Add "Markdown" to g7:MIME in v7.1 GEDCOM

[Norwegian-Sardines]

We have discussed this previously but I have seen no additional movement to add this concept to v7.1 of GEDCOM.

Many applications including GITHUB use a form of "Markdown" to provide a simple way to format text that is easy to read by humans. The web based genealogy software I use has implemented Markdown for any user entered text that needs presentation information (i.e. Bolding, Underline, Bullets, etc).

GEDCOM has already implemented for g7:MIME the use of text/html with minimum support recommendations for some common formatting concepts. The v7.1 GEDCOM Standard should include similar concepts for Markdown in this release.

Markdown as opposed to HTML embedded in text has a distinct advantage for online application as it allows for an online application to internally translate entered markdown to whatever data presentation format it uses skipping markdown elements (any or all) it does not understand but allows for better understand of the intent of the markdown by casual readers. While in an online environment the application must first remove any HTML constructs that it does not understand/use as well as remove all harmful HTML constructs (for example: code injection and scripts), as well as font attributes (size, color, type face) that are detrimental to the overall page design, before processing the remaining HTML.

Basic Markdown provides for the following text formatting:

• Bold
• Italic
• Heading 1, Heading 2
• Link
• Image
• List
• Numbered List
• Horizontal Rule
• Inline Code
• Block Quote

Additional functions such as tables can be added that are easy to visualize in a text document.

MIME (Media type) g7:MIME should add the text/markdown feature to v7.1 GEDCOM design as an alternative to using HTML exclusively in text based payloads. As used in Github!

[fisharebest]

See #222

[Norwegian-Sardines]

I was thinking of something like:

text/markdown employs a plain text format for creating structured documents, drawing on formatting conventions from email and usenet.

Applications should at least accommodate the following:

**BOLD**, *Italic*, __Underline__, and ~~Strike-through~~ for bold, italic, underlined, and strike-through text.
# Heading element for Heading 1 (Placed on its own line)
## Heading element for Heading 2 (Placed on its own line)
* List element for Bullet List (Each item in a bulleted list on its own line)
1. List element for Numbered List (A number followed by an item, each on its own line)

It is encouraged to support additional Markdown elements, such as inline images, tables, blockquotes, and other layout features. Elements that are not supported should be disregarded during display.

NOTE: Markdown is immediately understandable by a human since the GEDCOM text already resembles the visual output.

For instance:

# 1940 US Census for New York, New York
__Individuals located at this address__
* John **Doe** (age 35)
* Sally (age 32)
* Junior (age 3)
* Betty (age 1)

[dthaler]

This is a duplicate of #222, please continue the discussion there.