Markdown is original defined by John Gruber, and soon become widely used. (more detail on Markdown-wiki).
Markdown-github add some awesome rules to enhance the writting on github.
When I'm using markdown, I sometimes feel it lacks some features i want. (Maybe you also have the same feelings).
But you know, it is widely used and you can not force others to agree with you. That's why I collect the ideas here, maybe it is useful for those developing Markdown editors.
Current ideas are listed here:
Markdown options is a way to extend markdown by external markdown engine. Let's make an example to clarify this idea.
For example, sometimes I want the markdown engine could output the indexed version of the html for long article; but sometimes, I dont want it. So there could be an option to indicate it. My idea is using something like reference link grammar, but begin with @:
@index: true
That means I wish the external tool could create an indexed version pdf/html for me. But whether it can do or can not do that depends on the external tool itself. For those don't support @index grammar, just ignore it.
Other cases, maybe it can also be used in coloring the elements. For example:
@color-red: red
@color-red: #900
Then you can reference the element as red color.
Some Title@color-red
----
All charts are defined just like you are writting normal code. For example:
```js
document.write('hi');
```
This is how we write markdown chart. (For now i just want simple uml charts)
```uml-<chart type>
…details based on different chart definitions...
```
Here are the blueprint for the uml charts:
- usecase
- activity
- class
- object
Explanation visit usecase in wikimedia.
The syntax is as following:
```uml-usecase "a simple cms"
admin | user | manage news, manage user
user | guest | read news, sign out
guest | | sign up, sign in
```
should generate:
Grammar:
role | parent role | actions...
Enhanced ideas:
- add option color, for example, if i want user role have an red color, i could do
user@color-red | login@color-red | read news ... - the chart could be in data url format, something like
data:image/gif;base64,...(can it be used in pdf? Not sure)
Explanation visit activity in wikimedia.
To make things simple, there's no decisions in activity chart.
```uml-activity "search user then send message"
search a special user | edit message | send message both in sms and email
search a special user | if not found, make edit message button disabled
```
should generate:
Grammar:
activity | activity | activity...
class definition here is not exactly the same as in class in wikimedia. It only describes generalization.
```uml-class
person | admin,user,guest
```
Grammar:
parent | son,son,son...
object only contains attributes you want to use. (then it can also describe table).
```uml-object
person | id,name,roles
user | id,name,roles,ctime
```
should result:
Grammar:
object | attribute,attribute...
But attribute here can also be written as method. Just change it to method() or even more add +method() to indicate it is a static method.
In markdown, we can display images either using external links or data url. But it is quite limited.
If the requirement is we want a all-in-one solution, the data url solution is messed up. So, my idea is using Text with MessagePack as attachement. (MessagePack itself can also be used with other Text format).
The basic format is:
... Here is the Text (Markdown in this case) ...
\x1E \x1E ---- two \x1E for seperating text and binary data
[Optional Class Tag:] ... MessagePack binary data goes here ....
\x1E ---- Another section
[Optional Class Tag:] ... MessagePack binary data goes here ....
For example:
# Title
This is a simple text.
\x1E \x1E
{"user": "yarco", "image1":"data:image/png;base64,...", "image2":"data:image/png;base64,...}
\x1E
Avatar:{"image1":"data:image/png;base64,"width":"200px",...}
You can reference the image in markdown as:
 ---- default section, the first messagepack data, "image1"
or
 ---- Avatar:"image1"