Markdown is a simple code system that allows you to format text. vkgy uses a modified form of Markdown which allows additional functionality.

Markdown basics, for articles and comments

Basic formatting

Surround a phrase in * to make it bold; surround it in ** to make it italicized; or surround it in *** to make it bold and italicized. Make a link like so: [text here](https://google.com).

Some words are bold, and some are italicized, and some are both. This is a link that goes to Google.

Mentioning artists, labels, users, and subgenres

One of vkgy's modifications to Markdown is the ability to mention artists, labels, users, and subgenres. You should always use the mention feature rather than manually typing out names, as it ensures that pages will be linked properly throughout the website.

For artists, press /, start typing a few letters of the band's name, and select the appropriate artist from the popup. For labels, do the same but press =; and for users, do the same but press @. For subgenres, type two pluses and then the romanized name of the subgenre with hyphens e.g. kote-kei.

inartistic loves the kote kei (コテ系) band Madeth gray'll who were signed to Matina.

For artists that have changed their name, if you need to reference the old name, follow the above instructions and then follow it with the desired “display name” wrapped in [].

DIR EN GREY used to spell their name like Dir en grey.

Lists

Lists should be used whenever possible, such as when listing tour dates or bands that will appear at a show. To make a list, start each line with * and a space.

• Normal list item 1
• Normal list item 2

Or, to make a numbered list, start each line with 1. and a space (the numbers will count up automatically).

1. Numbered list item 1
2. Numbered list item 2

Advanced Markdown, for articles

Headings

You can create a large heading by starting a line with # and a space. For a slightly smaller heading, use ##. This pattern continues all the way to ######.

Heading 1

Heading 2

Heading 3

Heading 4

Heading 5

Heading 6

Line breaks

You should almost never need to force a line break, as it disrupts the purposeful styling and spacing of blog posts. If you find yourself wanting to insert one, consider that your data may be better formatted as a list.

However, if you absolutely need to force a line break, add a space and backslash to the end of the line.

This section has natural paragraph spacing.

This
one
doesn't.

You can also force line breaks within lists in the same way:

• List item 1
  Still list item 1
• List item 2

Divider lines

You should almost never need to use a divider line, as proper use of headings/lists will automatically insert divider lines where appropriate. However, if you must separate two thematically different sections and a heading doesn't feel appropriate, add a blank line, then a line with ---, and then another blank line.

Section 1

---

Section 2

Code and escapes

If you want to display raw Markdown rather than rendering it, you can wrap it in two backticks. (Be careful not to wrap code in two BUCK-TICKs.)

Alternatively, use a backslash before a symbol to escape it, such as when you need an asterisk within bold text.

This is bold but **this is not**. And this is italic but Atmos*note is not.

Blockquotes and special blocks

Blockquotes can be used for lengthy quotes (such as translations of a disbandment comment) or for any text that needs special attention (such as the code examples in this article). To create a blockquote, start the line with > and a space. Every line afterward that starts with > will be part of the same blockquote.

This is a blockquote.

This is part of the same blockquote.

But this is a new blockquote.

One of vkgy's modifications to Markdown is the addition of special blockquotes. By using > and following it [note], you can make a special note block. Follow that with [caution] to make the note more cautionary.

Another modification is the ability to add custom captions. This is useful when you want to give more context to a block of images or a YouTube embed. To add a caption, follow > with [caption].

Images

Images are work very similar to links, except that they are preceded with !. Any text within [] will be inserted below as a caption.

Any images that do not have line breaks between them will be auto-formatted as a gallery:

Instead of captioning each individual photo in a gallery, you can add a [caption] block (see blockquotes and special blocks).

You can also make a single image take up the full width by using a [caption] block with the [full-width] modifier:

Embeds

Twitter, YouTube, and Spotify have embed integrations with vkgy's version of Markdown. Simply paste in the URL to any of these and it will be embedded. (A caption can be added to any of these using as explained in blockquotes and special blocks.)

Similarly, release information from vkgy itself may be embedded by pasting the URL to the release. Articles about new releases should always embed the release directly instead of manually writing the tracklist, and all types of the release should be embedded.

Need help?

Markdown is simple once you get the hang of it, but there's a learning curve at first. If you need any help, the best bet is to ask on our Discord.