How to write Github READMEs

Hello World 🤗, This is my first article on LinkedIn, i was inspired by a project released by ALX Academy alx_africa , on technical writing and professional relationships

I assume we already know what a readme is, but for the sake of others that don't i would briefly explain it. A readme is simply a file that contains the guides or description on what a repo or project is all about... i won't dive deep in to what a README is, because it's not within the scope of this article, probably in my next release😊.

As a beginner it's okay not to know the format used in writing a readme, even myself couldn't find the right resources not until i remembered there's an open source software that should definitely have answers to my question (CHATGPT), I've been using the knowledge i gained since then to write my Readmes and i think there are others like me that couldn't get ahead of this.

Readmes are markdowns and ofcourse there are formats used in writing it. readmes could include headers, links, lists, images, tables, blockqoute, bold, italic text, code indent e.t.c, this article would be limited to these outlines.

1. Headers

This is used in the beginning of the readme or at some point to inform the reader of the sections involved, and they can be written based on preferred sizes from level one to six just like html header tags.

# Header1 
## Header1 
### Header3
#### Header4
##### Header5
###### Header6        

This would definitely output the result in sizes.

2. Links

We could also add links to our markdown, either relative or absolute, it's your choice to choose, but i would advice relative linking for files within the same repo, links are implemented this way [Text to display](path).

[Unix shell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_shell)        

This would appear as unix shell in the readme, note Text to display would be replaced with the text you want to appear and path would be replaced with your url.

3. Lists

Lists can also be useful in outlining requirements of your project or any other thing. -, + and * can be used for unordered listing and numbers can also be used as in 1, 2, 3 ....

Ordered listing
1 Html
2 Css
3 Javascript
4 Python

Bullet or Unordered listing
* Printf
* simple_shell 
* monty
* sorting algorithms         

links can also be nested, but i would leave that to you to practice.

4. Images

Images could give a nice impression to of your repo or project to its viewer

![alt_text](imgsource)        

note the exclamation mark that precedes it. for buttons add an extra [ before the ! like this

[![click me](url)        

5. Blockquotes

Blockquotes could also be used in your project.

> Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent - David Rockwell        

This would be outputted as :

Every project is an opportunity to learn, to figure out problems and challenges, to invent and reinvent - David Rockwell

6. Bold and italic text

Bold and italic text can be used for highlighting an important word or sentence in your writing. bold text are implemented using to asterisk before and after the word or sentence, while italic are represented using underscores before and after the word or sentence. as in **Word or sentence** and _word or sentence _ respectively.

**This is a Bold text**
---
_This is in italic_        

The --- between the text are used for line breaking, at least three dashes or asterisks.

6. Tables

Tables are used in arranging related context, showing their relationship and conveying rightful information to the audience(reader). pipes | and hyphens - are used to represent tables.

| Content | Description |
|-----|----------|
|  C  | Compiled |
| python | interpreted |        

It's not neccessary the pipes are well arranged, just make sure it is well represented and dont forget to add a newline at before the table for proper rendering.

7. Code Blocks

Github has a way of representing text that visually imitates the background and fonts of our favorite editors. Backslash is use to represent lines of code in github which might contain information on hown to run a command or lines of code.

Single backslash represents a line of code as in:

`# This is a line of code`        

Triple backslash represents multiple lines.

```
   # This is a multiple line of code
   let name = prompt("Input user Id")
   console.log(name)
```        

These are the basic syntax used in representing markdowns in our projects Readmes, More can be found on the official github docs on Markdown syntax.