Markdown link generator
Four shapes, one form. Useful mostly for the two you write rarely enough to look up: a reference link, and an image wrapped in a link.
No space between the closing bracket and the opening parenthesis. That single space is the most common reason a link renders as literal brackets.
[the documentation](https://example.com/docs)
How it works
- The text goes in square brackets and the address in parentheses, with no space between them: that space is the most common reason a link renders as literal brackets.
- A title is optional and goes inside the parentheses in quotes. It shows on hover and is usually skipped.
- A reference link keeps the address out of the sentence and defines it elsewhere in the file, which is worth it for a long URL or one used twice.
- An image is the same syntax with an exclamation mark in front, and the brackets hold alt text rather than a caption.
Questions
Why did my link render as brackets and parentheses?
Almost always a space between `]` and `(`. Markdown needs them touching. The checker on this site reports it as `link-space`.
When is a reference link worth it?
When the same address appears more than once, or when a very long URL in the middle of a sentence makes the source unreadable. Both are about the raw file being readable, which is what markdown is for.
The same tools, without a tab open
The checker in the app is this one, rule for rule, running on the files already on your device rather than on a copy you hand to a website. The converters overlap rather than match: the app writes markdown, HTML, Word and PDF, and this page goes wider on both sides. The generators stay here, because pasting a table into a page is a browser thing to be doing.
For iPhone, iPad and Mac.