Jetpack is one of those apps that WordPress users either love or hate. Those on the Love side focus on the collection of easy to use features that most users want such as sharing buttons, contact forms, Stats and a built in responsive template as an easy solution for non techsavey self hosted bloggers and cove raging a number of bases with one plug in.
On the anti side the arguments usual go that Jetpack is bulking, isn’t always compatible with other plugins, doesn’t offer as great service in anyone area and is potentially trying to tie users into WordPress.com.
Whatever you think about Jetpack, the latest features that Jetpack 2.8 has added might catch your eye:
Markdown support.
Many other blogging platforms have had markdown support for a while and users have been able to add Markdown support via other third part applications but now Jetpack has added Markdown support for the masses.
How To Use Markdown
(Here’s a full review on using markdown) All you need to do is activate the Markdown option from within Jetpack and then in either the text or visual view start typing away in Markdown syntax.
This also means that you can also type in Markdown within the Mobile WordPress apps and this will then appear in HTML if you hit publish.
The greatest feature about this from my perspective is I can add this to a collaborative WordPress site I run and start using this feature and users who don’t know or care about what markdown is won’t notice any difference. They can still carry on writing in the same way they always have.
However, I suspect those anti Jetpack won’t be convinced and may point to an alternative Markdown plugin.
Not Just Markdown
The latest update didn’t just introduce Markdown. They have also added in great support for monitoring your sites (so you know if you have any downtime) and the ability to use custom post types with the publicise feature.
Are you interested in using Markdown on your site?
Will this feature make you reconsider using Jetpack?
Chris Wilson
I'm a Copywriter and content marketer based in Krakow, Poland. I enjoy sketchnoting in my free time and have some free sketchnote courses if you want to start.
I really want to get into markdown, but I’ve become attached to my grammar and spellcheck… :-/
Markdown is awesome! I have converted most of all my writing to using it and have found that I am able to be much more efficient by using it. With the great tools available for writing/previewing it, this means I can use my favorite editor to write and then copy/paste into WP. Thanks for sharing because I would have missed this feature in JetPack!