Markdown

File Format
Name	Markdown
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Markup Markdown
Extension(s)	.md, .markdown, .mdown, .markdn

Markdown is a lightweight and human readable markup format for text formatting created by John Gruber and Aaron Swartz. It is similar to various forms of wiki markup.

There is no formal specification for Markdown, and it has ambiguities that are handled inconsistently by different implementations. There is an initiative to write such a specification.

Software

• Markdownpad: edit Markdown (Windows; commercial, with free-of-charge version)
• MacDown (OS X; open source)
• Trunk Notes: note-taking app that uses Markdown (iOS; commercial, paid)

Resources

• Official 2004 specification and markdown to HTML conversion tool
• Byword MultiMarkdown Guide
• Markdown Extra - includes support for tables, definition lists, footnotes, etc.
• Dillinger: cloud-enabled HTML5 Markdown editor