Markdown shows up everywhere โ GitHub READMEs, tech blogs, issue trackers. Here's why previewing the render as you write it matters.
The basic syntax
Heading level is set by the number of # characters (# Heading 1, ## Heading 2), emphasis is **bold** and *italic*, lists use - or numbers, a link is [text](URL), and code is wrapped in backticks (`code`).
Why skipping the preview leads to mistakes
A missing blank line before a list can silently break the rendering, or miscounting asterisks can leave bold text unstyled โ problems invisible in the raw code but obvious the moment you check the actual render.
Common use cases
This is useful for confirming a table or code block renders as intended before committing an open source project's README, or checking for rendering differences before moving technical docs between platforms like GitHub, GitLab, or Notion.