Question

I need a javascript library to convert structured ascii text to html on the fly.
I am especially interested in the following point:

I would like do use anchored links inside pages, see http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/links.html#h-12.1.1

Which library for structured text would support this or if it is not supported could be easily extended (i could write an extension)?

Can you make a suggestion for a good and simple syntax for structured ascii text for “in page links”?

<a href="#jumpend">jump to the end</a>
...some body text...
<a name="jumpend">this is the end</a>

I like the way links are written in “markdown”, so how could the name anchor in a to be written extension be expressed in a nice way?

Which libraries do you know or can you recommend? Should be multi browser, good and easy to read and extend clean source code, actively maintained.

I am presently having a look at the JavaScript Markdown library “Showdown”: http://attacklab.net/showdown/

Answer 1

I think that you should not use markdown if you are looking for anchor references. Try the following Creole Wiki markup parsers:

• A prototype Javascript Creole 0.4 parser can be found at MeatballSociety
• JavaScript Creole 1.0 Wiki Markup Parser, based on the above