A plain-text version
What we check
Some sites offer each page in two forms: the usual web page, and a plain Markdown or text version with no layout at all. We look for that in two ways.
- We ask for your home page saying we’d prefer Markdown or plain text. If the server answers with Markdown or plain text instead of HTML, that counts.
- We guess the usual address for a Markdown copy,
{page}.md, beside the home page (/index.md) or the first page we sampled. If it loads, isn’t empty, and isn’t a web page, that counts. A sampled page that already ends in.mdcounts without a guess.
This check is reported, never scored. It’s a young convention, and a well-built HTML page is already readable; a plain-text version is a courtesy, not a requirement.
Why it matters
Markdown is what AI tools write and what many of them prefer to read: just the words and their structure, with no navigation, scripts, or styling to strip away. A few assistants and coding tools already ask for it when it’s offered. When it’s there, they get your content cleanly; when it isn’t, they fall back on your HTML, which is fine if the other Readability checks pass.
How to pass
There’s nothing to pass. If you want to offer it:
- Publish a Markdown copy of each page beside it, at the same address plus
.md:https://example.com/pricing → the web page https://example.com/pricing.md → the same page, in Markdown - Serve those files as
text/markdown. - Optionally, have the server answer with the Markdown when a request asks for it (
Accept: text/markdown). Some documentation platforms do both for you.