Get Up Get Down Get Hip With Git Markdown- GitHub Writing Format

 If you want to make sure you're rolling with the "cool kids"- you gotta get hip to the lingo- in this case it's GitHub Flavored Markdown.

GitHub Flavored Markdown

Per GitHub's docs*,

"GitHub combines a syntax for formatting text called GitHub Flavored Markdown with a few unique writing features.".

There's a 'way' to properly write when doing so on GitHub-
     Almost a right of passage for many a developer/ programmer/ Master Hacker Supreme/ computer enthusiast- you know that they are legit if you spot 'em doing it proper.
It's the secret phrase/ pass word to get into the VIP lounge- guarded by security and bouncers, the one door in the back alley that leads to where the Normies only dream of gaining access to...
...the far fetched tails told of the happenings beyond those closed doors.
To enter, a mastery in Markdown is a necessity.

Learning GitHub Markdown, Where to Start

...but not so fast, maybe try the latter if you've never before...

If you've already gotten some basics then you can start here or continue down below to really start from the beginning... do the courses! Otherwise flex what you got and carry on this next part- make sure you comer back and link your README in the comments- would love to see em.

Learn by Creating a README for your GitHub Profile

Good thing GitHub lays out the basics to the advanced in a manner that is easy to consume- even advising us how we can flex our new found knowledge by creating a 'README' for our GitHub profile- 

https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github/quickstart-for-writing-on-github

Basic Writing and Formatting

Or better yet- "Basic Writing and Formatting"- Start right at the beginning with text sizing/ heading size... how to bold, italic, strike through, sub/ superscript, nested- getting more into it as you scroll down with quotes, links, color variants, comments, tables dot dot dot...more...
https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github/basic-writing-and-formatting-syntax

The Basics but in a Course

Or even better- a quick course(less than 1 hour ) that goes through much(all ) of what is covered in the previous link, but in a course format. I find this a better way to sink in all the new found knowledge-
In the course you learn:

1. How to add headers
2. Add images
3. Add code examples
4. Make task lists
5. Merge pull requests

Take the course here(the direct link to the course is found a bit down through the following link ): https://github.com/skills/communicate-using-markdown

If You Haven't Before, Intro to GitHub - Do this First-

Before all else- do the Introduction to GitHub Course for a sturdy foundation.

As a prerequisite they (the ALL GIT, who else? ) do ask that you are familiar with pull requests as well as how to edit files in GitHub. If you aren't familiar with those, then it is recommend you take the Introduction to GitHub course, first.

I strongly suggest in doing so, since Markdown is a huge part of it. You'll use Markdown to create a short file that can be used as your profile README - the course is less than an hour- knowledge gained is invaluable.
https://github.com/skills/introduction-to-github

Just like this Emoji "cheat sheet" for future reference*

Advanced Markdown:

Having gone through the above, you've pretty much got all you need to bust into the VIP lounge- If you want to shine though... there's some more to learn.

The nity gritty- everything GitHub Markdown...I mean it, everything...

https://github.github.com/gfm/

The next link provides a very thorough resource- 

Markdown’s syntax is intended for one purpose: to be used as a format for writing for the web.

https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/

Which also gives us the online "Dingus"

https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/dingus  <- If anything, this is a great "cheat sheet" of sorts for Markdown, since it's all pretty much there above the fold.

There used to be a http://www.aaronsw.com/2002/html2text/ but, after over a decade of nothing...It appears... to be.... non existent.... unless you know better. If you do, please leave a comment below.

Now to get... "Fancy"

For the most part, just a way to fancy up your GitHub content, in another way can be an incredible asset to your projects providing updated visualizations to better interpret data and the like... and, since things like diagrams typically would be done in image editors- these would consume a great deal of time and creative energy- this can now be done automatically, matching your data/ project in real time.

Creating Diagrams-

The following is a great resource- most, if not all diagrams are image based or previously required much coding for the diagram to be dynamic. If a update happened, the image would have to be edited in its respective software. What Mermaid Diagrams provides is a way to introduce many- and I say many, maybe even all- diagrams/ a visual way to display our data, or process, or... In this case within GitHub. So, update the data in your GitHub repository and the diagram is updated. Maybe a Gannt Chart showing time line of project.. easily updated for all, automatically in parallel with updates made by all... A huge time saver.

* Mermaid Diagrams- 
https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid

https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid

https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/working-with-advanced-formatting/creating-diagrams

 * Live Diagram Creation using Mermaid- https://mermaid.live/edit#pako:eNpVkEFrg0AQhf_KMqcW4h_wUGi0zSUlgeZU9TDo6C5xd5Z1JAT1v3eNtLRzmuF97zG8CWpuCFJoe77VGoOoS146Fee1yHQwg1gcKpUkL_OBRFl2dJ_V_unAatDsvXHd88bvV0hl03HFSIk27rpsUvbwnxzNKi-O6IV99Ve53HhWb4U56xj_X9GBouu9aDFtMakxqAxDBTuwFCyaJr4-rYYSRJOlEtK4NtTi2EsJpVsiiqPw593VkEoYaQeBx05DzOuHeI2-QaHcYBfQ_iAe3Rez_YWoMcLhY-vqUdnyDSATZqk

* Using Mermaid Chart- https://www.mermaidchart.com/play#pako:eNpVjLEOgjAURX_lpZMO_QEGEynKQqIDW-3wUottlL6mNCGG8u-CLHrXc86dmKa7YQXrXjRqizFBW908LDtKYaMbUo-DAs4PuTYJevLmnaHc1QSDpRCcf-w3v1wlEFOzagaSdf45b0h8-4s3GSrZYEgU1C9pR8pwku5ql_t_YqNZqrPssOiQa4wgMCo2fwBnHTpc

* Need some inspiration? One of many- scroll up/ down... Many examples that can be used directly in markdown- https://kroki.io/examples.html#excalidraw

* More Examples: https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/examples.html

* The below are links to videos that Mermaid Diagrams provides as resources to get familiar with its use- I apologize in advance if you get as annoyed as I did... 

* A ridiculous 'How To' for using Mermaid Diagrams in GitLab- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ9QmuTHuSI&t=438s&ab_channel=GitLabUnfiltered

* "Just Learned this 8 Hours Ago..."- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_2IroEs6Is&t=207s&ab_channel=WorldofZero

* https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/getting-started-with-writing-and-formatting-on-github

I think that's plenty for now- but, if there is anything of interest others would like to share/ contribute, please do leave a comment.

Some Extras...

... because we can never get enough

Ok- maybe some more- since, while attempting to find an image for "MarkDown" there was so much on subject content that I came across-

How to build a MarkDown editor...

https://dev.to/github/how-to-build-a-markdown-editor-in-two-minutes-with-github-copilot-khb

Some tips, tricks...

https://dev.to/github/unlocking-the-power-of-github-tips-and-tricks-17le

Lastly, for real, i've spent too long now on this post- there's just so much content I'd never realized before... 

Ok, if you have a link or something you mention numerous instances, you can save time by creating a variable of sorts. At the bottom of the page make a list with the items that you'd like to have - maybe 1 of them is "my favorite color today"- because hey, you can have a favorite whenever you'd like. Now say you've written a short blurb about your favorite color... instead of having to go through and update any time you referenced it... you make a list at the bottom of the page like [favecolor] blue and then within your content just put [favecolor]. When you change the blue to say: [favecolor] red... now anywhere in your content that you reference [favecolor] will have updated from blue to red.

I'd like to hear from you

I'd like to hear from you- If this helped you in any way or gave you any further ideas- helped to get over a plateau or in this case, into the GitHub VIP exclusive MarkDown club.. Maybe you followed the courses above and created a README file- leave a comment, share your achievements!