Why Dev Teams Wish UX Writers Knew Markdown

How a simple formatting language can bridge the design-dev content gap As a UX writer, the fastest way to: Get your microcopy merged without revisions Make PMs stop pinging you about "formatting issues" Keep translations from breaking in production ...is to write in Markdown. I recently explained why this matters for UX folks, but here’s what developers should know: 3 Ways Markdown Makes Dev Lives Easier PRs That Don’t Give You Hives .md files eliminate: Hidden Word/Google Docs formatting "Can you resend this as plain text?" requests Git diff noise from styling changes Design System Harmony Markdown plays nice with: Storybook Figma plugins CMS backends No more rebuilding UI text from scratch Localization That Won’t Break Clean syntax = fewer parsing errors in: i18n pipelines / Crowdin / Lokalise Free Cheat Sheet: I built a Markdown Cheat Sheet for UX Content with real examples for: Error messages (!>) Tooltips () API docs (code block conventions) Devs: What’s your #1 frustration with UX copy handoffs? Writers: Want me to cover how to pitch Markdown to your team? Deep dive for UX writers here

Apr 22, 2025 - 08:56
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Why Dev Teams Wish UX Writers Knew Markdown

How a simple formatting language can bridge the design-dev content gap

As a UX writer, the fastest way to:

  • Get your microcopy merged without revisions
  • Make PMs stop pinging you about "formatting issues"
  • Keep translations from breaking in production

...is to write in Markdown.

I recently explained why this matters for UX folks, but here’s what developers should know:

3 Ways Markdown Makes Dev Lives Easier

  1. PRs That Don’t Give You Hives

    .md files eliminate:

    • Hidden Word/Google Docs formatting
    • "Can you resend this as plain text?" requests
    • Git diff noise from styling changes
  2. Design System Harmony

    Markdown plays nice with:

    • Storybook
    • Figma plugins
    • CMS backends

    No more rebuilding UI text from scratch

  3. Localization That Won’t Break

    Clean syntax = fewer parsing errors in:

   i18n pipelines / Crowdin / Lokalise  

Free Cheat Sheet:

I built a Markdown Cheat Sheet for UX Content with real examples for:

  • Error messages (!>)
  • Tooltips ()
  • API docs (code block conventions)

Devs: What’s your #1 frustration with UX copy handoffs?

Writers: Want me to cover how to pitch Markdown to your team?

Deep dive for UX writers here