# Markdown Introduction

## What is Markdown?

According to [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown): 

> **Markdown** is a [lightweight markup language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_markup_language) with plain-text-formatting syntax. Its design allows it to be converted to many output formats, but the original tool by the same name only supports [HTML](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML). Markdown is often used to format [readme files](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/README), for writing messages in online discussion forums, and to create [rich text](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formatted_text) using a [plain text](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_text) [editor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editor).

## How to open and create the Markdown files?

- I recommend using the markdown editor [Typora](https://typora.io/), which gives you a seamless experience as both a reader and a writer. It is free fo Windows/MacOS/Linux users.
- But you can use any text editor (such as [Notepad++](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/) on **Windows** or [Sublime Text](https://www.sublimetext.com/3) on **MacOS/Linux**) to open and create the `*.md` files.

## How to write?

**Important: `Heading 1`** of your markdown file (**not your markdown file name**) will be the section name showing on the webpage.

To create a markdown-based documentation:

- You are not required to learn any syntax if you are using [Typora](https://typora.io/).
- You can learn basic Markdown syntax within 5 mins. See the resources:
  - **Markdown cheatsheet from Markdown Guide** ([link](https://www.markdownguide.org/basic-syntax))

  - **Markdown cheatsheet from GitHub** ([link](https://guides.github.com/pdfs/markdown-cheatsheet-online.pdf))
  - **Extended syntax** ([link](https://www.markdownguide.org/extended-syntax))