Exercise - Communicate using Markdown

In this lab, you will learn to organize ideas and collaborate using Markdown, a lightweight language for text formatting. GitHub is about more than code—it's a platform for software collaboration, and Markdown is one of the most important ways developers can make their communication clear and organized in issues and pull requests.

You will learn how to:

  • Add headers to organize content
  • Add an image to enhance communication
  • Add a code example to share code snippets
  • Create task lists to track work
  • Use Markdown effectively in GitHub

This lab takes approximately 60 minutes to complete.

Before you start

To complete the lab, you need:

  • A GitHub user account. If you don't have one, you can create a new account. If you need instructions on how to create a GitHub account, refer to the article Creating an account on GitHub.
  • Basic familiarity with pull requests. If you're not familiar with pull requests, we recommend you take the Introduction to GitHub course first.
  • A web browser with access to the internet.

Complete the exercise on GitHub

In this exercise, you'll learn Markdown formatting through a hands-on GitHub Skills exercise that guides you through creating and formatting content.

Note: This exercise is hosted on GitHub Skills and provides an interactive learning experience. You'll update a plain text file with Markdown formatting, and you can use this file to start your own GitHub Pages site.

The exercise consists of the following activities:

  1. Start a web browser and navigate to the exercise repository: https://github.com/skills-dev/communicate-using-markdown

  2. On the exercise page, select the Use this template button to copy the exercise to your GitHub account.

    Note: Simply copy the exercise to your account, then give GitHub about 20 seconds to prepare the first lesson, then refresh the page.

  3. Follow the instructions on the repository's README to complete all the challenges, which include:

    • Adding headers to create clear content hierarchy
    • Adding an image to make your content more visual
    • Adding a code example using code blocks
    • Making a task list to track your progress
    • Merging your pull request to complete the exercise

  4. Work through each step in the exercise, following the prompts and instructions provided in the issues and pull requests.

    Note: The exercise will automatically validate your Markdown formatting and guide you through each step.

  5. When you finish all the challenges, you'll have a fully formatted Markdown file demonstrating various formatting techniques.

What you've learned

After completing this exercise, you should be able to:

  • Use headings to organize content hierarchically
  • Create bulleted and numbered lists
  • Add images to your documentation
  • Format code blocks for different languages
  • Create task lists with checkboxes
  • Use basic Markdown formatting (bold, italic, links)
  • Apply Markdown in GitHub issues and pull requests
  • Enhance your technical communication on GitHub

Congratulations! You've completed the "Communicate using Markdown" exercise and learned how to make your GitHub communication clear and organized!