual.pdf
