Markdown is Everywhere — endless use-cases. If you write at all, compensated or not it's a staple.

Markdown is a simple way to write structured text with plain characters — headings, lists, links, emphasis — that still looks like a normal document when you open it in Notes, a blog, or a coding tool.

You do not need to be a developer. If you have ever typed **bold** in a Discord message, or pasted a checklist into GitHub, you have already brushed against Markdown.

This post is a practical tour: what it is good for, where it frustrates people, which apps are worth knowing (including iA Writer), how it pairs with AI tools like Cursor, and where to keep a cheat sheet handy.

What Markdown actually is

Markdown is a lightweight markup language: you write in a plain .md file (or a text box that accepts Markdown), and software turns those cues into formatted HTML or a polished preview.

Examples you will recognize:

# A heading

A short paragraph with **bold** and *italic*.

- List item one
- List item two

[Link text](https://example.com)

That same file can become a blog post, a README, a client brief, meeting notes, or the prompt you feed an AI — without locking you into Word, Pages, or Google Docs formatting quirks.

Official / canonical references
- Considering this is the guy who developed Markdown, I'd go here first
- Markdown Guide — Getting Started
- CommonMark specification (the clearest “what counts as valid Markdown” baseline)
- GitHub Flavored Markdown (tables, task lists, fenced code — what many tools quietly use)

Why people (and sites) keep choosing it

Pros

1. Portable — One .md file opens in dozens of apps. You are not trapped in a proprietary format.
2. Readable as plain text — Even without a preview, a Markdown draft is skimmable. That matters in email, git diffs, and phone editors.
3. Fast structure — Headings and lists are keyboard-cheap. Ideal for outlines, shot lists, and trip notes.
4. Web-native — Blogs, docs sites, and many CMSes (including this site’s Markdown blocks in Wagtail) render it directly.
5. AI-friendly — Models are trained on Markdown. Asking Cursor, ChatGPT, or Claude for “a blog draft in Markdown” usually returns something you can paste with almost no cleanup.
6. Version-control friendly — Diffs are line-based. Photographers who also keep a small git repo for drafts get history without fighting binary .docx files.
7. Low ceremony — No ribbon UI required. Write first; style later (or never).

Cons

1. Not one perfect standard — “Markdown” varies: CommonMark vs GitHub Flavored vs app-specific extras (footnotes, wiki links). A file that looks perfect in one app may render oddly in another.
2. Weak for complex layout — Multi-column magazine pages, tight print design, or heavy branding belong in InDesign / Affinity / a proper page builder — not Markdown.
3. Images are references, not embeds in the file — You link or attach images; the .md itself stays text. Great for portability, annoying if you expect “everything in one file” like a Word doc with pasted photos.
4. Easy to over-nest — Deep heading trees and giant tables become hard to edit on a phone.
5. Preview ≠ publish — What you see in iA Writer may not match your site’s CSS until you paste into the CMS and check.
6. Collaboration habits differ — Teams living in Google Docs comments will find Markdown workflows less “comment on this sentence” unless you add another tool (GitHub PR review, Notion, etc.).

Honest summary: Markdown wins for writing and moving text around. It loses when the deliverable is the designed page.

Note: Having used for resume creation IMO it's the way to go. Yes, making the page look nice requires some tweeks but for that specific use- a simple 1 or 2 PDF works. No need for an expensive Adobe product unless you live in that ecosystem.

Everyday uses (not just websites)

Nomadic Shutter angle: trip journals, gear notes (Camera Bag), and long-form blog pieces can all start as the same kind of file — then the website is just one destination.

Apps worth knowing

iA Writer

Focused, distraction-light writing. Strong on plain-text discipline, library organization, and cross-device sync. Excellent if you want Markdown to feel like writing, not coding. Has a clear Markdown guide in their docs and exports cleanly.

Other solid options

• Obsidian — Local vault of linked notes; power-user friendly; great for a personal knowledge base.
• Typora — WYSIWYG-ish Markdown (preview as you type).
• Bear — Polished Apple-ecosystem notes with Markdown-ish syntax.
• VS Code / Cursor — Full editor + preview; best when drafts live next to a website project.
• Apple Notes / Google Docs — Fine for life admin; not ideal as your Markdown source of truth.

Pick based on habit: iA Writer for prose-first, Obsidian for linked thinking, Cursor/VS Code when the draft sits beside code or a CMS repo.

Markdown + AI (including Cursor)

AI tools speak Markdown fluently. That is not a gimmick — it is a workflow.

Patterns that work well

1. Draft → refine — Ask for a Markdown outline, then expand section by section.
2. Paste with intent — “Return only Markdown, no preamble” keeps replies paste-ready for Wagtail or iA Writer.
3. Edit in place — In Cursor, open a .md draft in the project, describe the change, and let the agent revise headings, add a pros/cons table, or insert link lists without leaving the file.
4. Cheat-sheet prompts — “Convert this outline to GitHub-flavored Markdown with a table” is a reliable instruction.
5. Keep human voice — Use AI for structure and research scaffolding; rewrite the lines that must sound like you.

Caveats

• Models invent links. Verify every URL before publish.
• They mix Markdown dialects (especially tables and footnotes). Preview on your site.
• Long posts still need your eye for pacing, accuracy, and whether an image earns its place.

For this site’s stack: a draft can live in the repo, get edited with Cursor, then land in a Wagtail Markdown stream block — same language from notebook to public page.

Cheat sheets (bookmark these)

Keep one open until the syntax becomes muscle memory:

Print or pin the Cheat Sheet link; use GitHub’s page when you need tables.

A tiny “good enough” starter kit

# Title

One-sentence hook.

## Why this matters

Short paragraph.

## Pros

- Point
- Point

## Cons

- Point
- Point

## Links

- [Name](https://example.com)

## Next step

What you want the reader to do.

Save as something-useful.md. That is enough for 80% of drafts.

Bottom line

Markdown is not a religion. It is a practical interchange format for people who write a lot and publish in more than one place: notebooks, blogs, AI chats, and code-adjacent tools like Cursor.

Use it when clarity and portability matter. Skip it when the layout is the product. Keep a cheat sheet nearby for a week — then you will mostly stop needing it.