Markdown

content markdown

The content editor supports two writing formats, selectable per item: HTML (default rich editor) and Markdown (CodeMirror plain-text editor). The format is stored in $item['content_format']. Themes never need to branch on it — render_content_html() detects it and runs the Markdown conversion automatically before the shortcode pipeline.

Headings

# H1
## H2
### H3
#### H4

Every heading gets an id="toc-{slug}" anchor automatically, compatible with the [toc] shortcode. The toolbar's Headings dropdown covers H1–H4; H5 and H6 aren't in the dropdown but work fine if typed by hand (#####, ######) — the parser supports all six levels.

Inline formatting

Syntax	Output
`bold` / `__bold__`	bold
`italic` / `_italic_`	italic
`~~strikethrough~~`	~~strikethrough~~
` inline code `\|` inline code`
`{#hex:text}`	text in that color

Text color

This word is {#e74c3c:red}, and this one is {#2ecc71:green}.

Will show: This word is red, and this one is green.

Renders as <span style="color:#hex">text</span>. Any 3- or 6-digit hex color works. The toolbar's color-picker button inserts this syntax automatically around the selected text — there's no need to memorize the format, but it's plain enough to type by hand. Other inline formatting still works inside the colored span: {#e74c3c:some **bold** word}.

Links and images

[Link text](https://example.com)
![Alt text](files/my-image.jpg)

Open in a new tab: [Text](https://example.com{:target="_blank"}).

Image resizing

Append a size hint after the URL and a space:

Syntax	Effect
`=300x`	`width="300"`, height scales automatically
`=x200`	`height="200"`, width unconstrained
`=300x200`	Both dimensions set
`=50%x`	Percentage instead of pixels

Resized images always keep max-width: 100%, so they never overflow on small screens.

⚠️

Image captions are not supported. ![alt](url "caption") does not produce a <figure>/<figcaption> — the quoted text is misparsed into the link markup instead. If you need a captioned image, write that block as HTML directly (switch that item's content_format to html, or wrap just that image in a raw HTML snippet) rather than Markdown.

Lists

Any of -, *, + for unordered; 1. for ordered. Nesting works at any depth — indent child items by 2+ spaces, and ordered/unordered levels can mix freely:

- Unordered parent
  1. Ordered child
  2. Ordered child

Blank lines between items are tolerated without closing the list.

Blockquotes

> This is a blockquote.
> It can span multiple lines.

Footnotes

Two-part syntax: an inline marker, and a definition anywhere in the document (conventionally at the bottom).

This claim needs a source.[^1] Multiple citations can stack.[^2] [^3]

[^1]: Author, A. (2023). Title. *Journal*. https://example.com
[^2]: Author, B. (2022). Another title.
[^3]: Author, C. (2021). Third source.

The marker renders as a superscript link; the definition renders as a numbered entry in a <section class="footnotes"> block appended after the content. Labels can be any alphanumeric string ([^1], [^smith2023]) and must be unique within the document — reusing a label silently overrides the earlier definition with the later one.

Horizontal rule

Any of ---, ***, ___.

Tables (GFM)

| Column A | Column B |
|---|---|
| Value 1  | Value 2  |

Column alignment syntax (:---, :---:, ---:) is not supported — all columns render left-aligned.

Fenced code blocks

```php
echo render_content_html($item['content'], $item);
```

Any language identifier works; syntax highlighting is applied client-side (highlight.js), loaded automatically only on pages whose rendered HTML actually contains a code block.

Hard line breaks

Two trailing spaces at the end of a line produce <br>.

Containers (`:::`)

The Markdown equivalent of the [callout] shortcode:

\x00CALLOUT1\x00

Alias	Rendered type	Color
`info`, `note`	info	Blue
`warning`, `caution`	warning	Orange
`tip`, `success`	tip	Green
`danger`, `error`	danger	Red

CMS shortcodes in Markdown

All shortcodes work normally — they're preserved intact through Markdown conversion and parsed afterward by the shortcode pipeline: [recent_articles limit="3"], [contact_form], etc.

Square brackets inside fenced code blocks and inline code spans are HTML-entity-encoded during conversion ([ → [), so a code example showing shortcode syntax is never itself parsed as a live shortcode.

Limitations

No image caption support (see warning above).
Table column alignment is not supported.
Raw HTML embedded in Markdown passes through as-is — use with care.
The parser is a lightweight custom implementation, not CommonMark-compliant; complex nested formatting edge cases may not render as expected.
Footnote labels must be unique per document.