Manuscript · typeset · recto
Markdown Previewer
Write on the manuscript, read it on the page. Markdown becomes a typeset book page as you type: running head, folio, drop cap, and every heading, list, table and code block in its place.
Markdown, typeset
Markdown is plain text with a few marks: # for a heading, * or - for a list, **bold**, *italic*, [a link](https://...), backticks for code. It was designed to read well before it is rendered and to become HTML afterwards. The page on the right is that HTML, set like a book: the first heading becomes the running head, the first paragraph after it gets a drop cap, and the folio counts pages at roughly three hundred words each.
What is supported
Headings one to six, paragraphs, bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, fenced code blocks, block quotes, ordered and unordered lists with nesting by indentation, task lists, links, images, horizontal rules and pipe tables. Two spaces at the end of a line force a line break. Raw HTML is shown as text, not rendered, which keeps the page safe to paste anything into.
Why a manuscript and a book
For most of the history of printing the author's copy and the printed page were different objects: a typescript with wide margins for the editor's marks, and the compositor's typeset page with its running heads and folios. Markdown keeps that split. What you write is the manuscript; what the reader gets is the book.
Where does the running head come from?
The first level-one heading in the text. If there is none, it reads Untitled. It turns the page when it changes.
Can I get the HTML?
Copy HTML puts the rendered markup on your clipboard, plain elements with no classes or styles, ready for a blog, a CMS or an email.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Rendering happens in your browser, and nothing you write leaves it.