The folder 'plugins' is linked to the Pelican project '[pelican-plugins](https://github.com/getpelican/pelican-plugins/)' repository. To clone both the varia.website and pelican-plugins repository, add the --recurse-submodules option in your git clone command:
Articles are written in a markup language called markdown. [Here](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax) is an overview of the syntax. You can also use the online editor in gitlab to help you.