GovWire

Markdown

Government Digital Service

September 26
11:06 2022

When you edit a document in Whitehall publisher youll also see a quick guide to Markdown under Formatting on the right of the screen.

You can convert text from digital documents into basic Govspeak Markdown (which is used on GOV.UK) in Whitehall publisher or use the Govspeak converter.

Acronyms

Adding acronym Markdown to a document means that when a user hovers over the acronym they see the full name as alt text.

This text has acronym Markdown applied.

You should:

  • add the acronym Markdown at the end of the body copy, leaving one empty line space above it
  • type an asterisk, square brackets around the acronym and a colon, then the full name, for example *[DWP]: Department for Work and Pensions
  • make sure there is no space between the asterisk and the square bracket

When you have more than one acronym, list:

  • each one on a new line
  • both plurals and singulars, but not possessives, for example DFTs
  • plurals ahead of singulars, for example HGVs before HGV

See the style guide for how to use acronyms.

Addresses

For addresses use the Markdown $A above and below the address text.

Addresses look like this.

Example:

$A
Put the
address in
here
$A

Do not use bold for the address title. This is not accessible because it looks like a heading and can be confusing for users of assistive technology. Use heading Markdown above the address Markdown instead if you need to draw attention to the information.

Attachments

Use the Markdown for either inline or publication box attachments to position your attachments in the body text.

First you need to upload your attachments. The first attachment you upload is number 1, the second number 2, and so on. The number of an attachment does not change, even if previous attachments are deleted.

Inline attachment

This will add the attachment title to a sentence or bullet point as hypertext. The file type and size shows in brackets after the title.

In the text, type [InlineAttachment:n]

Publication box

This is a more prominent link than the inline attachment. It shows the cover of the attached document, and adds the file type and size under the title. You should:

  • type !@1 for a publication box
  • leave a line space above and below the Markdown

For more information about attachments see the creating and editing content section.

Blockquotes

Blockquote Markdown should only be used for news stories and case studies. Do not use blockquotes in speeches.

In news and case studies:

  • introduce the blockquote with a colon
  • leave one empty line space above and below your blockquote
  • add > in any line spaces in the quote - if you leave it out youll get separate quotes on separate lines, not one running quote

For more advice on using blockquotes on GOV.UK, see the style guide.

Bullets

To create a bulleted list:

  • use asterisks (*) to make bullets (hyphens also work)
  • make sure there is one space after the asterisk
  • leave 1 empty line space before the bullets start, and one after

See the style guide to check how to punctuate bullets.

Call to action

Call to action Markdown should be used for short links to actions, like applying for a licence. It creates a tinted box which highlights the task.

To create the call to action box use the Markdown $CTA above and below the link.

$CTA
It looks like this.
$CTA

It looks like this.

Charts

Charts Markdown allows you to create simple, stacked and compact bar charts that can also display negative values. You can combine these different types of chart within one chart.

Markdown lets the user switch between a bar chart and a table view on the webpage.

To create a chart, use the same Markdown as for a table, with an additional piece of charts Markdown on a line below the table.

See th

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