Bending Markdown to Your Will With Your Static Site Generator

Leon Barnard, Balsamiq

Anyone Else Have This Problem?

The Customer's Problem

What We Wanted

The Problems with Markdown

The DilemmaHow do we write content that can

show up in multiple places?

The Solution* Hidden from search and other links

Limitations• Can't include partial content. All or nothing (except front

matter).

• Requires duplicate empty "placeholder" files to insert content into.

• Standard issues with "single source" models (see, e.g., http://idratherbewriting.com/2016/02/11/the-problem-with-single-source-publishing/)

• Working around some of these though

Wins• Provides a flexible framework for future product versions

• Allows us to continue to write only (mostly) markdown for the content (no code needed for includes)

Thanks!