> Is it really easier to use markdown than bolding things using a keyboard shortcut?

Yes, it absolutely is easier to type a few asterisks in running text rather than selecting text, hitting a keyboard shortcut or clicking a button, and then going back to typing more text.

Most rich text editors allow bolding running text. "Ctrl+B" vs. "shift-8" are equal.

(Most rich text editors are poorly implemented and suffer from hidden state, but that's a separate problem.)

I use Ctrl+B in my browser to open the bookmarks side-panel though.

Hmmm. To be fair you could also use ctrl+b instead of the markdown sequence.

That's an interesting flow but I couldn't imagine typing like that, formatting while I typed would totally interrupt the thought process/message I'm trying to get out.

My flow is to type first just to get the thoughts out then I format last while I proofread.

I do occasionally go back and add formatting, especially when writing a longer article. I also often add links later, or write [link text]() and fill in the URL later so I don't have to stop and find a reference I know exists. But I add certain types of formatting immediately, in much the same way that when speaking I emphasize certain words in a sentence.

In my opinion, it is about the same, maybe easier to not use markdown. If we count keystrokes, it’s less.

If already typed, it’s less keystrokes to select with Shift+Ctrl then press Ctrl+B.

If it’s not typed, it’s less keystrokes to Ctrl+B at he start and end.

For italics, the keystrokes are about the same with and without markdown.

Perfectly reasonable to have both available: type markdown along the way, map keyboard shortcuts to insert the appropriate formatting characters whether used statefully or with text selected.

I seem to remember that typora works that way.

I've used it for general composition (headings, bold text, etc), but its killer feature is for when you want to include a block of highlighted code. Markdown Here has fantastic support for GFM fenced code blocks.

I wish I could use it in Jira. :-(

I ran into the same issue and found https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/markdown-to-jira/j...

That converts markdown to Jira-markdown and back again. It's been fantastic for me.

I find tables far easier in md than anywhere else. You can distill them down to:

    Head | Head
    ---|---
    Row | row
    Row | row

Etc.

Markdown tables are reasonably lightweight and are very easy to generate with regex substitution off a delimited datastream. Say, tabs:

    s/^/| /; s/\t/ | /; s/^/ |/

Add your header and alignment block and you're set.