Markdown Flavours: GitHub, Pandoc & Quarto
“Markdown” isn’t a single standard — it’s a family of closely related dialects called flavours. The core (headings, emphasis, lists, links, code) is the same everywhere. The differences show up in the extras. Here are the three you’re most likely to meet.
GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM)
What GitHub renders in READMEs, issues and comments. On top of core Markdown it adds tables, task lists (- [ ] and - [x]), strikethrough (~~text~~) and automatic linking of bare URLs. If you’re writing a project README, target GFM. The editor in the previous lessons follows this flavour.
Pandoc Markdown
Pandoc is the universal document converter that powers R Markdown and Quarto under the hood. Pandoc Markdown is a superset with academic features: footnotes, citations, definition lists, fenced ::: div blocks, and rich table syntaxes. If a feature works in Quarto but not on GitHub, it’s usually a Pandoc extension.
Quarto Markdown
Quarto uses Pandoc Markdown and adds a publishing layer on top: executable code chunks (```{r}), cross-references (@fig-plot), callout blocks, figure/table numbering, and a YAML header that controls the whole document. Everything you learned in this course is valid Quarto Markdown — Quarto just gives those symbols extra powers.
Which should you learn?
The core you already know carries across all three. A quick map:
The practical takeaway: learn core Markdown once (you just did), then pick up the handful of extras your tool adds. For reproducible reports that turn text and code into Word, PDF or HTML, that tool is Quarto.
Ready for the next step? Start the interactive Quarto course → and turn this Markdown into living reports.