Switching from Gutenberg to Markdown: A More Efficient Writing Experience

After six months, I have become comfortable using Markdown to create content for this website. Coming from the WordPress and Gutenberg platform — and having never used Markdown — it required some adjustment despite my familiarity with plain text editors. For me, Markdown offers clear advantages in simplicity and compatibility.

Ease of Use

As someone who typically uses plain text editors, I find Markdown refreshingly simple. Its plain text formatting syntax is easy to learn and use. Unlike Gutenberg, I don’t have to navigate complex interfaces, multiple formatting menus, or specialized blocks with their own formatting options. Compared to Gutenberg’s overwhelming and limiting authoring experience, Markdown feels streamlined and intuitive.

Focus on Content Authoring

Markdown allows me to focus on writing rather than managing technical issues. This website primarily features technical topics and code snippets. With WordPress, I relied on plugins for syntax highlighting. Over time, these plugins would often become unsupported, forcing me to find alternatives and reformat existing content — an ongoing and frustrating process.

Additionally, including working code examples, such as JavaScript utilities, was cumbersome. For security reasons, WordPress blocks embedded scripts by default, requiring either plugins or template modifications. This added complexity was limiting for my needs.

With Markdown and Astro’s built-in support for Shiki and Prism, these issues are effectively eliminated. I can focus on writing, knowing that syntax highlighting is handled seamlessly. For example, here’s how I include a simple “Hello, World!” program in C:

```c
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}
```

This code is rendered with syntax highlighting, and the process is simple and compatible with other syntax highlighter packages if needed.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, World!\n");
    return 0;
}

Portability and Compatibility

Markdown files are plain text, making them easy to open and edit with any text editor. This ensures cross-platform compatibility without risking format loss. Content can be easily reused across different environments. In contrast, Gutenberg’s tight integration with WordPress complicates content export and reuse.

I am gradually salvaging content previously published on this website through WordPress. Because WordPress stores posts in its own custom format rather than as individual files in a platform independent format, automated conversion tools have been mostly ineffective. Since the content needs updating anyway, I am manually migrating it to Markdown at my own pace.

Summary

Markdown has significantly improved my content creation experience by simplifying formatting, reducing technical distractions, and enhancing portability. Unlike WordPress, it allows me to focus on writing without constantly managing plugins or dealing with compatibility issues. As I continue migrating my older content, I am hopeful that Markdown will remain a reliable solution.