🩹 [Patch]: Add Markdown and PowerShell style guidelines for consistency across documentation and scripts

Author: MariusStorhaug

.github/instructions/md.instructions.md

@@ -0,0 +1,278 @@
+---
+applyTo: '**/*.md'
+description: Markdown style guidelines for consistency across documentation.
+---
+
+# Markdown Style Guidelines
+
+This document defines the markdown style guidelines for all markdown files in this repository. These rules follow common markdown linter best practices and ensure consistency across documentation.
+
+## Headings
+
+- Use ATX-style headings (`#`) instead of Setext-style (underlines)
+- Include a space after the hash marks: `# Heading` not `#Heading`
+- Use only one top-level heading (`#`) per document
+- Do not skip heading levels (e.g., don't go from `#` to `###`)
+- Surround headings with blank lines (one before, one after, excluding the first heading in the document unless preceded by frontmatter)
+- Do not use trailing punctuation in headings (no periods, colons, etc.)
+- Use sentence case for headings unless referring to proper nouns or code identifiers
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+# Main heading
+
+## Subsection
+
+### Details
+```
+
+**Bad:**
+
+```markdown
+#No space after hash
+### Skipped level 2
+## Heading with period.
+```
+
+## Lists
+
+- Use consistent list markers throughout the document (`-` for unordered, `1.` for ordered)
+- Do not add blank lines between list items (unless item contains multiple paragraphs)
+- Indent nested lists by 2 spaces for unordered, 3 spaces for ordered
+- Use `1.` for all ordered list items (auto-numbering) or number them sequentially
+- Surround lists with blank lines (one before, one after)
+- Use `-` for unordered lists (not `*` or `+`)
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+Here is a list:
+
+- First item
+- Second item
+- Third item
+
+Another list:
+
+1. First step
+1. Second step
+1. Third step
+```
+
+**Bad:**
+
+```markdown
+No blank line before list:
+- Item one
+
+- Blank lines between items
+- Not needed
+
+* Wrong marker
++ Mixed markers
+```
+
+## Code Blocks
+
+- Always use fenced code blocks (triple backticks) with language identifiers
+- Always include a blank line before and after code blocks
+- Specify the language for syntax highlighting (`bash`, `python`, `markdown`, `json`, etc.)
+- Use `plaintext` or `text` if no specific language applies
+- Indent code blocks at the same level as surrounding content
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+Here is an example:
+
+\`\`\`bash
+echo "Hello, world!"
+\`\`\`
+
+The command prints a message.
+```
+
+**Bad:**
+
+```markdown
+No language identifier:
+\`\`\`
+code here
+\`\`\`
+No blank lines before/after code blocks.
+```
+
+## Links
+
+- Use reference-style links for repeated URLs
+- Use relative paths for internal links (relative to the current file)
+- Always provide link text in square brackets: `[text](url)`
+- Do not use bare URLs (wrap them: `<https://example.com>`)
+- For internal repository links, use relative paths starting with `./` or `../`
+- Use `.md` extension for links to markdown files
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+See the [installation guide](../docs/installation.md) for details.
+
+Check out [GitHub][gh] and [GitLab][gl] for hosting.
+
+[gh]: https://github.com
+[gl]: https://gitlab.com
+```
+
+**Bad:**
+
+```markdown
+Absolute path: [guide](/docs/installation.md)
+Missing extension: [guide](../docs/installation)
+Bare URL: Visit https://example.com
+```
+
+## Tables
+
+- Use tables when content follows a consistent structure (instead of lists)
+- Align columns using hyphens for readability
+- Include header row separator with at least 3 hyphens per column
+- Surround tables with blank lines (one before, one after)
+- Use pipes (`|`) to separate columns
+- Align content within columns for readability (optional but recommended)
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+Here is a comparison:
+
+| Feature | Supported | Notes |
+|---------|-----------|-------|
+| Feature A | Yes | Fully supported |
+| Feature B | No | Planned for v2 |
+| Feature C | Partial | Beta feature |
+
+The table shows current status.
+```
+
+**Bad:**
+
+```markdown
+Using list when table is better:
+- Feature A: Yes - Fully supported
+- Feature B: No - Planned for v2
+- Feature C: Partial - Beta feature
+```
+
+## Emphasis
+
+- Use `*` or `_` for emphasis (italic), `**` or `__` for strong emphasis (bold)
+- Be consistent within a document (prefer `*` and `**`)
+- Do not use emphasis for headings
+- Use backticks for code/technical terms, not emphasis
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+This is *emphasized* text.
+This is **strong** text.
+Use the `--verbose` flag for details.
+```
+
+**Bad:**
+
+```markdown
+This is _emphasized_ text with **strong** mixed styles.
+Use the *--verbose* flag (should be backticks).
+```
+
+## Line Length
+
+- Wrap prose at 80-120 characters per line
+- Do not wrap code blocks, tables, or URLs
+- Break after sentences or at natural phrase boundaries
+- Empty lines do not count toward line length
+
+## Whitespace
+
+- Use a single blank line to separate blocks of content
+- Do not use multiple consecutive blank lines
+- End files with a single newline character
+- Do not use trailing whitespace at the end of lines
+- Use spaces (not tabs) for indentation
+
+## Other Rules
+
+### Horizontal Rules
+
+- Use three hyphens (`---`) for horizontal rules
+- Surround horizontal rules with blank lines
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+Section one content.
+
+---
+
+Section two content.
+```
+
+### Blockquotes
+
+- Use `>` for blockquotes with a space after
+- Surround blockquotes with blank lines
+- Use multiple `>` for nested quotes
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+As the docs state:
+
+> This is an important note.
+> It spans multiple lines.
+
+Back to regular text.
+```
+
+### Images
+
+- Use alt text for all images: `![alt text](path/to/image.png)`
+- Use relative paths for repository images
+- Prefer reference-style for repeated images
+
+**Good:**
+
+```markdown
+![Architecture diagram](../media/architecture.png)
+
+See the [logo][logo-img] above.
+
+[logo-img]: ./images/logo.png
+```
+
+### HTML
+
+- Avoid HTML in markdown when possible
+- Use HTML only for features not supported by markdown
+- Close all HTML tags properly
+
+### File Names
+
+- Use lowercase for markdown file names
+- Use hyphens (`-`) not underscores (`_`) to separate words
+- Use `.md` extension (not `.markdown`)
+
+**Examples:**
+
+- `installation-guide.md` ✅
+- `Installation_Guide.markdown` ❌
+
+## Linting
+
+To validate markdown files against these guidelines, use a markdown linter such as:
+
+- [markdownlint](https://github.com/DavidAnson/markdownlint)
+- [remark-lint](https://github.com/remarkjs/remark-lint)
+- [superlinter](https://github.com/super-linter/super-linter)
+
+Configure the linter to enforce these rules in your CI/CD pipeline.