@@ -23,9 +23,25 @@
 will download, compile, and install the package into
 `$GOROOT/src/pkg/github.com/russross/blackfriday`.
 
-Check out `example/main.go` for an example of how to use it. Run
-`gomake` in that directory to build a simple command-line markdown
-tool:
+For basic usage, it is as simple as getting your input into a byte
+slice and calling:
+
+    output := blackfriday.MarkdownBasic(input)
+
+This renders it with no extensions enabled. To get a more useful
+feature set, use this instead:
+
+    output := blackfriday.MarkdownCommon(input)
+
+If you want to customize the set of options, first get a renderer
+(currently either the HTML or LaTeX output engines), then use it to
+call the more general `Markdown` function. For examples, see the
+implementations of `MarkdownBasic` and `MarkdownCommon` in
+`markdown.go`.
+
+You can also check out `example/main.go` for a more complete example
+of how to use it. Run `gomake` in that directory to build a simple
+command-line markdown tool:
 
     cd $GOROOT/src/pkg/github.com/russross/blackfriday/example
     gomake

@@ -17,16 +17,16 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 )
 
-func runMarkdownBlock(input string, extensions uint32) string {
-	html_flags := 0
-	html_flags |= HTML_USE_XHTML
+func runMarkdownBlock(input string, extensions int) string {
+	htmlFlags := 0
+	htmlFlags |= HTML_USE_XHTML
 
-	renderer := HtmlRenderer(html_flags)
+	renderer := HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags)
 
 	return string(Markdown([]byte(input), renderer, extensions))
 }
 
-func doTestsBlock(t *testing.T, tests []string, extensions uint32) {
+func doTestsBlock(t *testing.T, tests []string, extensions int) {
 	for i := 0; i+1 < len(tests); i += 2 {
 		input := tests[i]
 		expected := tests[i+1]

@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ "Distributed under the Simplified BSD License\n"+
 			"See website for details\n\n"+
 			"Usage:\n"+
 			"  %s [options] [inputfile [outputfile]]\n\n"+
-			"Options:\n",os.Args[0])
+			"Options:\n",
+			os.Args[0])
 		flag.PrintDefaults()
 	}
 	flag.Parse()
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ os.Exit(-1)
 	}
 
 	// set up options
-	var extensions uint32
+	extensions := 0
 	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_NO_INTRA_EMPHASIS
 	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_TABLES
 	extensions |= blackfriday.EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE
@@ -114,20 +115,20 @@ // render the data into LaTeX
 		renderer = blackfriday.LatexRenderer(0)
 	} else {
 		// render the data into HTML
-		html_flags := 0
+		htmlFlags := 0
 		if xhtml {
-			html_flags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_XHTML
+			htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_XHTML
 		}
 		if smartypants {
-			html_flags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_SMARTYPANTS
+			htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_USE_SMARTYPANTS
 		}
 		if fractions {
-			html_flags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_FRACTIONS
+			htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_FRACTIONS
 		}
 		if latexdashes {
-			html_flags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_LATEX_DASHES
+			htmlFlags |= blackfriday.HTML_SMARTYPANTS_LATEX_DASHES
 		}
-		renderer = blackfriday.HtmlRenderer(html_flags)
+		renderer = blackfriday.HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags)
 	}
 
 	// parse and render

@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ "testing"
 )
 
 func runMarkdownInline(input string) string {
-	var extensions uint32
+	extensions := 0
 	extensions |= EXTENSION_AUTOLINK
 	extensions |= EXTENSION_STRIKETHROUGH
 
-	html_flags := 0
-	html_flags |= HTML_USE_XHTML
+	htmlFlags := 0
+	htmlFlags |= HTML_USE_XHTML
 
-	renderer := HtmlRenderer(html_flags)
+	renderer := HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags)
 
 	return string(Markdown([]byte(input), renderer, extensions))
 }

@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ type render struct {
 	mk         *Renderer
 	refs       map[string]*reference
 	inline     [256]inlineParser
-	flags      uint32
+	flags      int
 	nesting    int
 	maxNesting int
 	insideLink bool
@@ -162,10 +162,44 @@ // Public interface
 //
 //
 
+// Call Markdown with no extensions
+func MarkdownBasic(input []byte) []byte {
+	// set up the HTML renderer
+	htmlFlags := HTML_USE_XHTML
+	renderer := HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags)
+
+	// set up the parser
+	extensions := 0
+
+	return Markdown(input, renderer, extensions)
+}
+
+// Call Markdown with most useful extensions enabled
+func MarkdownCommon(input []byte) []byte {
+	// set up the HTML renderer
+	htmlFlags := 0
+	htmlFlags |= HTML_USE_XHTML
+	htmlFlags |= HTML_USE_SMARTYPANTS
+	htmlFlags |= HTML_SMARTYPANTS_FRACTIONS
+	htmlFlags |= HTML_SMARTYPANTS_LATEX_DASHES
+	renderer := HtmlRenderer(htmlFlags)
+
+	// set up the parser
+	extensions := 0
+	extensions |= EXTENSION_NO_INTRA_EMPHASIS
+	extensions |= EXTENSION_TABLES
+	extensions |= EXTENSION_FENCED_CODE
+	extensions |= EXTENSION_AUTOLINK
+	extensions |= EXTENSION_STRIKETHROUGH
+	extensions |= EXTENSION_SPACE_HEADERS
+
+	return Markdown(input, renderer, extensions)
+}
+
 // Parse and render a block of markdown-encoded text.
 // The renderer is used to format the output, and extensions dictates which
 // non-standard extensions are enabled.
-func Markdown(input []byte, renderer *Renderer, extensions uint32) []byte {
+func Markdown(input []byte, renderer *Renderer, extensions int) []byte {
 	// no point in parsing if we can't render
 	if renderer == nil {
 		return nil
@@ -204,8 +238,8 @@ if extensions&EXTENSION_AUTOLINK != 0 {
 		rndr.inline[':'] = inlineAutoLink
 	}
 
-	first := FirstPass(rndr, input)
-	second := SecondPass(rndr, first)
+	first := firstPass(rndr, input)
+	second := secondPass(rndr, first)
 
 	return second
 }
@@ -215,7 +249,7 @@ // - extract references
 // - expand tabs
 // - normalize newlines
 // - copy everything else
-func FirstPass(rndr *render, input []byte) []byte {
+func firstPass(rndr *render, input []byte) []byte {
 	var out bytes.Buffer
 	tab_size := TAB_SIZE_DEFAULT
 	if rndr.flags&EXTENSION_TAB_SIZE_EIGHT != 0 {
@@ -255,7 +289,7 @@ return out.Bytes()
 }
 
 // second pass: actual rendering
-func SecondPass(rndr *render, input []byte) []byte {
+func secondPass(rndr *render, input []byte) []byte {
 	var output bytes.Buffer
 	if rndr.mk.DocumentHeader != nil {
 		rndr.mk.DocumentHeader(&output, rndr.mk.Opaque)