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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
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  5. MarkUp vs Markdown

MarkUp vs Markdown

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Markdown
Markdown
Stacks22.2K
Followers16.5K
Votes960
MarkUp
MarkUp
Stacks51
Followers56
Votes0

MarkUp vs Markdown: What are the differences?

Introduction

Markdown and Markup languages are both used for formatting text on websites. However, there are key differences between the two.

  1. Syntax Complexity: Markdown has a simpler syntax compared to Markup languages. It uses plain text and specific characters to format text, making it easier to learn and use. Markup languages, on the other hand, have more complex syntax with opening and closing tags, requiring more coding knowledge and experience.

  2. Platform Independence: Markdown is platform-independent, meaning it can be used and interpreted on different platforms without any issues. Markup languages, such as HTML, may have compatibility issues across different platforms and devices, requiring additional adjustments and adaptations.

  3. Presentation: Markdown focuses primarily on the content and structure of the text rather than its visual presentation. It provides a simplified way to format text with headings, lists, and emphasis, without extensive design elements. Markup languages like HTML allow for more intricate formatting, including styling, layouts, and multimedia integration.

  4. Ease of Writing: Markdown is designed to be written and edited quickly with minimal effort. Its plain text format enables easy readability and editing. Markup languages, due to their complex syntax and tags, require more time and effort to write and modify the content.

  5. Code Generation: Markup languages are primarily used for code generation to create structure and design for websites. They provide a wide range of tags and elements to define how the content should be displayed on the browser. Markdown, on the other hand, is intended for content creation and does not have the same level of flexibility and control over design elements.

  6. Learning Curve: Markdown has a shallow learning curve, making it accessible to beginners who want to format text quickly and efficiently. Markup languages, due to their complexity and extensive range of features, require more time and effort for beginners to master.

In summary, Markdown is a simpler and more beginner-friendly language primarily focused on content formatting, while Markup languages offer greater control over design elements and can generate complex web pages.

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Advice on Markdown, MarkUp

Rick
Rick

founder at Webcompose.ca

May 8, 2020

Needs adviceonGitHubGitHubMarkdownMarkdownnpmnpm

I am a newbie to StackShare and the GitHub community. I want to understand how to use an include statement to get a collection of Markdown files to create a book. I have been told that there are a number of useful tools. My problem is that npm and Node.js are also very new to me. Any suggestions on how to get my md chapters into a printable document would be helpful.

80.3k views80.3k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Markdown
Markdown
MarkUp
MarkUp

Markdown is two things: (1) a plain text formatting syntax; and (2) a software tool, written in Perl, that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.

It allows you to turn your website into a dynamic canvas ready for feedback and collaboration. Streamline your feedback with a quicker, easier, and clearer process.

-
Enable real-time commenting directly on a website; Manage all of your feedback in one place; Cut through the noise with immediate, visual feedback. Go from build to publish without losing your mind in the process; Skip the endless email chains, unruly spreadsheets, and that weekly afternoon meeting. Comment directly on live, digital content; Collaborate in context
Statistics
Stacks
22.2K
Stacks
51
Followers
16.5K
Followers
56
Votes
960
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 345
    Easy formatting
  • 246
    Widely adopted
  • 194
    Intuitive
  • 132
    Github integration
  • 41
    Great for note taking
Cons
  • 2
    Cannot centralise (HTML code needed)
  • 1
    Limited syntax
  • 1
    Inconsistend flavours eg github, reddit, mmd etc
  • 1
    Unable to indent tables
  • 1
    No underline
No community feedback yet

What are some alternatives to Markdown, MarkUp?

JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Ruby

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Golang

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

HTML5

HTML5

HTML5 is a core technology markup language of the Internet used for structuring and presenting content for the World Wide Web. As of October 2014 this is the final and complete fifth revision of the HTML standard of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The previous version, HTML 4, was standardised in 1997.

C#

C#

C# (pronounced "See Sharp") is a simple, modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language. C# has its roots in the C family of languages and will be immediately familiar to C, C++, Java, and JavaScript programmers.

Scala

Scala

Scala is an acronym for “Scalable Language”. This means that Scala grows with you. You can play with it by typing one-line expressions and observing the results. But you can also rely on it for large mission critical systems, as many companies, including Twitter, LinkedIn, or Intel do. To some, Scala feels like a scripting language. Its syntax is concise and low ceremony; its types get out of the way because the compiler can infer them.

Elixir

Elixir

Elixir leverages the Erlang VM, known for running low-latency, distributed and fault-tolerant systems, while also being successfully used in web development and the embedded software domain.

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