vis03_markdown.qmd

# markdown and quarto

Rstudio is much more than a code editor for R. It supports a variety of programming languages, documentation formats and data types. One of Rstudio's most used and most powerful features is the creation of markdown documents with integrated R code. In fact, this entire course page is written in markdown within Rstudio and then [rendered as a website](https://quarto.org/docs/websites/). As with Rstudio Version v2022.07, the markdown system of choice is `quarto` - "An open-source scientific and technical publishing system" <https://quarto.org/>. Older versions use `rmarkdown`. <https://rmarkdown.rstudio.com/>.

Depending on the system you are using, the typical file ending for the markdown files are either `.qmd` or `.rmd`.

## What is markdown?

Markdown is a "language" to format text. There are dedicated symbols for different purposes:

+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Markdown Syntax                         | Output                                  |
+=========================================+=========================================+
| ``` markdown                            | *italics*, **bold**, ***bold italics*** |
| *italics*, **bold**, ***bold italics*** |                                         |
| ```                                     |                                         |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| ``` markdown                            | # Header 1 {.heading-output}            |
| # Header 1                              |                                         |
| ```                                     |                                         |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| ``` markdown                            | ## Header 2 {.heading-output}           |
| ## Header 2                             |                                         |
| ```                                     |                                         |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| ```markdown                             | [Quarto](https://quarto.org)            |
| [Quarto](https://quarto.org)            |                                         |
| ```                                     |                                         |
+-----------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------+

These examples are taken from <https://quarto.org/docs/authoring/markdown-basics.html> where you can find more more markdown syntax.



## Using markdown in Rstudio

Simply go to `File - New File - Quarto Document...` or `File - New File - R Markdown...` to create a markdown file with some example code and work your way from there. Or if you want to jump right into markdown projects go to `New Project... - New Directory` and choose an appropriate Template (e.g. Quarto Homepage).