Quick Summary
- Markdown lets me add headings, links, and lists without leaving the keyboard.
- Plain text keeps my drafts readable when I move them between tools.
- Five bits of syntax cover most of my writing.
- Markdown cannot improve a weak idea, but it gives me fewer interface choices to manage while I work on one.
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Writing feels better when the tool disappears.
Most writing apps put menus, templates, formatting bars, and collaboration controls around the page. I start thinking about the interface when I should be holding onto a sentence.
Markdown gives me plain text and a few characters for structure. I began using it for documentation and internal posts that had to survive years of edits and moves between tools. I kept using it because it asks so little of me while I write.
Markdown in Five Patterns
I use Markdown to add structure while keeping the source easy to read.
I use five patterns for most of my work:
#for a main heading##for a subheading-for a list item*emphasis*for italics[link text](https://example.com)for a link
I can understand the file before anything renders it. A heading still looks like a heading, and a list still looks like a list. A renderer can turn the same file into HTML, a documentation page, or another format later.
Keeping the text separate from its final layout lets me write before I decide how the finished page should look.
Keeping My Hands on the Keyboard
I find difficult writing easier when I can stay with the sentence. Because I blog with ADHD, I notice each interruption.
A trip to a formatting menu takes only a few seconds, but it interrupts whatever I was trying to hold in my head. I have to find the heading control, choose a list type, or switch apps because one editor handles code blocks better than another.
With Markdown, I type ## and continue. I start a list with -. I write the link where I need it rather than leaving the sentence to open a dialog.
For me, this matters across documentation, internal posts, support replies, and essay drafts. The subject changes, but my hands use the same patterns.
Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash
One Habit Across Different Tools
I have used Markdown patterns in:
- WordPress posts and pages
- P2 threads
- GitHub READMEs
- Documentation portals, including work made with shotlist
- Slack messages
- AI prompt files
- Google Docs, which added limited Markdown support in 2022
The support differs. Some tools store Markdown. Others recognise a pattern and turn it into their own heading or list. Either way, I do not have to learn a new writing habit when I change tools.
Using the same patterns across tools protects my attention and keeps the text portable. I can draft a support reply in a file, paste it into another tool, and keep the structure. If the destination does not understand Markdown, the source remains readable enough to fix by hand.
Markdown in WordPress
WordPress did not support Markdown on its own when I started. I used Jetpack’s Markdown module to convert the syntax into HTML when I saved a post.
WordPress later added block-editor shortcuts for some of the patterns. Starting a line with # creates a heading block. Typing - followed by a space starts a list. WordPress converts the structure while I keep writing the way I do in a text file.
Many tools now support their own subset of Markdown. The details vary, but the habit carries across them.
The Editors Have Changed
I have tried many Markdown editors. Browsing writing tools can become a convenient way to avoid writing.
Ulysses is the long-form editor I kept. It stores each piece as a sheet, handles a large library, and exports clean files. For a while, most of my writing began there.
My work now lives in more places. I write internal discussions in P2, public essays in MDX files, and notes in plain text. I use Markdown in all three. The app matters less because the underlying files remain simple.
If Ulysses disappeared or I changed publishing systems again, another editor could open the work.
By Geoffrey Barker – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Why Plain Text Still Wins for Me
Modern editors offer AI assistants, goals, databases, and visual layout tools. Some of those features help with specific jobs. They also give me more decisions to make before I finish a draft.
Markdown stays useful because it does less:
- I can postpone decisions about the final layout.
- I add structure only when I need it.
- I can move the text without exporting from a proprietary format.
A .md file I wrote ten years ago still opens in any text editor. I do not need the company that made my old app to keep a server running or maintain an export tool.
I still cannot move every plain-text file without some cleanup. Markdown has dialects, links can break, and an MDX file can depend on components. The words remain accessible even when the publishing system around them changes.
Try It on One Piece of Work
You do not need to replace your notes app or move your archive to test Markdown.
- Pick one place where you write. Keep the tool you use now.
- Learn the five patterns above. Ignore the rest for a week.
- Use a real task. Write a support reply, an internal post, or a draft instead of practising on sample text.
- Notice each trip to the mouse. Check whether a Markdown pattern could keep you in the sentence.
- Decide after a week. The first hour mostly measures how unfamiliar the syntax feels.
A short test tells you whether the tradeoff suits your work without asking you to build another productivity system.
What Markdown Cannot Do
Markdown will not fix a weak argument or fill an empty page. It also becomes awkward when I need precise layouts, complex tables, or heavy collaboration in a visual document.
For the work it suits, it removes choices I do not want to make while drafting. I can think about the reader, the order of the ideas, and the sentence in front of me.
That is why I still write in Markdown. It keeps my hands on the keyboard and leaves my words in a form I can carry to the next tool.