Markdown version of ad templates for sites that don't support HTML

I recently changed my username on a site where I used to post coding challenges years ago, to make it clearer that I no longer post there (as I still occasionally receive comments that I may not see for a long time).

While I was making a change, I thought I'd try adding one of the Codidact ad templates to see if it worked. It didn't seem to accept the HTML version, so I manually changed it to markdown, at which point it worked perfectly (a little larger than expected, but I'm fine with that).

This made me wonder if it would be worth adding a third template type to the Codidact Advertisements page, after "Image link" and "Image HTML". It could be called something like "Image markdown", and would make adding ads to sites that only accept markdown quicker and easier.

I used the following format:

[![Question on Codidact](https://codegolf.codidact.com/ca/posts/X.png)](https://codegolf.codidact.com/posts/X "View this question on Codidact" )

This displays the image for the specific question, and is a link to that question when clicked.

Probably best to add a note that the X needs to be replaced with the post ID in 2 places, and that the alt text (in square brackets immediately after the exclamation mark) and title text (in double quotes near the end) can be changed to match the post being linked to.

Rather than using (choose an alt text) I've used a generic alt text that should be better than nothing if someone forgets to override it (and the same for the title text). Would it be worth making a similar change for the existing templates too or is there a reason to prefer (choose an alt text)?

Would it also be useful to make the existing templates links to the relevant place too? Currently they just display an image which doesn't link to anywhere, which it would be easy to mistake for a working ad if not checked after pasting.

posted about 2 years ago

CC BY-SA 4.0

trichoplax‭

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