How about just being as one would expect? i.e. as a code box, not a <pre>
tag.
I understand the limitations of MD, but it’s much faster to type
# My Title
and get:
My Title
For a heading, than go up to the menu bar or try to remember another set of keyboard shortcuts.
It’s also faster to type:
```
Some code block here
```
See how much clearer that is to read, with the grey background?
I mean, it’s rendering as one would expect in this forum, but not in your app? Is that a sensible business, let alone a sensible UX decision?
I’m not speaking as a leech, either, I’ve bought Agenda and am very disappointed that there isn’t at least an option to use standard markdown inline, not to mention the lack of actual code blocks. I often write my stuff in Agenda and then export the markdown and paste it in another app (then print to PDF) or in website like StackEdit.io if I want to share it with others.
This might just surprise you, but lots of people who use the web are familar with markdown – some of your customers are even developers, like you! Do you use Agenda to write internal notes to each other with code blocks, or do you yourselves use another tool? Do you see how deeply silly this is?
It’s fine to do a lot more than basic markdown, but imo it’s a big UX screwup to change the inline syntax from conventional markdown. Instead of replacing it, you should have extended it; that, or created the equivalent of another namespace for it, and let the user choose which convention they want to use.