documentation-markdown-guide.md

Markdown style guide

This guide for Markdown style helps keep contributions consistent across all documentation created for Grafana products. Refer to the guide and update its sections as needed when a Subject Matter Expert answers a question on Markdown style, or a decision is made about how to apply Markdown.

Headers

In Markdown, the number of "#" symbols creates different heading levels, similar to HTML heading levels:

Example

• # is <h1>.
• ## is <h2>.
• ### is <h3>.

Start your document with a single # for the title of the page. Add the sub-headings with two ##.

Bold and emphasis

• Make text bold using two asterisks.

Example: It is **important** to use GitHub Flavored Markdown emoji consistently.

• Make text *emphasized* using single _underscores_ or a single asterisk.

Example: GitHub Flavored Markdown emoji should only appear in specific cases.

Links and references

Create links to other website by wrapping the display text in square brackets, and the web URL in curved brackets.

[text to display](www.website.com)

Example: For more information on including emoji in GitHub flavored Markdown, refer to the webfx page on emoji for a list of emoji.

Block quotes

Include Block quotes inside text using right-facing arrows:

Example

Any important information about emoji can be separated into a blockquote.

Code blocks

Code blocks written with markdown can show off syntax highlighting specific to different languages. Use three back tics to create a code block:

function testNum(a) {
  if (a > 0) {
    return "positive";
  } else {
    return "NOT positive";
  }
}

Write the name of the language after the first set of back tics, no spaces, to show specific syntax highlighting. For example; "```javascript" produces the following:

function testNum(a) {
  if (a > 0) {
    return "positive";
  } else {
    return "NOT positive";
  }
}

Tables

Construct a table by typing the table headings, and separating them with a "|" character. Then, add a second line of dashes ("-") separated by another "|" character. When constructing the table cells, separate each cell data with another "|".

Example

Heading one | Heading two

------------|------------

Cell one data| Cell two data

Will publish as:

Heading one	Heading two
Cell one data	Cell two data

Lists

Numbered lists

To avoid inconsistent list numbering, use repetitive list numbering:

\1. First

\1. Second

\1. Third

The list above will always display as:

1. First
2. Second
3. Third

Unordered lists

Build a list of points - an unordered or unnumbered list - by using "*" characters.

Example

• First
• Another item
• The last list item

Images

Include images in a document using the following syntax:

Example 

This follows the format of "!", alt text wrapped in "[]" and the link URL wrapped in "()".

Comments

You can include comments that will not appear in published markdown using the following syntax:

[comment]: <> (Comment text to display)

The word "comment" wrapped in "[]" followed by a ":", a space, "<>", and then the comment itself wrapped in "()".