Hello there! I'm **MacDown 3000**, the open source Markdown editor for macOS.
Let me introduce myself.
## Making MacDown 3000 Your Default Markdown Editor
MacDown 3000 is now available to open your Markdown files! To make me your default editor for `.md` files:
1. In Finder, right-click any `.md` file
2. Choose **Get Info** (or press ⌘I)
3. Under **"Open with:"**, select MacDown 3000
4. Click **"Change All..."**
You can also find me in the **"Open With"** menu whenever you right-click a `.md` file.
## Markdown and I
**Markdown** is a plain text formatting syntax created by John Gruber, aiming to provide an easy-to-read and feasible markup. The original Markdown syntax specification can be found [on Daring Fireball](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax).
**MacDown 3000** is created as a simple-to-use editor for Markdown documents. I render your Markdown contents real-time into HTML, and display them in a preview panel.
I support all the original Markdown syntaxes. But I can do so much more! Various popular but non-standard syntaxes can be turned on/off from the [**Markdown** preference pane](#markdown-pane).
You can specify extra HTML rendering options through the [**Rendering** preference pane](#rendering-pane).
You can customize the editor window to your liking in the [**Editor** preferences pane](#editor-pane):
You can configure various application (that's me!) behaviors in the [**General** preference pane](#general-pane).
## The Basics
Before I tell you about all the extra syntaxes and capabilities I have, I'll introduce you to the basics of standard markdown. If you already know markdown, and want to jump straight to learning about the fancier things I can do, I suggest you skip to the [**Markdown** preference pane](#markdown-pane). Let's jump right in.
### Line Breaks
To force a line break, put two spaces and a newline (return) at the end of the line.
* This two-line bullet
won't break
* This two-line bullet
will break
Here is the code:
```markdown
* This two-line bullet
won't break
* This two-line bullet
will break
```
### Strong and Emphasize
**Strong**: `**Strong**` or `__Strong__` (Command-B)
*Emphasize*: `*Emphasize*` or `_Emphasize_`[^emphasize] (Command-I)
### Headers (like this one!)
Header 1
========
Header 2
--------
or
# Header 1
## Header 2
### Header 3
#### Header 4
##### Header 5
###### Header 6
### Links and Email
#### Inline
Just put angle brackets around an email and it becomes clickable: <hello@macdown.app>
`<hello@macdown.app>`
Same thing with urls: <https://macdown.app>
` <https://macdown.app>`
Perhaps you want to link some text like this: [MacDown 3000 Website](https://macdown.app "Title")
`[MacDown 3000 Website](https://macdown.app "Title")` (The title is optional)
#### Reference style
Sometimes it looks too messy to include big long urls inline, or you want to keep all your urls together.
Make [a link][arbitrary_id] `[a link][arbitrary_id]` then on its own line anywhere else in the file:
`[arbitrary_id]: https://macdown.app "Title"`
If the link text itself would make a good id, you can link [like this][] `[like this][]`, then on its own line anywhere else in the file:
The ***Smartypants*** extension automatically transforms straight quotes (`"` and `'`) in your text into typographer’s quotes (`“`, `”`, `‘`, and `’`) according to the context. Very useful if you’re a typography freak like I am. Quote and Smartypants are syntactically incompatible. If both are enabled, Quote takes precedence.
### Block Formatting
#### Table
This is a table:
First Header | Second Header
------------- | -------------
Content Cell | Content Cell
Content Cell | Content Cell
You can align cell contents with syntax like this:
You can also use waves (`~`) instead of back ticks (`` ` ``):
~~~python
print('Hello world!')
~~~
You can add an optional language ID at the end of the first line. The language ID will only be used to highlight the code inside if you tick the ***Enable highlighting in code blocks*** option. This is what happens if you enable it:
I support many popular languages as well as some generic syntax descriptions that can be used if your language of choice is not supported. See [relevant sections on the official site](https://macdown.app/features/) for a full list of supported syntaxes.
### Inline Formatting
The following is a list of optional inline markups supported:
Footnotes | [\^4] and [\^4]: | [^4] and footnote 4 |
[^4]: You don't have to use a number. Arbitrary things like `[^footy note4]` and `[^footy note4]:` will also work. But they will *render* as numbered footnotes. Also, no need to keep your footnotes in order, I will sort out the order for you so they appear in the same order they were referenced in the text body. You can even keep some footnotes near where you referenced them, and collect others at the bottom of the file in the traditional place for footnotes.
You can choose different css files for me to use to render your html. You can even customize or add your own custom css files.
### Syntax Highlighting
You have already seen how I can syntax highlight your fenced code blocks. See the [Fenced Code Block](#fenced-code-block) section if you haven’t! You can also choose different themes for syntax highlighting.
### TeX-like Math Syntax
I can also render TeX-like math syntaxes, if you allow me to.[^math] I can do inline math like this: \\( 1 + 1 \\) or this (in MathML): <math><mn>1</mn><mo>+</mo><mn>1</mn></math>, and block math:
2. [x] I support clicking checkboxes directly in the preview window to toggle them
### Jekyll front-matter
If you like, I can display Jekyll front-matter in a nice table. Just make sure you put the front-matter at the very beginning of the file, and fence it with `---`. For example:
```yaml
---
title: "MacDown is my friend"
date: 2014-06-06 20:00:00
---
```
### Table of Contents Token
If you include a table of contents token, which looks like `[TOC]`, then I will generate a table of contents for the document based on the headings you've defined. This will be inserted at the place where you put the token.
### Render newline literally
Normally I require you to put two spaces and a newline (a.k.a. return) at the end of a line in order to create a line break. If you like, I can render a newline any time you end a line with a newline. However, if you enable this, markdown that looks lovely when I render it might look pretty funky when you let some *other* program render it.
## <a name="general-pane"></a>The General Preferences Pane
This is where I keep preferences related to application behavior.
The General Preferences Pane allows you to tell me how you want me to behave. For example, do you want me to make sure there is a document open when I launch? You can also tell me if I should constantly update the preview window as you type, or wait for you to hit `command-R` instead. Maybe you prefer your editor window on the right? Or to see the word-count as you type. This is also the place to tell me if you are interested in pre-releases of me, or just want to stick to better-tested official releases.
My editor provides syntax highlighting. You can edit the base font and the coloring/sizing theme. I provided some default themes (courtesy of [Mou](http://mouapp.com)’s creator, Chen Luo) if you don’t know where to start.
You can also edit, or even add new themes if you want to! Just click the ***Reveal*** button, and start moving things around. Remember to use the correct file extension (`.styles`), though. I’m picky about that.
I offer auto-completion and other functions to ease your editing experience. If you don't like it, however, you can turn them off.
## Hidden preference
You can see the HTML behind a preview by enabling the macOS built-in WebKit developer tools for MacDown 3000 in a terminal window:
Then select “Inspect Element” in the right-click context menu inside the preview pane.
This is the exact same inspector you find in Safari if you turn on the developer tools.
## Hack On
That’s about it. Thanks for listening. I’ll be quiet from now on (unless there’s an update about the app—I’ll remind you for that!).
Happy writing!
[^emphasize]: If **Underlines** is turned on, `_this notation_` will render as underlined instead of emphasized
[^under]: If **Underline** is disabled `_this_` will be rendered as *emphasized* instead of being underlined.
[^quote]: **Quote** replaces literal `"` characters with html `<q>` tags. **Quote** and **Smartypants** are syntactically incompatible. If both are enabled, **Quote** takes precedence. Note that **Quote** is different from *blockquote*, which is part of standard Markdown.
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Philippe Torrel