13 Aug 2026, 05:40 - Markdown is Worse is Better

Every now and then, I’ll come across a markup language that I genuinely consider adopting. Most recently, Djot. However, I still use Markdown. Why?

Firstly, Markdown is good enough. The vast majority of my Markdown usage is for writing italics and hyperlinks.

Secondly, Markdown works everywhere. Almost every chat platform, forum, social media platform, and blog comment section I use supports Markdown without issue. Not always the full array of features, but usually the core features I care about. Every popular programming language in which one could want to parse Markdown has a capable library.

The wide support means that content is very portable. I won’t end up with my content stuck in some format that is proprietary or unsupported by modern software.

Thirdly, Markdown is designed to map cleanly into HTML, which is the main case I need it for. I can also author straight HTML in Markdown without stress.

Markdown isn’t perfect, but it is good enough. It might not be perfect, but it is no less perfect than any alternative, and if I am already using it and must continue to use it in some places, then I may as well use it everywhere.