I presented Stop chopping onions and extend Markdown without tears at FOSDEM 2026. I talked about three hidden extension points that already exist in widely-used Markdown (such as CommonMark): links, code fences, and HTML.

If you were in attendance, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to see more talks like this, then check out the ​other talks presented in the Tool the Docs room at FOSDEM 2026​, your nearest ​Write the Docs​ meetup or conference, or invite me to your next event.

Links mentioned

• How Markdown took over the world by Anil Dash

Video and slides

If you really want to, you can also download my slides.

Acknowledgments

I used the following images in my slides:

• “A person chopping onions on a cutting board” by Meagan Stone from Unsplash. Used under the conditions of the Unsplash License.

• “Cassandra” by Evelyn De Morgan. Public domain courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

• Apollo’s Gift of Prophecy Dodgeball meme, modified from “Girls playing dodgeball in backyard” stock photo by Hill Street Studios via gettyimages.

Thank you to Audrey Hamelers for being my test audience for this talk.

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