Headings
# H1 — Page title (one per document)
## H2 — Section heading
### H3 — Subsection
#### H4 — Rarely needed
Emphasis
**bold** or __bold__
*italic* or _italic_
***bold italic***
~~strikethrough~~
Lists
- Item one
- Item two
**Ordered:** Numbers followed by a period. The actual numbers don't matter — they're renumbered automatically.
``
1. First
2. Second
1. Third (still renders as 3)
- [x] Completed item
- [ ] Incomplete item
- [ ] Another todo
Links and Images
``` [Link text](https://example.com) [Link with title](https://example.com "Title appears on hover")  
Reference-style links (useful for long URLs): [link text][ref] [ref]: https://example.com ```
Code
Inline code with single backticks: const x = 1
Fenced code blocks with language hint for syntax highlighting:
``
javascript
function greet(name) {
return Hello, ${name}!;
}
Indent with 4 spaces (original Markdown spec, still works but fenced is preferred):
``
This is a code block
Blockquotes
> This is a blockquote.
> It can span multiple lines.
>
> Separate paragraphs with a blank line.
>
> > Nested blockquote
Tables (GitHub Flavored Markdown)
``` | Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 | |----------|----------|----------| | Cell | Cell | Cell | | Left | Right | Center |
Alignment with colons: | Left | Center | Right | |:-----|:------:|------:| | text | text | text | ```
Horizontal Rules
Three or more hyphens, asterisks, or underscores on their own line:
``
---
***
___
Escaping
Backslash escapes special Markdown characters:
\*, \_, \[, \], \(, \), \#, \+, \-, \., \!
Line Breaks
A single line break in Markdown renders as a space. To force a line break without starting a new paragraph, end the line with two or more spaces.
To create a new paragraph, leave a blank line between blocks.
Footnotes (Extended Markdown)
``` This needs a citation.[^1]
[^1]: The citation text appears at the bottom. ```
Flavour Differences
**CommonMark** — the base specification. Strict and consistent.
**GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)** — adds tables, task lists, strikethrough, and auto-linking URLs. Used in GitHub READMEs, issues, and PRs.
**MDX** — Markdown + JSX components. Used in React-based static site generators.
Most renderers support CommonMark plus some GFM extensions. If something isn't rendering as expected, check whether the renderer supports that extension.
NoxaKit's Markdown to HTML converter renders Markdown to clean HTML in the browser — useful for previewing how your content will look before publishing.