diff --git a/docs/fr/configuration.rst b/docs/fr/configuration.rst
index 151eff3a..35965ed6 100644
--- a/docs/fr/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/fr/configuration.rst
@@ -155,7 +155,5 @@ SITEURL :
 STATIC_PATHS :
 	Les chemins statiques que vous voulez avoir accès sur le chemin de sortie "statique" ;
 
-
-
-
-
+MARKDOWN_EXTENTIONS :
+	Liste des extentions Markdown que vous souhaitez utiliser ;
diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index 4d865a7f..384c1a19 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ Setting name (default value)                                            What doe
                                                                         This only applies if your content does not otherwise
                                                                         specify a summary. Setting to None will cause the summary
                                                                         to be a copy of the original content.
-
+`MARKDOWN_EXTENSIONS` (``['toc',]``)                                    A list of any Markdown extensions you want to use.
 =====================================================================   =====================================================================
 
 .. [#] Default is the system locale.
diff --git a/pelican/readers.py b/pelican/readers.py
index 38e7834f..1c2ac666 100644
--- a/pelican/readers.py
+++ b/pelican/readers.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class RstReader(Reader):
     def _get_publisher(self, filename):
         extra_params = {'initial_header_level': '2'}
         pub = docutils.core.Publisher(
-                destination_class=docutils.io.StringOutput)
+            destination_class=docutils.io.StringOutput)
         pub.set_components('standalone', 'restructuredtext', 'html')
         pub.writer.translator_class = PelicanHTMLTranslator
         pub.process_programmatic_settings(None, extra_params, None)
@@ -124,13 +124,17 @@ class RstReader(Reader):
 class MarkdownReader(Reader):
     enabled = bool(Markdown)
     file_extensions = ['md', 'markdown', 'mkd']
-    extensions = ['codehilite', 'extra' ]
+    extensions = ['codehilite', 'extra']
 
     def read(self, filename):
         """Parse content and metadata of markdown files"""
         markdown_extentions = self.settings.get('MARKDOWN_EXTENTIONS', [])
+        if isinstance(markdown_extentions, (str, unicode)):
+            markdown_extentions = [m.strip() for m in
+                                   markdown_extentions.split(',')]
         text = pelican_open(filename)
-        md = Markdown(extensions=set(self.extensions + markdown_extentions + ['meta']))
+        md = Markdown(extensions=set(
+            self.extensions + markdown_extentions + ['meta']))
         content = md.convert(text)
 
         metadata = {}
diff --git a/pelican/settings.py b/pelican/settings.py
index f2511844..ad0ff8fc 100644
--- a/pelican/settings.py
+++ b/pelican/settings.py
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ _DEFAULT_CONFIG = {'PATH': '.',
                    'SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH': 50,
                    'WEBASSETS': False,
                    'PLUGINS': [],
-                   'MARKDOWN_EXTENTIONS': [],
+                   'MARKDOWN_EXTENTIONS': [ 'toc', ],
                    }
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_readers.py b/tests/test_readers.py
index 299aa378..d831252d 100644
--- a/tests/test_readers.py
+++ b/tests/test_readers.py
@@ -90,3 +90,22 @@ class MdReaderTest(unittest.TestCase):
                 "<p>This is another markdown test file.  Uses the mkd extension.</p>"
         
         self.assertEqual(content, expected)
+
+    @unittest.skipUnless(readers.Markdown, "markdown isn't installed")
+    def test_article_with_markdown_markup_extension(self):
+        # test to ensure the markdown markup extension is being processed as expected
+        reader = readers.MarkdownReader({})
+        reader.settings.update(dict(MARKDOWN_EXTENTIONS=['toc']))
+        content, metadata = reader.read(_filename('article_with_markdown_markup_extentions.md'))
+        expected = '<div class="toc">\n'\
+            '<ul>\n'\
+            '<li><a href="#level1">Level1</a><ul>\n'\
+            '<li><a href="#level2">Level2</a></li>\n'\
+            '</ul>\n'\
+            '</li>\n'\
+            '</ul>\n'\
+            '</div>\n'\
+            '<h2 id="level1">Level1</h2>\n'\
+            '<h3 id="level2">Level2</h3>'
+
+        self.assertEqual(content, expected)