What is Markdown

MarkdownPad - The Markdown editor for Windows

Those, like you and me, that are interested in Outlines, sooner or later will hear and read about "Markdown". But what is it ? I would say that markdown is a set of special codes that you use when writing a text and these codes will transform your text in a beautifully formated output; many people prefer writing long texts using markdown in a clean and distraction-free enviroment than using a full featured wysiwyg editor. Applications that support markdown are available for all platforms and online. Some outlining software as Scrivener and Ulysses also support markdown.
Just a very quick example of Markdown sintax:
*italic* outputs to italic and **bold text** outputs to bold text.
A nice description of markdown is available at whatismarkdown.com.