diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/text/editor.html b/public/app/plugins/panel/text/editor.html
index bae36a1ea2a..2105f0b4674 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/text/editor.html
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/text/editor.html
@@ -1,23 +1,15 @@
-<div class="gf-form-group">
-	<div class="gf-form-inline">
-		<div class="gf-form">
-			<span class="gf-form-label">Mode</span>
-			<span class="gf-form-select-wrapper">
-				<select class="gf-form-input" ng-model="ctrl.panel.mode" ng-options="f for f in ['html','markdown']"></select>
-			</span>
-		</div>
+<div class="gf-form-inline">
+	<div class="gf-form">
+		<span class="gf-form-label">Mode</span>
+		<span class="gf-form-select-wrapper">
+			<select class="gf-form-input" ng-model="ctrl.panel.mode" ng-options="f for f in ['html','markdown']"></select>
+		</span>
 	</div>
 </div>
 
-<h3 class="page-heading">Content</h3>
-
-<span ng-show="ctrl.panel.mode == 'markdown'">
-	(This area uses <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>. HTML is not supported)
-</span>
-
 <div class="gf-form-inline">
 	<div class="gf-form gf-form--grow">
-		<code-editor content="ctrl.panel.content" on-change="ctrl.render()" data-mode="markdown" data-max-lines=20 code-editor-focus="true">
+		<code-editor content="ctrl.panel.content" on-change="ctrl.render()" data-mode="markdown" data-max-lines=20>
 		</code-editor>
 	</div>
 </div>
diff --git a/public/app/plugins/panel/text/module.ts b/public/app/plugins/panel/text/module.ts
index ed446d1699b..875a7728568 100644
--- a/public/app/plugins/panel/text/module.ts
+++ b/public/app/plugins/panel/text/module.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@ import _ from 'lodash';
 import { PanelCtrl } from 'app/plugins/sdk';
 import Remarkable from 'remarkable';
 
+const defaultContent = `
+# Title
+
+For markdown syntax help: [commonmark.org/help](https://commonmark.org/help/)
+
+`;
+
 export class TextPanelCtrl extends PanelCtrl {
   static templateUrl = `public/app/plugins/panel/text/module.html`;
   static scrollable = true;
@@ -11,7 +18,7 @@ export class TextPanelCtrl extends PanelCtrl {
   // Set and populate defaults
   panelDefaults = {
     mode: 'markdown', // 'html', 'markdown', 'text'
-    content: '# title',
+    content: defaultContent,
   };
 
   /** @ngInject */