Markers: The General Purpose Academic Markup Language

A simple, powerful, and accessible markup language designed for academic papers, monographs, and general-purpose document editing.

Markers is the next-generation, Markdown-inspired markup language focused on simplicity and power for academic and general uses. It converts a special flavor of Markdown to a variety of formats, aiming to be the easiest and most accessible academic paper formatting language available.

Markers is built entirely in Haskell, for robust performance and ease of use.

Running Markers

To convert a .Markers file to the Brazillian ABNT format, for example, you can run the following command:

markers --format=abnt <input-file>

This will start a server that listens for file changes and automatically updates the output whenever the input file is modified, this way, you can edit your Markers file in your favorite text editor and see the results in real time on the browser!

Note: You'll still need to print the page from the browser to get the final PDF output, but this workflow allows you to focus on writing without worrying about formatting until you're ready to export.*

🚀 Key Features and Advantages

Markers is engineered for a hassle-free writing and formatting experience, providing the tools needed for professional-grade academic output without the complexity of traditional typesetting systems.

• Markdown-Inspired Syntax: Forget complex opening and closing tags. Markers adopts a simple, intuitive syntax, making it incredibly easy to learn and fast to write.
• Automatic Document Structure: Features like automatic chapter numbering and summary/table of contents generation are built-in, handling tedious formatting tasks automatically.
• Monographic Infrastructure: Designed specifically to handle the structure of monographs, theses, and research papers.
• Built in Haskell: The entire Markers compiler is implemented in Haskell, ensuring high performance, reliability, and robust type-safety.
• Custom Styling Language (TISS): Markers will feature its own custom stylesheet language (TISS), allowing for granular control over the document's appearance, either in a separate file or inline.
• Complete Text Formatting: Full support for bold (*text*), italics (_text_), strikethrough (~text~), and underline (__text__), along with monospaced text and colored text using Hexadecimal or RGB syntax.

📜 Creating a Markers Document

A .Markers document is structured for clarity and ease of use, separating essential document components: Title, Metadata, and Content.

Document Structure

A Markers document always begins with the title, followed by optional metadata, and then the content.

1. Title: The very first line of the document.
2. Metadata: Essential academic information defined by simple keywords.
3. Content: The main body of the paper, composed of text, chapters, lists, etc.

Metadata Keywords

Metadata is defined using simple keywords:

• By: (Author Names)
• At: (Institution/Affiliation)
• Mentor: (Advisor/Mentor's Name)
• Description: (Brief description of the document)
• Location: (City or General Location)
• Date: (Publication Date)
• Keywords: (SEO-friendly terms, separated by commas)

Example Document

A Markers Document Title
By: Person A, Person B
At: University of Open Source
Location: Brazil
Keywords: Markers, Markup Language, Academic Paper, Haskell

This is the main body text, which is *not encapsulated* in any structural tag.

# This is a Chapter (Level 1 Heading)
Chapters act as sections and automatically populate the table of contents.

# This is the Next Chapter.
In the future, more tags shall be available.
## Nested Chapters (Level 2 Subheading)
Chapters are automatically closed when a new one is encountered.

🎨 Text Formatting

Markers utilizes familiar Markdown-like syntax for inline text styling:

Syntax	Output	Description
*This is bold*	This is bold	Bold text
_This is italic_	This is italic	Italicized text
~This is strikethrough~	This is strikethrough	Strikethrough text
__This is underlined__	This is underlined	Underlined text
`Monospaced`	Monospaced	Code/Monospaced font
{#FF0000}(Red Text)	(The text in red)	Colored text (Hex)
{0,0,255}(Blue Text)	(The text in blue)	Colored text (RGB)

🧭 Roadmap

Markers is in active development. Our goal is to offer a comprehensive feature set essential for academic publishing and research:

• Text Formatting
• Chapters and Arrow-Lists
• Document Metadata
• HTML Export
• Automatic Chapter and Summary/ToC Generation
• Bullet Lists, Arrow Lists
• [-] Link, Image, Video and Audio Support
• References, Quotes, and Footnote Support
• Page and Printing Support
• PDF Export
• Exportação para Norma ABNT (ABNT Norm Export - Crucial for Brazilian academia)
• Custom Stylesheets with TISS
• Euler (Markers's Simple Math Language) Implementation