Ducktype 1.0

A lightweight markup language for Mallard

This specification was marked final on 2019-04-07.

Ducktype is a lightweight markup language designed explicitly for writing Mallard pages. This format is influenced by lightweight formats like Markdown, AsciiDoc, and RST. But it is designed to allow nearly everything that can be done with Mallard XML, including semantic markup, automatic linking, well-defined nesting, and embedding extensions and other formats.

Background — Background information and design principles.

Concepts — Basic structure and definitions of terms.

Parser Directives — Declare namespaces, define entities, and manage extensions.

Page and Section Markup — Simple, prefix-style header syntax and automatic section nesting.

Informational Elements — Linking and metadata for pages, sections, and blocks.

Block Elements — Implicit paragraphs, semantic block elements, and arbitrary nesting.

Attribute Lists — XML-like attributes with shorthand notations.

Inline Content — Fully semantic and nestable inline markup.

Comments — Comment out single lines or groups of lines.

Fences — Enclose lines in a fence to prevent block and inline parsing.

Titles, Lists, and Tables — Shorthand syntax for block titles, list items, and table cells.