Markdown is what happens when someone takes everything beautiful about writing on a Mac and says, “Let’s make this look like 1982 again.”
And yet, despite the aesthetic throwback, I use it constantly. It’s not pretty, but it works—and sometimes, function wins over form.
Most people who write online either love Markdown or hate it. I happen to do both. It’s the writing tool I dislike the most—and the one I’ve come to rely on. Markdown frustrates my lifelong love of clean, visual writing interfaces, but it also delivers something no other tool quite matches for publishing online.
Falling in Love with WYSIWYG
My love of what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) word processing began in 1984 when I first encountered the Mac. Unlike any other home computer at the time, it displayed the font and formatting as I typed.
Before that time, I’d used PCs, which had an ugly, unintuitive interface. To print out plain text with the desired formatting, I had to insert formatting codes before and after the plain text words or groups of words. You weren’t shown what the formatted text would look like. I spent hours trying to figure out formatting codes and hoping everything would turn out as I wanted.
The Mac was revolutionary. It removed the need for formatting codes and instead used keyboard shortcuts and menus to select formatting. And it showed you what formatted text looked like right on the compute screen.
From the beginning, the Mac had a WYSIWYG graphical user interface. Compared to MS-DOS, it was a beautiful environment in which to work. Over the years, the Apple word processor Pages has continued to improve on the foundation established by the Write app.
Enter Markdown: An Ugly Surprise
I fell in love with writing on a Mac in 1984—the elegance of WYSIWYG was a revelation.
So imagine my reaction when I discovered Markdown years later in the Mac Community: plain text, formatting codes, and a visual experience that took me straight back to the days of MS-DOS. Why would anyone go backward?
I first encountered Markdown around 2013. I read several articles about it and then purchased Markdown: Learn to Write Markdown for Better Web Content and Rich Text, by David Sparks and Eddie Smith.
At first glance, Markdown felt like a flashback to the MS-DOS era—plain text littered with formatting codes. It looked awful and felt like a step backward. Why would I want to go back to something that reminds me of MS-DOS?
Markdown is Ugly. Here’s Why I Still Use It.
Over time, I’ve developed a kind of ‘functional fondness’ for Markdown. I wouldn’t say I love it—certainly not in an affectionate sense—but I’ve come to rely on it. Markdown isn’t beautiful, but it’s purpose-built for the web. And for that, I grudgingly give it credit.
I don’t love it. I tolerate it for its web writing benefits. I use Markdown because it is the best medium for writing my blogs. It is designed for use on the web. However, it’s still ugly to write in, and reminds me of early versions of WordPerfect with its formatting commands.
Tools That Make Markdown Tolerable
Over the past several years, I’ve tested numerous Markdown apps. I’ve settled on:
- Ulysses for writing blog posts, due to its toned-down formatting and easy publishing to WordPress. It handles images well and publishes them in the correct place on my blog post.
- NotePlan for writing notes, due to its clean interface and reduced Markdown syntax. Markdown syntax is revealed for editing if you click in a field such as a heading. Otherwise, it’s hidden and out of the way. It makes your text look more like WYSIWYG, as opposed to the old formatting code approach.
Markdown Apps: Hits and Misses
Recently, I tried out some other Markdown word processors to evaluate their aesthetics versus their web functionality, and how they fit into my workflow:
- IA Writer. IA Writer looks polished, but the visible Markdown—especially around links—felt distracting, and its image handling didn’t work well for me. It is marketed as an editor that helps writers to focus on what they are writing, but I felt just the opposite with all of the Markdown formatting visible. To me, it felt cluttered and distracting.
- Obsidian. I’ve used Obsidian in the past. However, the whole app reminds me too much of Microsoft. It’s not a native Mac app, is unappealing, and overly complicated and fiddly for my needs.
- Craft. This app easily creates beautiful documents, but they don’t transfer easily to WordPress. It does a great job of hiding ugly Markdown formatting syntax. Another positive is that it easily transfers documents to such popular apps as NotePlan, Ulysses, and DEVONThink.
My primary use of Markdown is for writing and publishing web content, such as posts and pages. None of these apps was as good a blend of aesthetics and function as Ulysses and NotePlan, so I’m sticking with them.
The Tool I Don’t Love—But Still Use
I still prefer clean, elegant writing environments. I still miss the magic of WYSIWYG.
But I also know that sometimes the best tool isn’t the one that looks the nicest—it’s the one that works. For now, that’s Markdown. Begrudgingly, I’ll keep using it.
I reach for prettier apps when I can—but when I want words on the web, Markdown is what I trust.
AI Note: I wrote this blog post myself, using my own words and thoughts for the initial draft. I used AI only to suggest headlines, section headings, and text improvements.
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