Markdown Quick Start
What is Markdown?
Markdown is a way of quickly creating the kind of structure familiar from word processing, social media or email agents, using only plain text characters. This includes headings, bullet lists, numbered lists, bold and italic styling, hyperlinks, etc.
It’s ideal for jotting down ideas quickly with as much, or as little, styling and structure as you wish.
Basic Syntax
# Heading 1
## Heading 2
etc.
* bullet
or
- bullet
- [ ] to do
- [x] done
1. numbered list
2. another item
*Italics* or **bold** text
*** (divider)
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Often this plain text then gets rendered as HTML on a webpage and the “markup” part of the text disappears and is replaced with actual styling.
Burst Notes offers 2 editors that edit the same text, but display them and let you interact with them in different ways according to which approach you prefer.
By default, you use the Source editor, which shows the plain characters just as they “really” are. You get some styling thrown in to show you that the editor recognizes what you are trying to do, and to help you organize your ideas. When you type Command-P or click on the preview button in the toolbar, the page becomes un-editable, the markup disappears and you can see the “finished” webpage.
The second editor is the Visual editor, which is a What You See Is What You Get editor where markup disappears as soon as it is recognized. It’s prettier and looks cleaner and more organized, but can be a little confusing until you are used to the markup syntax.
You can switch between both with the Command-1 and Command-2 key combos.
Fast Todo Syntax
For faster todo entry, Burst Notes supports a shorthand syntax:
[] -> - [ ]
[x] -> - [x]
Keyboard Shortcuts
Universal Shortcuts (Both Editors)
| Shortcut | Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ESC | Close editor | Returns to command window |
| ⌘W | Close editor | Same as ESC |
| ⌘B | Bold | Toggle bold on selection |
| ⌘I | Italic | Toggle italic on selection |
| ⌘T | Toggle checkbox | Convert line to/toggle checkbox |
| ⌥Space | Toggle checkbox | Alternative checkbox shortcut |
| ⌘1 | Visual mode | Switch to Milkdown editor |
| ⌘2 | Source mode | Switch to EasyMDE editor |
Source Editor Only
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘P | Toggle preview |
Other Editors
Burst Notes is designed for quick capture, not as a full-featured text editor or todo list manager.
The power of markdown is that you can edit it in any text editor. There are dedicated markdown editors, but you can use a plain text editor like BBEdit, Nova, Sublime Text, programming or web design tools, etc.
Markdown is not a real standard and it has evolved in many different flavors, but the beauty of its plain text with markup approach is that you can still create and edit markup even if the editor does not know how to render it.