The US Founding Fathers wrote the Declaration of Independence in pen and ink but the true road to revolution was paved by the printing press. It cast the word far and wide that change harkened.
Flash forward to today. The presses still hum. However, just as during colonial times, information travels fastest over a newer medium; but this time it's entirely digital, social and mobile. Those who wish to inspire, teach, cajole, convey or simply express today use these means to do so. They default to digital first. They harmonize text, links, video, imagery and even apps. They're true transmedia storytellers.
It used to be that much of what we published was prepared for physical distribution. But with tablets and ereaders rising, the last stalwarts of physical distribution are in decline and an all-digital future is in sight.
Today anyone who wants to spread their ideas far and wide – and that’s pretty much every modern communicator – will focus first on digital means to do so. Markdown, to me, is becoming an essential lingua frança that makes writing and preparing digital-ready copy a snap. Above all, it makes it highly portable so that others can take what we've started and build on it. It’s also supported by many major platforms, including Posterous and Squarespace among others.
In short, it’s a skill every modern communicator should learn at least the basics.
The future is in text
Video and imagery are critical. But, still, nothing on the web flies the way text does. Words power the web. So it’s critical that every communicator know how to succinctly organize, convey and present ideas for the web and mobile so that they build up readers like nutrients do, rather than weigh them down like junk food.
This realization led me a few months ago to fall in love with text editors. I have since abandoned all proprietary systems for storing and managing what I write, in favor of using simple text editors that let me easily move my information around across platforms.
My favorite tools are WriteMonkey for Windows, WriteRoom for Mac OS X and Elements and PlainText on the iPad. None of them blink an eye when I try to edit a text file that I started elsewhere.
A good text editor is your friend. Befriend one.
Markdown is what’s next for text
Text alone, however, is not enough. It needs to contain references to links and formatting that guides a busy web reader’s eyes to where they want to go. Markdown makes it easy to mark up your text without any knowledge of HTML and without getting locked into a more complex editor that others might not use.
Markdown, developed by Jon Gruber half a decade ago, is a simple set of “strings” that you add to text as you write it. It utilizes sets of characters that you already know like brackets, asterisks and dashes to format and add links to your copy once previewed in a browser. Both WriteMonkey for Windows and Elements on the iPad support integrated Markdown previewing and exporting.
The value here is that Markdown forces you to organize your content, but does not lock you into a system. What’s more, it makes it easier to not only create digital-ready content but also change it later. Your work can find its way into others' hands to build on.
To me, Markdown is what’s next for text, so therefore it’s an essential skill to learn. For more about Markdown visit this page on Wikipedia and then use Gruber’s syntax guide for more advanced formatting. (I even use Markdown to write my to do lists and notes.)
Long live text!
Image credit: Posterous
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