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I am currently looking for a markup language to use in a project. I want to allow site vistors to edit a wiki like page using a markup language (not HTML).
I am implementing this site in Ruby on Rails, and would prefer (although not bound) to use something that already has strong support in the form of a gem.
There are a few main things I am looking for in a markup language:
It needs to be easy to use for a non-technical crowd.
It needs to be safe from cross site scripting attacks.
It needs to be relatively useful for general purpose markup found in wiki pages.
Ideally support would have be there in the form of a gem.
Ideally a WYSIWYG editor (or at least an editor with helpers like the one on SO) would exist.
From a brief survey of the popular markup language I am inclined to go with Markdown, only because it seems to have good support in RoR and (if I am not mistaken) it also appears to be free from cross site scripting exploits.
Are these valid observations? What down falls are there to going with Markdown? What other concerns would you look at when choosing a markup language? And most importantly, which markup language would you choose?
Any and all information would be appreciated.
As a side note, I've already looked at Compare and contrast the lightweight markup languages and it didn't directly address my concerns, but perhaps would be helpful for those looking at this question.----
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HTML, which is an essential part of the web, is also a markup language. However, Markdown is distinguished from markup languages like these in that it's considered a lightweight language. It's easy to look at a Markdown document and still read what the text says.
Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown is now one of the world's most popular markup languages.
A markup language is "a notation used to annotate a document's content to give information regarding the structure of the text or instructions for how it is to be displayed". "Markdown" is the name of one such markup language, which is used by Stack Overflow.
The AsciiDoc syntax is more concise than (or at least as concise as) Markdown. At the same time, AsciiDoc offers power and flexibility without requiring the use of HTML or “flavors” for essential syntax such as tables, description lists, admonitions (tips, notes, warnings, etc.) and table of contents.
How about Creole?
That seems to be well suited for wikis, and looks to have Ruby support and since it also has Javascript support, so an editor similar to SO's can be crafted.
See:
Creole-to-HTML converter
JavaScript Creole 1.0 Wiki Markup Parser
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