A Tale of Generating Magical Typography from Markdown

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Tailwindia, styling articles, documents, or blog posts with Tailwind was as easy as casting a spell. However, the default behavior of Tailwind, like a mischievous pixie, removed all the default browser styling, causing a bit of chaos among the wizards and witches who just wanted to style their content from rich-text editors or markdown files.

The wizards at Tailwind HQ heard the grumblings of the magical folks:

Why, oh why, is Tailwind removing the magic from my h1 elements? Can't we stop this? And what's this about losing all the other base styles?

In response, the Tailwind wizards concocted the @tailwindcss/typography potion. This magical elixir introduced a new prose class, a spell that could transform any block of vanilla HTML content into a beautiful, well-formatted document:

<article className="prose">
  <h1>The Enchantment of Garlic Bread with Cheese</h1>
  <p>
    For ages, parents have extolled the virtues of consuming
    garlic bread adorned with cheese, turning it into an iconic
    dish cherished even in wizardry culture, where children
    often masquerade as warm, cheesy loaves for Halloween.
  </p>
  <p>
    Alas! A recent magical study reveals a potential
    connection between this celebrated appetizer and
    a surge in rabies cases across the realm.
  </p>
</article>

For more magical spells and charms included in the @tailwindcss/typography plugin, consult the Book of Documentation.

A Magical Journey Ahead

What unfolds next is a fantastical tapestry of absolute nonsense, woven to put the plugin through its paces. It incorporates every sensible and magical typographic element: bold enchantments, lists of magical ingredients, mystical code blocks, ethereal block quotes, and even italics.

Why, you might ask?

1. To ensure everything looks spellbinding out of the box.
2. Primarily the first reason, as that's the essence of the plugin.
3. For a third whimsical reason, a list with three items appears more mystical than a list with two.

Now, let's explore another enchanting header style.

The Art of Typography

So, behold! A header for you — crafted with care, hoping it looks magically reasonable.

A sage once shared these words about typography:

Typography is the essence of magic. A spell to ensure your creations don't end up looking like enchanted trash. Make it good, and it shall not be bad.

It's crucial that even images radiate magical vibes:

Now, witness an example of a list, magically designed to captivate:

• The first mystical item in this enchanted list.
• In this incantation, we keep the items succinct.
• Later, we shall unveil longer, more complex list items.

And thus concludes this mystical section.

Stacking Headings: A Magical Feat

Ensuring Harmony in Header Stacking

Sometimes, headers stack upon each other in a magical dance. In such cases, we often need to harmonize the top margin on the second header, for a seamless flow of magic.

When a Header Conjures After a Paragraph...

When a header follows a paragraph, a bit more space is needed, as mentioned earlier. Now, let's delve into what a more complex list could unveil.

• A magical practice of having list items with headers.

For some arcane reason, this seems cool, though mastering the styles can be as tricky as taming a mythical creature. These list items often harbor two or three paragraphs, adding to the complexity.

• Since this is a list, we must have at least two items.

Explained in the previous list item, a list needs more than one item to be considered magical. Two is good, but three adds an extra sprinkle of enchantment.

• Why not add a third item, just for the magical vibes?

Two might suffice, but three is the charm. Since whimsy seems to flow effortlessly, why not include it?

Following such lists, a closing statement or paragraph usually materializes, for it seems odd to jump straight to another header.

Enchanting Code Blocks

By default, code should look spellbinding. While most wizards may wield highlight.js or Prism, there's no harm in making code blocks look enchanting without syntax highlighting.

Behold the default incantation within tailwind.config.js:

module.exports = {
  purge: [],
  theme: {
    extend: {},
  },
  variants: {},
  plugins: [],
}

May this incantation be pleasing to your magical eyes.

Nesting Spells: A Magical Conundrum

Nested spells, though rarely advised, can lead to chaos. Yet, for those who dare, we must make it work.

1. Nesting spells is seldom a wise idea.
   • It might seem organized, but it creates a grotesque shape on the magical screen, challenging to read.
   • Just as in UIs, flatness is preferred. Nested folders in source code, too, must not multiply like rabbits.
2. Since more items are needed, here's another spell.
   • Styling beyond two levels may border on madness. Three levels are deemed perilous.
   • If one dares to nest four levels deep, they are destined for the dungeons.
3. Two items hardly form a proper list, three is the magic number.
   • Please refrain from nesting lists if you wish people to genuinely engage with your magical content.
   • Nobody wishes to gaze upon such chaos.
   • Styling such lists is an unwelcome challenge.

The most vexing aspect of lists in Markdown is that <li> elements lack a child <p> tag unless multiple paragraphs grace the list item. Hence, styling this peculiar situation becomes a task of its own.

• Another enchanted nested list, this time with a second incantation.

  But lo, with a second paragraph.

  • These list items shall lack <p> tags.
  • A single line each, for they are one-line wonders.

• Yet in this second top-level list item, behold, they shall have <p> tags.

  The vexation intensifies due to spacing peculiarities in this paragraph.

  • As seen here, a second line brings forth the <p> tag.

    This, dear reader, is the second line in question.

  • Finally, another list item emerges, for it is a list.

• A closing list item, unencumbered by nested lists, for what reason? Magic, perhaps.

And finally a sentence to close off this section.

Enchanting Elements Beyond

Ah, but our magical journey doesn't conclude with mere lists and code incantations. There are more mystical elements to bestow enchantment upon.

I nearly forgot to mention the mystical portals, also known as links, like this gateway to the Tailwind Castle. The traditional blue hue seemed mundane, so we opted for a dark gray, a shade befitting the edgier side of magic. If you are admiring this scroll in daylight, that is – if you are a dark sorcerer it would a rather pale portal, I'm afraid.

Behold, our magical table of legendary spell slingers!

Our magical scrolls also unveil support for inline spells, such as email enchantments.

The Charm of Code Continues

Inline spells of code shall also bask in the magical aura, like the mention of <span> elements or the delightful news about @tailwindcss/typography.

A Magical Twist: Code in Headings

Sometimes, I even intertwine code within headings. Though deemed a risky practice, the "wrap the code blocks in backticks" charm works wonders, even in the mystical realm.

An additional feat witnessed in ancient grimoires is placing a code tag within a magical link, like the revelation of the tailwindcss/docs repository. The presence of an underline beneath the backticks adds a touch of unpredictable magic, but the chaos is worth the wisdom shared.

The Unseen h4!

A mystical revelation! We have summoned an h4 element. I implore you, refrain from invoking h5 or h6 in your magical scripts, for the realms of Medium allow only two levels of heading magic, for a reason known to the mystical creatures. Consider yourself warned!

We abstain from styling them out of the box, for h4 elements already dance on the edge of size equivalence with body copy. How can one shrink an h5 even smaller than body copy? A quandary not worth the magical pondering.

A Ballet of Stacked Headings

Ensuring Elegance with h4 Elements

Phew! With the wave of our magical stylus, we have adorned the headings above this sacred text, ensuring they evoke a sense of wonder.

Let us weave a closing incantation, allowing the elements to harmonize in a symphony of magical proportions. I cannot explain the exact reasons, but there's a peculiar magic in concluding with a paragraph of decent length.

What transpires here is perhaps long enough, but the addition of this final sentence can only enhance the magic that binds these words together.

The Epilogue: GitHub Conjurations

Our magical tome also supports GitHub-flavored spells, thanks to the essence of remark-gfm.

With this enchantment, extra features unfurl in our markdown. Behold the autolink literals, where a link like www.example.com or https://example.com effortlessly transforms into an a tag.

Even mystical email links find their place: contact@example.com.

And thus, our magical journey through the realms of Tailwindia concludes. May your future scripts be filled with enchanted styles, whimsical codes, and a touch of magic only Tailwind can provide.

Farewell, fellow sorcerer, until our paths cross in the next chapter of magical coding adventures.