Formatting Cheatsheet

I figured I'd share some tips on formatting posts that I've stumbled upon accidentally in case other folks want to edit and organize their post text to be a little more readable.

"\" without the quotes at the end of lines or on its own line is often your friend for line breaks. Doesn't always work when combined with other formatting rules listed below, but give it a shot for adding spaces
between
text
and
paragraphs
like

this!

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Ordered List

If you add "1." at the beginning of a line it makes an ordered list for all consecutive lines that have the same pattern. For example, if you write this...

1. this makes a numbered list
1. this is the 2nd item in a numbered list
1. yep, this is the 3rd item in the list
    1. this is a sub-item (add 3 spaces before the 1.)

...it outputs to this...

1. this makes a numbered list
2. this is the 2nd item in a numbered list
3. yep, this is the 3rd item in the list
   1. this is a sub-item (add 3 spaces before the 1.)

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Bulleted/Unordered List

If you add "- " (dash plus a space) at the beginning of a line it makes an unordered/bulleted list for all consecutive lines that have the same pattern. For example, if you write this...

- this should be a bulleted list
- this is another bullet
- this is yet another bullet
  - this is a sub-bullet (add 2 spaces before the dash)

...it outputs to this...

• this should be a bulleted list
• this is another bullet
• this is yet another bullet
  • this is a sub-bullet (add 2 spaces before the dash)

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Italicize and Bold

If you write this...

*italicize* by surrounding text with asterisks
**bold** by surrounding text with double asterisks
***both*** by surrounding text with triple asterisks

It outputs to this

italicize by surrounding text with asterisks
bold the sentence by surrounding text with double asterisks
both by surrounding text with triple asterisks

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Headings

Use the following format for creating headings of different sizes. Type these:

# heading 1
## heading 2
### heading 3
#### heading 4
##### heading 5
###### heading 6

And the output is ...

heading 1

heading 2

heading 3

heading 4

heading 5

heading 6

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Indented Blockquote

In order to create a blockquote, use the > character on its own line and it should indent. For example, typing this:

> This is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented. This is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented.

...shows up like this...

This is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented. This is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented. this is a block quote that is indented.

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Note

• styles don't seem to work on profile descriptions or comments (thanks @arf and @hellokrissi for flagging)