metastable markdown

you’re reading a markdown file that knows it’s a markdown file. we’re going to get weird.

text formatting

plain text. boring. reliable. the honda civic of typography.

bold text is for when you really mean it. like really.

italic text is for when you’re being fancy or citing ship names. HMS Markdown.

bold and italic is for when you’ve lost all restraint.

strikethrough is for mistakes artistic revisions.

inline code is for when you want to look like a hacker in casual conversation. “yeah just rm -rf / that problem away.”

blockquotes are for wisdom you’re borrowing from someone smarter.

or for pretending you’re writing a philosophy paper.

nested quotes are for when you’re quoting someone quoting someone. inception but for text.

heading 2

we don’t use h1 in markdown posts. the title already handles that. using h1 here would be like showing up to a party with two dates.

heading 3

this is where the real content lives. h2 is the section, h3 is the subsection. it’s like folders within folders. very organized. very adult.

heading 4

at this point you’re getting specific. “here’s exactly what i mean.” useful for api docs and people who really like outlines.

heading 5

you’re four levels deep now. are you okay? do you need to refactor?

heading 6

the basement of headings. if you’re here, you either have very complex documentation or you’ve made some questionable life choices.

lists

the todo list of shame

things this site needs to do better (or things i’m procrastinating on):

• way to highlight content
• image captions
• fix block-quote marker in build mode
• math support that doesn’t make me cry
• emoji support
• font distinction
  • block-quotes deserve their own vibe
  • links should look clickable
  • inline code and code blocks need therapy (separate)
• tool-tips
• better toc
• expressive code styling to match theme
• abbreviations like footnotes
• better table styles
• accent divide between front-matter and content
• inline code style mod
• better checkbox styles
• better embedded html components
• video embeddings
• heading styles
• basic checkbox styles
• bold, italic, strikethrough styles
• remove quotes from block-quote

unordered lists

things that spark joy:

• mechanical keyboards
• perfectly aligned code
  • especially when it compiles first try
  • which never happens
    • but we dream
• hot coffee

ordered lists

the stages of debugging:

1. denial (“this should work”)
2. bargaining (“please just work”)
   1. checking stack overflow
   2. questioning career choices
3. acceptance (console.log everywhere)

admonitions

code blocks

inline code: const existentialDread = true;

// javascript: the language that lets you do anything
// including things you definitely shouldn't do
function questionExistence() {
  console.log("why am i a markdown demo?");
  return undefined; // like the meaning of life
}

const result = questionExistence();
// result is undefined. fitting.

# python: where indentation is a lifestyle choice
def say_hello():
    """this docstring exists because i'm responsible."""
    print("hello from a code block")
    return True  # we made it

result = say_hello()
# python doesn't judge. python understands.

// zig: for when you want control but also sanity
const std = @import("std");

pub fn main() !void {
    const stdout = std.io.getStdOut().writer();
    try stdout.print("hello from the future\n", .{});
}

tables

basic table (for basic needs):

table alignment

links

external link - goes somewhere else. somewhere mysterious.

link with title - has a tooltip. fancy.

auto-linked url: https://example.com - markdown is smart enough to figure this out.

relative link - links within the site. keeping it local.

emojis

if emoji support works: 🎉 🚀 ✨

if not: you’re seeing unicode boxes and questioning everything.

images

local image (jjk because taste):

local image with title (hover for flavor text):

remote image

horizontal rules

above the rule (before the divide)

below the rule (in the shadow realm)

footnotes

markdown supports footnotes¹ for when you have tangential thoughts² that don’t fit in the main text but you refuse to let go of them.

definition lists

markdown : a lightweight markup language that makes you feel productive

yaml frontmatter : the stuff at the top of this file that defines metadata : also the reason your build fails at 2am

collapsible section

special characters escaping

*not italic* - escaped asterisks

`not code` - escaped backticks

# not a heading - escaped hash

markdown respects the backslash. use it wisely.

line breaks

this is line one. this is line two (same paragraph, soft break).

this is a new paragraph. notice the gap. breathing room for your eyes.

math

the famous ramanujan identity (because we’re showing off):

the quadratic formula (because classics never die):

when (a \ne 0), there are two solutions to (ax^2 + bx + c = 0):

inline math test: (if this renders, physics is happy)

block math (calculus gang):

subscript and superscript with html

water is H₂O and einstein said E=mc²

embedded html

you made it to the end. this file has tested headings, text formatting, lists, admonitions, code blocks, tables, links, images, footnotes, math, and your patience.

if something looks broken, that’s a feature request. if everything works, that’s a miracle.