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I have used markdown to write books, and it worked just fine. Now, these were novels, not technical documents, but I never encountered something that couldn't b

I have used markdown to write books, and it worked just fine. Now, these were novels, not technical documents, but I never encountered something that couldn't be solved with markdown plus some occasional HTML. I've also generated quite a bit of technical documentation using markdown, and Pandoc's extensions[1] allow you to include pretty much any formatting you might require, complicated math and syntax highlighted code blocks included. That markdown can then be transformed into HTML, a Word doc, a ePub, a PDF ... There needs to be a very compelling reason for me to reach for something other than markdown. [1] https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html https://pandoc.org/MANUAL.html

bluGill 2y ago
Most novels don't need anything more complex than a link to the next chapter at the end of the page. Maybe bold text, but a lot get by without. As such markdown will work for most. I've seen some novels with some really complex formatting, but those are rare (I read a lot of litRPG and still call them rare). However I mostly write technical documentation and I often hit limits of things markdown cannot do even though my documents are much shorter than a novel.
zelphirkalt 2y ago
Pandoc is a great thing! However, lets not mix up Pandoc Markdown with standard Markdown. Pandoc Markdown intentionally adds features, that make it more suitable for academic writing, I believe.
thangalin 2y ago
Here are some Markdown books I've crafted: * https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/technical.pdf https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/technical.pdf * https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf * https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/jekyll-hyde.pdf https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/jekyll-hyde.pdf My blog describes shell scripts to use pandoc and knitr for converting Markdown to PDF: https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/05/22/typesetting-markdown-part-1/ https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/05/22/typesetting-markdow... I wrote a FOSS GUI/CLI cross-platform desktop application to replace those shell scripts: * https://keenwrite.com https://keenwrite.com * https://keenwrite.com/screenshots.html https://keenwrite.com/screenshots.html * https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9KWzPIoWZMKu_ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9... I'm using KeenWrite to write a sci-fi novel and can produce a standard manuscript format in seconds (because the content is kept separate from the presentation). Regarding technical documentation, I extended Markdown in KeenWrite with a consistent cross-reference syntax for tables, figures, equations, etc. * https://gitlab.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/-/blob/main/docs/references.md https://gitlab.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/-/blob/main/docs/ref...
- thesnide 2y ago
  about keenwrite, touting "producing beautifully typeset PDF files" and not giving a single PDF example, ideally its documentation, is a missed opportunity, to say the least ;-)

bluGill 2y ago

Most novels don't need anything more complex than a link to the next chapter at the end of the page. Maybe bold text, but a lot get by without. As such markdown will work for most. I've seen some novels with some really complex formatting, but those are rare (I read a lot of litRPG and still call them rare). However I mostly write technical documentation and I often hit limits of things markdown cannot do even though my documents are much shorter than a novel.

zelphirkalt 2y ago

Pandoc is a great thing! However, lets not mix up Pandoc Markdown with standard Markdown. Pandoc Markdown intentionally adds features, that make it more suitable for academic writing, I believe.

thangalin 2y ago

Here are some Markdown books I've crafted: * https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/technical.pdf https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/technical.pdf * https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf * https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/jekyll-hyde.pdf https://whitemagicsoftware.com/softcover/jekyll-hyde.pdf My blog describes shell scripts to use pandoc and knitr for converting Markdown to PDF: https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/05/22/typesetting-markdown-part-1/ https://dave.autonoma.ca/blog/2019/05/22/typesetting-markdow... I wrote a FOSS GUI/CLI cross-platform desktop application to replace those shell scripts: * https://keenwrite.com https://keenwrite.com * https://keenwrite.com/screenshots.html https://keenwrite.com/screenshots.html * https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9KWzPIoWZMKu_ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB-WIt1cZYLm1MMx2FBG9... I'm using KeenWrite to write a sci-fi novel and can produce a standard manuscript format in seconds (because the content is kept separate from the presentation). Regarding technical documentation, I extended Markdown in KeenWrite with a consistent cross-reference syntax for tables, figures, equations, etc. * https://gitlab.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/-/blob/main/docs/references.md https://gitlab.com/DaveJarvis/KeenWrite/-/blob/main/docs/ref...

thesnide 2y ago
about keenwrite, touting "producing beautifully typeset PDF files" and not giving a single PDF example, ideally its documentation, is a missed opportunity, to say the least ;-)