AsciiDoc
AsciiDoc is a human-readable document format, semantically equivalent to DocBook XML, but using plain-text mark-up conventions. AsciiDoc documents can be created using any text editor and read “as-is”, or rendered to HTML or any other format supported by a DocBook tool-chain, i.e. PDF, TeX, Unix manpages, e-books, slide presentations, etc. Common file extensions for AsciiDoc files are adoc and historically txt (as encouraged by AsciiDoc's creator).
The AsciiDoc format is undergoing standardization by the Eclipse Foundation.
History
Early history
AsciiDoc was created in 2002 by Stuart Rackham, who published tools (‘asciidoc’ and ‘a2x’), written in the Python programming language to convert plain-text, ‘human readable’ files to commonly used published document formats.
A Ruby implementation called ‘Asciidoctor’, released in 2013. An implementation is also available in the Java ecosystem using JRuby and in the JavaScript ecosystem using Opal.js. Further implementations exist in Haskell and Go.
Standardization and primacy of Asciidoctor (2019 – present)
Since the beginning of the standardization process in 2019, the Asciidoctor project has aimed to produce an independent, compatible implementation
of the AsciiDoc specification in the making, with the support of Stuart Rackham, the original author of the language. The official website of the AsciiDoc language has since begun linking to Asciidoctor's documentation of the language.
The beginning of the standardization process in 2019 coincided with the release of Asciidoctor 2.0 and several parts of syntax being deprecated, such as single quotation marks (') to indicate italics. Legacy syntax remains available through a compatibility mode.
The original Python implementation by Stuart Rackham continues to be developed under the moniker of AsciiDoc.py. Since 2021, it is described as legacy
in own documentation and formally targets the older rendition of the language.
Notable applications
Most of the Git project documentation is written in AsciiDoc.
Some of O'Reilly Media's books and e-books are authored using AsciiDoc mark-up.
Red Hat's product documentation is written in AsciiDoc.
Asciidoctor is usable within GitHub and GitLab.
Example
The following shows text using AsciiDoc mark-up, and a rendering similar to that produced by an AsciiDoc processor:
| AsciiDoc source text |
|---|
= My Article J. Smith https://wikipedia.org[Wikipedia] is an on-line encyclopedia, available in English and *many* other languages. == Software You can install _package-name_ using the `gem` command: gem install package-name == Hardware Metals commonly used include: * copper * tin * lead |
| HTML-rendered result |
|---|
J. Smith Wikipedia is an on-line encyclopedia, available in English and many other languages. You can install package-name using the gem command: gem install package-name Metals commonly used include:
|
Tools
- Antora – a multi-repository documentation site generator for tech writers using git.
- AsciiBinder – (deprecated) a documentation system built on Asciidoctor for people who have a lot of docs to maintain and republish on a regular basis.
- awestruct – a static site generator inspired by Jekyll.
- Asciidoc FX – AsciiDoc Book Editor based on JavaFX 18.
- AsciiDocLIVE – AsciiDocLIVE is a free online AsciiDoc editor.
- DAPS – DocBook Authoring and Publishing Suite (DAPS) is command-line software to publish DocBook & AsciiDoc as HTML, PDF, and EPUB.
