In this tutorial, we’ll dive into how to change image size in Markdown. Markdown is a popular markup language due to its simplicity and versatility. However, it’s worth noting Markdown itself does not officially support changing the image size. That said, there are workarounds that enable us to adjust image sizes in Markdown.

Basic Image Syntax

Let’s start with the basic syntax for incorporating images into Markdown. The format is very simple:

![Alt Text](URL)

Where ‘Alt Text’ is the alternative text describing the image, and ‘URL’ is the exact path or link to the image. This syntax will render an image at its original size.

GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM) and HTML

For resizing the image in the Markdown, certain Markdown flavors or using HTML within markdown files are commonly employed method.

Let’s discuss GitHub Flavored Markdown or GFM. Unfortunately, as of now, we can’t resize an image in Markdown using GFM.

Thus, we’ll need to utilize HTML in Markdown files to get the desired result.

Using HTML for Resizing Images

The Markdown text-to-HTML conversion tool works seamlessly with HTML - so you can add the img tag with height and width attributes for resizing images.

Here is the syntax to follow:

<img src="URL" width="500" height="600">

Or

<img src="URL" alt="Alt Text" width="500" height="600">

In this example, ‘URL’ is the image link, ‘Alt Text’ is the alternative text describing the image, ‘500’ is the desired width, and ‘600’ is the desired height.

Here’s an example:

<img src="https://via.placeholder.com/150" alt="placeholder" width="50" height="50">

This displays an image of 50x50 pixels.

You can also use percentage values:

<img src="https://via.placeholder.com/150" alt="placeholder" width="50%" height="50%">

This will display the image, scaling it to 50% of the parent element both vertically and horizontally.

Best Practices

While the ability to resize images within Markdown using HTML is beneficial, ensure you keep to a few practices:

  1. Only use the HTML method when absolutely necessary. The power of Markdown lays in its simplicity and readable syntax. Mixing too much HTML changes that.
  2. If you are regularly dealing with images, consider using a static site generator that supports image processing or a dedicated CMS.
  3. Accuracy: Be accurate with the width and height attributes. Using HTML to overcome the constraints of Markdown should be done accurately to maintain the responsiveness of your site.

Conclusion

Resizing images in Markdown can be a bit tricky due to the language’s limitations. In this tutorial, we’ve learned that while you can’t directly resize an image using Markdown’s ordinary syntax, you can use HTML within your Markdown files to achieve the desired result. Remember to apply these techniques appropriately to maintain the distinct advantages of using Markdown.