How to Use Markdown to style and structure writing
1 Make your mark
In this tutorial we’ll be using Ulysses, but you can write Markdown text in any text editor. The first thing to do is to start writing your content. Don’t worry about formatting any text just yet; concentrate on your words. 2 Use your heads
One of the most common parts of a document is its heading. Prefacing a line of text with a hash (#) turns it into the biggest title of all, Heading 1. Ulysses color-codes Markdown text, as you can see above. 3 Make a hash of it
If one hash makes your text into Heading 1, you’ll never guess what two hashes do… Markdown enables you to set heading styles 1 to 6 by prefixing a line of text with the corresponding number of hash symbols. 4 Be bold
Emphasis is the next most common kind of text formatting. In addition to symbols – double asterisks for bold, single for italic – Markdownfriendly apps enable the use of the familiar and shortcuts. 5 Make a list
To create a bulleted list, there’s no need to remember complicated tag structures: an asterisk or dash followed by a space automatically prefixes and indents your text. Lists continue until you press the key on an empty line. 6 Get the numbers
The other kind of list is a numbered one, and once again it’s simple to create: type a number, followed by a full stop and then a space to start your numbered list. Once again, Ulysses color-codes these. 7 Link it up
To add a hyperlink, type the display text for it in square brackets and then the target address in parentheses – say, [MacLife](http:// maclife.com). Don’t leave a space between the name and URL. 8 Let the app help
Shortcuts make adding hyperlinks faster: highlight some text, press and then type or paste an address into the pop-up that appears. You can then see the target address by double-clicking the link’s title. 9 Publish
Ulysses’ share sheet enables you to copy your document or export it in plain or rich (formatted) text, PDF, ePub, DOCX, or HTML format. Document formats also offer a range of design templates to choose from.