Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

karl-voit.at

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 221 posts

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#41

Post by drob518 »

skeledrew wrote: post #21
jameshart wrote: post #13

Sure. And driving on the left is one of the most reasonable sides of the road to drive on, but in a country where everyone drives on the right, it’s good to accept that, though driving on the left offers just as many advantages, nonetheless you shouldn’t insist on continuing to do so. Markdown is also one of the most reasonable markup languages to use for text, and it has won sufficient share that it should be your d…

Markdown can be trivially embedded in org-mode, so no need to even miss out on that which "won sufficient share": * Org with md block #+begin_src markdown ..... #+end_src Markdown may be a winner, but preferring it when org-mode exists is like tying both arms behind my back and trying to do serious things with my feet.

I’m not sure I see the benefit in that.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#42

Post by asyncze »

jameshart wrote: post #25
skeledrew wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Markdown can be trivially embedded in org-mode, so no need to even miss out on that which "won sufficient share": * Org with md block #+begin_src markdown ..... #+end_src Markdown may be a winner, but preferring it when org-mode exists is like tying both arms behind my back and trying to do serious things with my feet.

So like, ```org-mode * this is org ``` ?

[dead]

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#43

Post by Groxx »

AFAICT org-mode has no spec.

Still.

Decades later.

The only spec is a single implementation. Which is probably why approximately nothing else supports it.

CommonMark on the other hand is very widely supported and all of them work great together. I'll stick to CommonMark.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#44

Post by arboles »

imiric wrote: post #33
skeledrew wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the use case for escaping its syntax? At top level it's just an arbitrarily nested list.

In an Org document that contains Org examples (e.g. if this article had been written in Org), even Emacs gets confused about rendering it. So you might find that sections in example text are evaluated as being part of top-level sections and collapsing is wonky, etc. I run into this a lot with gptel. I use a main Org file for all my daily notes, and since gptel streams LLM output as Org (which is good), it conflicts w…

Karl Voit writes their articles in Org though, it even says so on the footer.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#46

Post by fipar »

jameshart wrote: post #26
seawsurf wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of taste, isn't it? It's like LaTeX vs. Typst. You create the environment that works best for you.

For personal workflows, yes. In your own backyard, you decide what side of the road you drive on. But when building a product for other people to use - a messaging tool like slack or a commenting platform like GitHub code review…?

What if you're building a product for other people like you to use?

I think this is very common, like people building tools for trackers vs Ableton/Live/etc style DAWs, or those writing software only targeting the OS they use? Not every product is built with the goal of worldwide adoption.

Back to the specific case being discussed, I can easily export usable markdown from org. The people I share it with have never noticed it wasn't markdown since the start, so why wouldn't I continue to use org even when interacting with people who don't? It makes my private side of the exchange better for me, and it doesn't affect the public side negatively for others.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#47

Post by nanomonkey »

1313ed01 wrote: post #22
hahajk wrote: post #11

For me the thing keeping me on markdown is Obsidian on mobile - no other note taking app comes close. If they made an actual Emacs for mobile (actual emacs complete with elisp support, not the existing org mode apps) that was a pleasure to use, I would likely switch to that. As it is, the * vs # for headings makes switching between the two uncomfortable.

I have used Emacs on mobile for years. Works great in Termux on Android for instance. I use it daily and with the same .emacs.d (synced using git) as I use on computers, with just a few conditionals in init.el to not load too many bloated dependencies for things I am unlikely to use on my phone anyway.

I can second this, Termux + Emacs turned my phone back into a personal computer.

It is helpful to add extra keys to your touch keyboard, which you can do by editing your termux properties file (see https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Touch_Keyboard). Helpful when you don't have a hardware keyboard available.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#48

Post by johanvts »

jameshart wrote: post #26
seawsurf wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of taste, isn't it? It's like LaTeX vs. Typst. You create the environment that works best for you.

For personal workflows, yes. In your own backyard, you decide what side of the road you drive on. But when building a product for other people to use - a messaging tool like slack or a commenting platform like GitHub code review…?

You cant even paste markdown into Slack, it’s embarrassing.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#49

Post by fipar »

skeledrew wrote: post #23
arboles wrote: post #12

Does Org have a mechanism for escaping its own syntax? Last time I searched, to type *this* (keeping the asterisks) you had to insert a zero-width space (U+200B). In markdown you just escape them with \*this\*.

What's the use case for escaping its syntax? At top level it's just an arbitrarily nested list.

I use org a lot, in fact, it's my daily driver. I also have to deal with MySQL, and, if using the vertical output (what you get if you finish a query with '\G' instead of ';' it makes pasting into an org file a pain.

Sure, not a big pain, I just wrapped it in a function paste-from-mysql that appends the whitespace, but then I need to take out the whitespace of I want to paste that somewhere else. It would be nice to have org support some sort of 'do not interpret what comes next' block markers. I guess someone with enough time and skills could make this change but, alas, that's not me.

Re: Org Mode syntax is one of the most reasonable markup languages for text (2017)

#50

Post by d_sem »

And yet an accessible ecosystem of 3rd party non-emacs tooling has not been developed.

I would pay big bucks for an obsidian-styled org-mode clone that had a no-frills GUI interface. I find org-modes task tracking, calendar, and agenda views top tier.

Post reply on HN