Q:

Integrated Markdown WYSIWYG text editor

In looking for a straightforward WYSIWYG editor for Markdown code, I am not finding a comparible UI to that of CkEditor, TinyMCE, ect.   
Specifically, the Markdown "WYSIWYG" editors that are often recommended (such as posts like this ) are not pure WYSIWYG editors in the sense that users either still write raw Markdown ( MarkItUp ) or go to the other extreme of having in-line editing without standard controls ( Hallo ).  
I need something in-between.
I'm looking for a Markdown editor that looks and functions like a stripped down CkEditor text box, and that accepts and outputs Markdown.   There should be a toolbar with a minimum set of formatting options (B, I, U, lists, ect), and the text entry area should show the converted Markdown, not the raw code.  There should be a Source button that will allow users to edit the raw Markdown, but even that is optional.   Ex:

I get the reason for Markdown/wiki, ect - the security it offers.  I don't mind entering raw code like here at SE, but my users are not geeks and do not find this enjoyable.  They don't want to see * *  * ___ and spaces mixed in with their text.   They are used to "Word" style editing, and are most productive in that environment. 
So - is there a truly integrated WYSIWYG editor for Markdown?   I'm writing in a PHP, so something that I can invoke with a class would be perfect.

Sept 23, 2015 Update
CKEditor now has a Markdown addon that does this exact thing.  The addon project is hosted on github.
Screenshots:

Apr 13, 2015 Update
Someone professing to develop CKEditor says that the appearance of CommonMark is a game changer, and we could possibly see a proper markup interface for CKEditor (read comments for the full story). 

Feb 6, 2015 Update
CKEditor now comes with a plugin that outputs (and accepts as input) BBCode. 
Demo: http://ckeditor.com/demo#bbcode

A:

SimpleMDE, a newcomer, may be the answer. I've been searching for something just like this for a month now. I'm surprised that this does not show up higher in search results. I had to go through a notice on lepture/editor to find this.

A:

I was researching in this subject the other day and I haven't found any decent WYSIWYG editor with Markdown output. In fact, first you have to have to create a WYSIWG Markdown editor is WYSIWG HTML editor and there are just few of them that are usable on the market.
There's a chance that you'll be able to create dataProcessor for CKEditor that will change HTML editor into Markdown editor. We've got a plugin for BBCode that works like this (check out http://nightly-v4.ckeditor.com/3737/samples/bbcode.html).
All you have to do is implement this interface http://nightly-v4.ckeditor.com/ckeditor_api/#!/api/CKEDITOR.dataProcessor. If you check BBCode plugin's code you'll see some hacks and tricks, because unfortunately current CKEditor's architecture isn't ready (yet) to create such a data processor. However, I believe that if you want to provide only few styling options you should be able to implement Markdown support pretty quickly.

A:

EDIT Sept 23, 2015
CKEditor now has a Markdown addon that does this exact thing.  The addon project is hosted on github.
Screenshots:

As posted in my Feb 6, 2015 update, CKEditor now includes plugins that allow BBCode input and output.  
A demo is available here: http://ckeditor.com/demo#bbcode
EDIT Apr 13, 2015:
Someone professing to develop CKEditor says that the appearance of CommonMark is a game changer, and we could possibly see a proper markup interface for CKEditor (read comments for the full story). 

