hVmark

hVmark is a tiny, opinionated markup language made by and for, well, me. While it's used all over this website, it's primarily used in posts in lieu of hard-coded HTML.

// Inline Markers

Block Formatting

• Center Text: &text&
  Wrap line in <center> tag.

Text Formatting

• Bold: *text*
• Emphasis (Italics): /text/
  Alternate: %text%
• Strike: -text-
• Underline: _text_
• Code: `text`

Misc.

• Soft line break: [] → <br>
• Horizontal rule: --- → <hr>
  Three or more -, *, or _ characters on their own line will output a horizontal rule.
  Output styling depends on configuration.
• Subheading: *// Subheading Text*
• Subheading output: <h# id="subheading-text">// Subheading Text</h#>
  Actual heading level is based on config.
• Optional TOC: If two or more subheadings are found, a table of contents will be generated. The TOC is automatically placed under the main heading (<h1>) of the page, at the top of the page if a main heading isn't present, or at the location of
  <!--HV_TOC-->.

// Links, Images, YouTube

All use the same “anchor + fangs” pattern: @@anchor^fangs^

• Links: @@https://example.com/^Link text^
  (leave fangs empty to use the URL as text, e.g. @@https://example.com/^^)
• Images: @@img:/path/file.jpg^Caption^ (85% width by default; caption optional)
  Full: @@img:/path/file.jpg[50px|25% left|right|center|blank]^Caption^
• YouTube: @@ytb:VIDEOID^Caption^ (caption optional)

// Lists

• Dotted: one item per line starting with [+]
• Plain: one item per line starting with [-]
• Soft breaks are allowed inside items via []

// Notes & Quirks

• Order matters when nesting: * and % are forgiving, but consistent nesting is recommended.
• Inline raw HTML on a line disables hVmark parsing on that line.
• A backslash will escape an inline marker and output the literal symbol.
  (e.g., \% will output %.)
• Despite the above, the symbols used for inline markers do not appear in the alt text of images, escaped or not.
• Emojis are supported in regular text, but not in subheadings.
• Subheadings with similar names will have duplicate IDs; the TOC generator does not add incrementing suffixes.
• Blockquotes are not currently part of v1.

// Changelog

Conventions

v[major].[minor].[patch]

// [2026-05-24] - v1.7.0

• New italic text marker: /text/
• %text% is now considered deprecated, but will remain in codebase for backwards compatibility.
• Note Deprecation Policy for more info on future use.

// [2026-04-10] - v1.6.1

• Improved code escaping.
• General housekeeping & bug stomping.

|| [2026-03-31] - v1.6.0

• Added code and centered text markers.
• Leaned into the "this parser emits deprecated code" angle, because why not?
• Seriously deliberating adding blockquotes.

// [2025-12-29] - v1.5.0

• Added horizontal rule markers
  (---, *** and ___).
• Cleaned up vanilla reference model.
• Misc. output cleanup.

// [2025-12-27] - v1.4.1 | Vanilla Reference Model

• Project up to this point was made available via GitHub.
• Site-specific code was removed;
  model contains the root functionality.
• Published under the MIT license.
• Download Here

// [2025-11-15] - v1.4.0

• Parser consistency pass for anchors/fangs (images & YouTube).
• Global image behavior normalized; width/align controlled at source.
• Added style-fallbacks to make targeted output CSS-agnostic.
• Minor general output cleanup.

// [2025-10-22] - v1.3.0

• Global declarations added for centralized control.
• Added subheading marker
  *// Heading* → <h# id="…">.
• Auto-TOC under first <h1>/<h2> or at <!--HV_TOC-->.

// [2025-09-30] - v1.2.0

• Module consolidation and general housekeeping.
• Regex tightening for text-formatting markers.
• Misc. bug fixes.

// [2025-09-09] - v1.1.0

• Escapes: \* \% \- \_ \[] (literal output).
• Image size [px|%] and alignment left|right|center|blank.
• Misc. bug fixes.

// [2025-09-05] - v1.0.0

• v1 initial: strict per-line parsing; inline HTML on a line disables hVmark on that line.
• Inline text-formatting markers.
• “Anchor + fangs” for links/images/YouTube.
• Soft line break [] inside lists/captions.
• Lists: [+] (dotted) and [-] (plain).
• Wired root hVmark parser into existing auto-paragraphing framework.

hVmark v1 is available under the MIT license.
hVmark is not a general-purpose Markdown replacement; it’s a small, strict tool I actively use and maintain.