Markdown Tutorial Series - Part 2

Adding Emphasis and Creating Lists

In Part 1, we covered headings and paragraphs. Now, let's learn how to make text stand out and organize information with lists.

Stylized text editor showing Markdown bold, italics, and lists
Emphasis and lists help convey meaning and structure effectively.

Emphasis: Bold and Italics

Markdown provides simple ways to emphasize text using asterisks (`*`) or underscores (`_`).

Italics

To italicize text, wrap it with a single asterisk or a single underscore.

*This text will be italic.*
_This text will also be italic._

Rendered HTML:

This text will be italic.

This text will also be italic.

Bold

To make text bold, wrap it with double asterisks or double underscores.

**This text will be bold.**
__This text will also be bold.__

Rendered HTML:

This text will be bold.

This text will also be bold.

Bold and Italics

You can combine bold and italics by using three asterisks or three underscores.

***This text will be bold and italic.***
___This text will also be bold and italic.___
**_This works too_** or *__as does this__*

Rendered HTML:

This text will be bold and italic.

This text will also be bold and italic.

This works too or as does this

Creating Lists

Lists are essential for organizing items. Markdown supports ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.

Unordered Lists

Create unordered lists using asterisks (`*`), plus signs (`+`), or hyphens (`-`) as list markers.

* Item 1
* Item 2
  * Sub-item 2.1
  * Sub-item 2.2
* Item 3

- Alternative marker 1
+ Alternative marker 2

Rendered HTML:

  • Item 1
  • Item 2
    • Sub-item 2.1
    • Sub-item 2.2
  • Item 3
  • Alternative marker 1
  • Alternative marker 2

To create nested lists, indent sub-items with two or four spaces.

Ordered Lists

Create ordered lists using numbers followed by periods. The actual numbers you use don't matter; Markdown will render them sequentially. However, starting with `1.` is good practice.

1. First item
2. Second item
3. Third item
   1. Nested ordered item
   2. Another nested item

1. You can also use
1. the same number
1. for all items.

Rendered HTML:

  1. First item
  2. Second item
  3. Third item
    1. Nested ordered item
    2. Another nested item
  1. You can also use
  2. the same number
  3. for all items.

What's Next?

Great job! You can now add emphasis and create structured lists in your Markdown documents.

In Part 3 of our tutorial, we'll cover how to create links, insert images, and format code blocks.

Keep practicing these concepts in the MarkdownBuddy editor and explore more on our tutorial pages.