Textile is a simple markup system that allows for what the author refers to as “humane” text entry. There is an online generator that will take markup and generate HTML from it. There are also numerous interpreters and libraries available for use in larger projects.

One of these is PyTextile, a Python port of Textile, originally written by Mark Pilgrim and now maintained by Roberto Antonio Ferreira De Almeida. See also RedCloth for Ruby.

Here’s a cool, comprehensive Textile Reference.

During my recent planning of the next version of Notanda, I had been considering programming my own interpreter of a subset of Textile markup — but I’ve just about decided to use a pre-existing package. Probably PyTextile, as I’m rewriting Notanda in Python. However, I’ll want to peruse the code before deciding.

Update: wound up settling with Markdown after all.