Though it’s been out since late 2004 I’ve just discovered Markdown, which is proving incredibly useful for blogging. Basically, it lets you write like you’re creating a text document, with some simple syntax for links and such, and then turn that (extremely readable) information into HTML with almost no effort. So far, I’m only using it for the most basic formatting and linking, but it can do much more. It’s available as a PERL script here.

I myself had no clue how to use a .pl file, but it turns out to be really easy. Actually, there are a ton of ways to use Markdown, check out the Wikipedia entry for a large list. I ended up using it through Textwrangler, which is totally free. To install, just drop Markdown.pl into

/~/Library/Application Support/Textwrangler/Unix Support/Unix Filters/

Then put some text into the document window of Textwrangler, and then go to the #! menu, select Unix Filters, and hit Markdown.pl - that’s it!

Apparently, it also works with VIM, which is pretty cool. Even cooler, it’s possible to make it function as a service under OS X!

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology, Reviews | Guides — Max @ 9:02 pm