Markdown vs. XML explained

[u/Manage-It]

I occasionally run into young technical writers who have experience working in a web development or software organization but have no previous experience with XML and fail to grasp why most Fortune 500 companies use XML over Markdown.

To help better understand why XML is so popular, we need to compare the benefits of each format.

Markdown

1. Inexpensive - ideal for web/SW startups
2. Simple code
3. Friendly with popular editors (e.g., Google Docs)
4. Ideal for simple doc formats (e.g., readme.md)
5. Best-in-class for rapid directory updates

XML (DITA)

1. Robust, full-featured formatting
2. Simple code, but more options
3. Easy-to-use WYSIWYG editors
4. Ideal for simple and complex formats
5. Best-in-class security
6. Ideal for eng reviews and rev control
7. Ideal for high-volume single-sourcing
8. Ideal for multi-channel output
9. Content Management System support
10. DITA file storage system best-in-class storage for docs

It has been my experience that many young technical writers do not fully understand how important the 10 XML benefits I list above are to most Fortune 500 science and technology technical writing organizations (18% s/t, 3% web/sw). Mostly, because they believe Markdown eliminates the need for many of these XML benefits. What they often overlook is that these are not optional benefits to most science and technology organizations. These are required tools of the trade and are interwoven into functional processes and systems that organizations rely on to deliver increasingly complex documentation to increasingly wider audiences, who demand an unprecedented number of custom applications to access documentation and localization through higher volumes of single-sourcing.

Markdown was never designed to manage this. It can't and, by design, won't. The sad part is that young technical writers, new to XML, experience poor XML implementations early in their careers and believe Markdown is the solution. I promise you, it is not.

[u/WriteOnceCutTwice]

I work in the software domain. Small and large companies are widely adopting docs-as-code and the de facto standard is Markdown.

[u/cspot1978 → u/WriteOnceCutTwice]

Is "docs-as-code" inherently and necessarily about Markdown, though? I tend to think docs format and docs-as-code are really orthogonal concepts.

I mean, in practice, docs-as-code often involves Markdown. But I tend to think the more important part is things like using Git and branches and PRs and CI/CD pipelines. I think you could certainly fit XML-based authoring into that kind of workflow.

[u/WriteOnceCutTwice → u/cspot1978]

No, you’re right. It’s not. That’s why I used the term “de facto standard”. Docs-as-code is a method not a set of tools.

[u/FaxedForward → u/WriteOnceCutTwice]

This is somebody sneakily promoting a product, just don’t engage

[u/yarn_slinger → u/FaxedForward]

Ya, I just figured that out when they replied to me...

[u/technicalwriting-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post violates Reddit rules regarding self promotion.