Markdown is meant to be shown (2021)

Role of Markdown: Visible Syntax vs Rendered Output

• Strong split between those who want to always see raw Markdown and those who prefer styled text with syntax mostly hidden.
• Many argue Markdown’s philosophy is that the plain text itself should be readable, so hiding it undermines a key benefit.
• Others see Markdown primarily as a storage / interchange format that should be rendered WYSIWYG for comfort and aesthetics, especially for long‑form writing and notes.

Editing UX: Modes, Live Preview, and “Reveal Codes”

• Popular compromise: hybrid editors (Obsidian, Bear, Typora) that render formatting but reveal raw syntax around the cursor. Some find this jarring due to text reflow; others say it becomes natural.
• Users want easy toggles between “source” and “preview” and keyboard shortcuts for mode switching.
• Several reminisce about WordPerfect’s “Reveal Codes” and want similar explicit control boundaries to avoid WYSIWYG “magic” backspaces that unexpectedly reformat blocks of text.

Portability, Storage, and Tooling

• Markdown as backend storage is praised: plain text, portable, diff‑friendly, and safer than opaque rich‑text formats.
• Some apps intentionally present pure WYSIWYG while persisting Markdown underneath to get both user‑friendliness and long‑term data safety.
• Others complain about apps that adopt Markdown but then hide it entirely or make preview mandatory, undermining its value to power users.

Markdown Overreach and Alternatives

• Several argue many apps reach for Markdown by default when richer, custom markup or true rich‑text would be better (e.g., complex word processors, wikis).
• Alternatives like djot and formats that output JSON are mentioned, but Markdown’s ubiquity and tooling support are seen as hard to displace.

Formatting Details and Ecosystem Frictions

• Disagreement over keyboard efficiency (* vs Ctrl/Cmd‑I) and interaction patterns for italic/bold.
• Confusion and frustration with inconsistent Markdown‑like syntax across apps (e.g., * as bold vs italic in chat tools).
• Debate over HTML semantics (<b>/<i> vs <em>/<strong>) and whether Markdown is “meant” primarily for HTML generation or direct reading.
• Prettier and similar auto‑formatters are criticized for mangling human‑oriented whitespace and heading styles in Markdown.

Non‑Technical Users and Product Decisions

• Reports that non‑technical users perceive Markdown as “coding” and strongly prefer Word‑like WYSIWYG.
• Some products (e.g., Trello, various wikis) moving away from visible Markdown or disabling it entirely draws backlash from users who rely on raw syntax.