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

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

#161

Post by cyrialize »

cyrialize wrote: post #159
kleinishere wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve looked into a log/journal date tree approach with my various activities across the day (meeting notes, independent work notes, etc) under the date. But then I prefer being able to look through headings that anchor on context first, then dates second (/eventually). Does your daily log link to other parts of one org file, or other org files? I’ve asked LLMs their opinions. But curious for yours! Also thinking abou…

My daily log file basically looks like this: * Year * Month ** Day For example: * 2025 * January ** Saturday 01/10/26 In each day heading I'll have either a short note (like saying what meeting happened), or a link to a separate org file. I keep an org file for each JIRA ticket I'm working on, so I'll link it out there. The presence of a link indicates that I've worked on that ticket that day. Then in each individual…

I also have a bunch of different org files for work and personal use.

For example, I have a file called tracker.org that is just for recurring habits/tasks that I set up with org-schedule.

I've thought about writing up a blog post about how I use org-mode, since I've been using every day for at least 8 years.

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

#162

Post by cyrialize »

kleinishere wrote: post #155
cyrialize wrote: post #147

I've been using Org Mode for organizing my life in plain text for the past 10 years now. Beorg on iOS [0] makes it great. I've also started using things like org-ql [1] and org-super-agenda [2] to make me even more productive. I also have a daily log org file I use at work. It helps me keep track of what I need to do and what I've done. It makes yearly reviews easier as well! [0]: https://www.beorgapp.com/ [1]: https…

I’ve looked into a log/journal date tree approach with my various activities across the day (meeting notes, independent work notes, etc) under the date. But then I prefer being able to look through headings that anchor on context first, then dates second (/eventually). Does your daily log link to other parts of one org file, or other org files? I’ve asked LLMs their opinions. But curious for yours! Also thinking abou…

I highly recommend just trying out org-mode and seeing what works best for you.

There are so many things built into org-mode and so many tools built around org-mode that you'll be able to find something that feels comfortable.

My other comment describes what I currently use, but I only really got there after trying out a bunch of different things after a while.

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

#163

Post by cyrialize »

tconfrey wrote: post #150
cyrialize wrote: post #147

I've been using Org Mode for organizing my life in plain text for the past 10 years now. Beorg on iOS [0] makes it great. I've also started using things like org-ql [1] and org-super-agenda [2] to make me even more productive. I also have a daily log org file I use at work. It helps me keep track of what I need to do and what I've done. It makes yearly reviews easier as well! [0]: https://www.beorgapp.com/ [1]: https…

Hi @cyrialize , Hopefully this is an acceptable level of self-promotion. It sounds like my browser extension, BrainTool might be useful in your workflow. It's kindof a bookmark/tab management tool. It syncs to a .org file and allows you to do things like mark tabs as a TODO, which you can then track in org-agenda etc. There's some brief descriptions and videos here: https://braintool.org/2025/09/16/Browser-Workflows-…

Oh wow this looks really awesome! I'll have to check it out.

I unfortunately primarily use Firefox, but still this is great. I've manually tried to keep track of bookmarks via org, but of course I'll always forget to update it.

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

#164

Post by justinhj »

otikik wrote: post #160

It would get more adoption if it wasn’t tied to the waist to emacs. Markdown doesn’t require Vim.

There are attempts to extract it but I'm not sure any are successful. org mode is so tightly intertwined with Emacs features. For example tables can have calculations where the expressions are implemented in emacs lisp and can use emacs calc functions

org babel, which allows execution of code in blocks on the page and communication between them requires Emacs's comint (command interpreter) which would need to be ported to whatever application "displays" the text.

Folding and unfolding headlines requires the exact same display features that emacs has.

In general it seems the link is so tightly bound that it would be as well to simply embed Emacs in an application rather than extract org mode from it.

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

#165

Post by drob518 »

iLemming wrote: post #158
drob518 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Adequate” is a very relative term. Adequate for what? The fact that Markdown is widely used quite successfully demonstrates that it is adequate for a wide variety of tasks. Yes, Org mode might cover more of the long tail, but Markdown clearly covers all the important cases to the point that it has achieved wide adoption.

> it is adequate for a wide variety of tasks Is it though? Like for example, I often deal with Org-mode documents of several thousand lines of text and I honestly don't know any piece of software that can acceptably handle multi-thousand lines of markdown. Emacs/Org-mode has tons of different ways to navigate and search through these large bodies - the outline nature of the structure is perfect for that - there's nar…

That’s awesome. Clearly, you are an Org format rockstar.

But be that as it may, if Markdown is inadequate for a variety of tasks, why do people use it for a variety of tasks? Your rebuttal is just “Here’s a task or two that I do that I think Org format is better for.” Fine. I don’t have an opinion about your tasks. I believe you that Org is better for those for you. But neither do those cases rebut the fact that MANY MORE people use Markdown quite successfully on a daily basis than Org for a wide variety of tasks (blogging, documentation, personal information management, etc.). Can Org also do those things? Yes, surely. Can Org do more than those things? Surely. But so can Markdown. So, if you want to say “Org format is better for ME and I can do more with it because it’s more feature full,” then I’d reply, “I’m sure you’re right.” But if you’re saying “Org is better for everyone,” well, then, the data just doesn’t support that.

And for the record I did not say that “Markdown is better.” You are putting words in my mouth. I said it was adequate for a wide variety of tasks. It works. It is sufficient. My proof for that is that it’s widely used for a variety of tasks. That’s it. Q.E.D.

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

#166

Post by justinhj »

I love writing blog posts with org mode. I wrote a blog post about blog posting in org mode. https://justinhj.github.io/2020/03/09/how-to-blog-with-org-m...

I wrote some code that exports html to a Jekyll static site, but really it works with anything that expects html.

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

#167

Post by dctoedt »

For me, org-mode's big advantage over Markdown is org-mode's macro capability. For years I've been using emacs and org-mode to develop my online course book; each semester I export the then-current draft in HTML to post on the Web. I use lots of macros to expand text, evaluate emacs lisp expressions, etc.

Example: In an upcoming revision, I'm wrestling with what to call the book's model contract clauses, so {{{NOUN-C}}} expands to "Clause" or "Rule" or "Plan" or "Protocol" depending on my current vacillation state. Other macros include {{{NOUN-C}}} as components.

Example: At the top of the HTML page there's a date stamp as a macro that evaluates an emacs lisp expression.

I'm not posting a link here because the HN effect might bust out my (paid) usage limits at my host, site44.com. That's a great hosting site, by the way, with terrific support by one of its two people (founders, I'd guess). It automatically syncs a dedicated folder I maintain on Dropbox, so all I have to do is save changes to that folder and seconds later the change shows up at the online version.

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

#168

Post by iLemming »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #2

We do not need another competing standard here. Markdown is adequate and more importantly widely adopted and growing.

> We do not need another competing standard here

I think you're wildly confused about both of these thing. Your objection assumes standards are about serialization format (how to write things down). But org-mode isn't primarily competing on that. It's competing on semantics - what the structure means to the system.

Markdown solves a problem of presentation - how to write text that converts to HTML or PDF. It's intentionally minimal because its job is: "make readable text that also renders nicely". Org-mode solves a problem of computation and workflow. It's a syntax for meaning - how to encode structure that a program can act on.

Markdown doesn't have task states, Markdown doesn't execute code, Markdown doesn't have metadata.

You could theoretically write org content in markdown syntax, but then you'd lose:

- Task state tracking

- Code execution

- Agenda queries

- Time-based organization

- Dynamic folding based on TODO status, and many more things

These aren't "nice-to-haves" - they're the point. Org-mode exists because markdown deliberately chose not to have these. They're orthogonal solutions.

When you say "we don't need another competing standard", the real issue is intermediate layers - CommonMark, MultiMarkdown, Pandoc's extended markdown, GitHub Flavored Markdown - these perhaps are redundant and fragmenting. But org-mode isn't trying to be a markdown variant. It's trying to be an execution environment that happens to be text-based.

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

#169

Post by al_borland »

vishnuharidas wrote: post #134
noahjk wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm surprised nobody else brought it up - what are the pros of left-hand driving? Is it about where the controls are in relation to handedness? Some sort of safety benefit? Better visibility in certain scenarios? And are postal carriers in America who drive LLVs getting the _best_ or the _worst_ of both worlds? (I like to think about these sorts of things!)

I've driven both. Drove LHD for more than a decade in India. Now driving in RHD country for 2y now. Personally, I enjoy RHD more because I am right-handed and I get to do things easily with my RH. Otherwise, I realized that safety benefits comes from the driving discipline and not driving on a particular side of the road. Driving on Aus/Japan is way safer than India, despite all of them being LHD.

How does RHD make it easier to do things with your right hand?

I’m right-handed in a LHD country, and this means I used my right hand for almost everything. The gear selector, radio, climate controls, GPS… all done with my right hand. My left hand controls the turn signal, that’s about it. I think I’d have a very hard time with a RHD car where I need to be precise with buttons and touch screens using my left hand.

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

#170

Post by al_borland »

toolslive wrote: post #52
Groxx wrote: post #43

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.

You can say the same about Python. However, there the forces push in the opposite direction: Even when there are better pythony runtimes that provide almost identical behaviour (but better performance), everybody sticks to CPython.

I tried to use non-CPython just last week for the first time. The first thing I tried to install failed. When I looked up the error… I needed CPython.

In my limited experience, I can only assume people are sticking to CPython because it works. Speed doesn’t mean much if libraries and tools fail to function.

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