> Hot take: Markdown was nice back in the day when in-browser editors sucked
I don't think markdown came from that at all. It gets used that way a lot, but the point for me (and IIRC the point of it from the start) is that the format is just plain text that can be up-sampled to something a bit prettier where desired. It can be edited by hand, it can be understood by eye in its pure form, it isn't as verbose as other text-only options¹ meaning it doesn't distract from the content as much², it can be edited/viewed anywhere plain text can, etc.
It wasn't intended for web-based editors, web-based editors just started using it because it was preferable to them than other options at the time (HTML, BBCode, …).
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[1] including HTML and anything XML based
[2] yes, this makes it less expressive than other options³, but that is often a compromise worth making
[3] I'm thinking of looking at AsciiDoc, which predates MD and for the basics is very similar but supports much more, for my own scrawlings (nothing currently published), but TBH once I get beyond basic MD I'll probably want to be more opinionated (and disagree with existing opinions!) so will likely end up making my own MarkDown+ and tool to pretty it up.
I don't think markdown came from that at all. It gets used that way a lot, but the point for me (and IIRC the point of it from the start) is that the format is just plain text that can be up-sampled to something a bit prettier where desired. It can be edited by hand, it can be understood by eye in its pure form, it isn't as verbose as other text-only options¹ meaning it doesn't distract from the content as much², it can be edited/viewed anywhere plain text can, etc.
It wasn't intended for web-based editors, web-based editors just started using it because it was preferable to them than other options at the time (HTML, BBCode, …).
--------
[1] including HTML and anything XML based
[2] yes, this makes it less expressive than other options³, but that is often a compromise worth making
[3] I'm thinking of looking at AsciiDoc, which predates MD and for the basics is very similar but supports much more, for my own scrawlings (nothing currently published), but TBH once I get beyond basic MD I'll probably want to be more opinionated (and disagree with existing opinions!) so will likely end up making my own MarkDown+ and tool to pretty it up.