Ask HN: Markdown - tag and target blocks of content

[andersnolsen]

I'm working on a project where I could use some input.

I'm building a tool where a text editor and group chat plays the leading characters. I use Markdown in both instead of WYSIWYG.

My requirements for choice of markup language was:

- easy to read and write

- converts easily to clean HTML, ePub, PDF and other formats

- content blocks can be tagged with one or more tags

- content blocks can be targeted to one or more user/role

- allow simple data (key value pairs, lists)

TAGGING

With the risk of provoking a heart-attack on Markdown purists I present my first implementation of syntax for tagging:

#tag Header

Readability is an issue with more than one tag but I can live with only one tag per level of heading.

TAGGING EXAMPLE

The would allow us to write:

#chapter At the riviera

...

##scene On the beach

...

##scene The Ice Cream parlour

...

Which would help to render text differently depending on tagging - use tags as classes when parsed to HTML.

TARGETING

I use a simple and well known syntax at the start of a line:

@username ...

...

...

Is not very loud but allows a parser to understand that content on a certain level and below is targeted to a restricted audience.

An alternative way I've been pondering is expanding the {} syntax used for IDs in Kramdown and PHP Markdown Extra.

{@role,@role2}

{.tag,.tag2} or just {tag,tag2}

Targeting content will allow soft access control as well as being able to write Markdown in group chat and route parts of the text to different users/sub-groups

DATA IN MARKDOWN

I'm hoping to solve data with the

: data

Or maybe do some mixin with YAML?