Markdown-based Websites

This is the flagship use case, and the one where the markdown-based approach most clearly wins. A website built from markdown files is one you fully own, can edit anywhere, version with git, and move between tools. And these days it's genuinely easier than wrestling a CMS.

Part 1: What is a markdown-based website?

A folder of markdown files plus a tool that turns them into web pages. That's the whole architecture. index.md becomes your home page, about.md becomes /about, folders become sections.

Compare the alternatives. WordPress: a database, a server, plugins, security updates, forever. Squarespace: a subscription, and a format you can never leave. Here, the "database" is files you can read in any editor, and the website is just a view of them. Delete the publisher and you still have everything.

Fastest start: the tutorial series takes you from zero to a published site. Create a GitHub repo, connect a publisher, done in minutes. No code, nothing to install. Here's the actual result of tutorial 1 — a markdown file, live on the web:

Part 2: The superpower nobody tells you about: markdown supports HTML 🦸

This changes what you think markdown websites can be, so let's spell it out.

Markdown isn't a walled garden that ends where the syntax ends. HTML is valid markdown. Drop a <div>, an <iframe>, a styled block right into your .md file and it renders. Which means:

• Fancy landing-page hero? Two-column layout? Embedded video or map? Write the HTML inline, in an otherwise plain markdown page.
• With a publisher that allows CSS frameworks (Flowershow supports Tailwind, for instance) you can style right in the markup.
• Your site can be 95% simple prose and 5% rich HTML exactly where it earns its keep. You never hit the wall that forces you to "graduate" to a code project.

And the 2026 twist: you don't even need to know HTML, because AI writes it fluently and AI speaks markdown. Describe what you want, paste the result into your page. Watch it done on a real site:

(That video is embedded with a plain HTML <iframe> in this markdown page. See? 😎)

Part 3: The tools

The stack has three slots, each replaceable:

1. Edit: any text editor. Obsidian if you want a lovely writing environment; VS Code if you're technical; the GitHub web editor if you want zero install.
2. Store and collaborate: a git repository, usually GitHub. Free hosting of your files with full history, plus branches and reviews when a team shows up (tutorial).
3. Publish: the part that turns files into a site. Flowershow is ours and built for exactly this: point it at a repo, or publish straight from Obsidian, or from the command line. The wider ecosystem includes Hugo, Jekyll, Astro, Eleventy and MkDocs. Your content doesn't care which you pick. That's the point.

Part 4: Going deeper

• Tutorial 1: create a website from scratch, the full hand-held walkthrough
• Tutorial 2: edit locally with Obsidian and GitHub Desktop
• Sibling guides: blogs · docs sites · digital gardens

Why bother (the one-paragraph case)

In five years your Squarespace site will be a subscription you resent, and your WordPress site will be a maintenance chore. Your markdown site will be a folder of text files, still working, published by whatever the best tool is in five years. Own the source.