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Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
181–190 of 285 posts
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
LaTeX also has some bizarre defaults like bitmap fonts in a tool designed to allow people to create high quality typeset documents.
which is ironic considering at one time the appeal of LaTeX was "sane defaults". Don't get me wrong. The default choices were really the best choice at some point in the past. They just no longer are.
And latex is one of very few programs where changing defaults would fundamentally undermine its very purpose (being able to recreate documents no matter how old)
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#183Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
its for people who want latex but are mad that latex became c++
If one just chooses a reasonable documentclass and if need be a few packages suited to the requirements of one's document, then it all "just works" with (mostly) sensible defaults and minimal configuration. Memoir hugely simplified my own work in LaTeX back when I was doing book composition. Or, just use LyX....
> If one just chooses a reasonable documentclass and if need be a few packages suited to the requirements of one's document, then it all "just works" with (mostly) sensible defaults and minimal configuration.
Ironically, very similar to the story with modern C++. If you use a limited subset it can "just work" but only if you are disciplined and don't have to mix in legacy code that's pre-C++11.
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#185Since 70% of comments under each of these posts are always "why not LaTeX?!", I want to start by reaffirming: yes, I do want a modern Markdown-based typesetting system. There even is a place of several of them. It would be absolutely nice to replace LaTeX, simply because it's old trash with remarkably inconvenient syntax, so, yes, a system with full control over markup is desirable. And if it necessarily increases verbosity, then there absolutely is a place for something "just a touch more powerful than markdown".
However, at a glance it doesn't strike me as what I was looking for. There aren't too many examples, but it seems like it leans heavier towards "just a touch more powerful than markdown" rather than to "replace LaTeX" (or Typst, for that matter). And for the first scenario to play out, it must be really seamless to use. This one doesn't seem to be.
1. Just to take care of the elephant in the room: JVM. Same as many others, I won't even bother installing it to try it out, so it doesn't help virality much.
2. I don't like the syntax. It needs to be as compatible with plain markdown as possible, and this one isn't quite. My main issue is with argument to a function being tabulated. It seems like it will lead to the whole document being tabulated. It is a natural for markdown-compatible add-ons to employ a code/monospace blocks, but ```plugin-name is a better way to do it, because it doesn't mean you have to reformat your whole document when you decide to step off from plain markdown.
3. Since a "better markdown" is something more suitable for something that starts as your personal notes (if you are specifically working on preparing a document for publishing, indeed you can just do it in LaTeX as well), I suppose it's only useful to an extent it is integrated into your notetaking app. Surely, there are still some people who do it in Emacs or Vim, but even such a retrograde as myself eventually moved on to Obsidian. I want ways to control my document structure better inside my notetaking app with a potential ability to publish. But as a standalone thing, I'm not sure why would I use it. At least Typst has a proprietary online editor. I suppose, that's also how nearly everyone uses it.
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
Every conference has their own required LaTeX style file that must be used. Unless there is an automated way to convert these exactly, I don't see how LaTeX alternatives can be used.
I think that might be true at some maths and computer science meetings but is unheard of in other scientific fields.
CS strongly prefers LaTeX [0,1] while broader journals and conferences prefer MS Word over it [2,3]. As long as there is not a solid infrastructure for these other typesetting systems, I never saw the appeal. I think for internal company reports they do have their uses, but other than that, why not use the LaTeX or Word? Realistically any person wanting to submit a work will know how to work with either one or the other.
I also don't see the need for journals and conferences to make a typst template for exactly these reasons. The templates will have to be community-made and then you still run the risk of having a paper rejected a year from now because the template is outdated.
[0] https://conferences.miccai.org/2025/en/PAPER-SUBMISSION-GUID...
[1] https://github.com/apoorvkh/cvpr-latex-template
[2] https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/formatting-guide
[3] https://www.science.org/content/page/science-information-aut...
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#187I'm not quite sure who this is for. Markdown is for keeping things simple. There's plenty of of "proper" markup languages and full programming languages to actually write code in. Why do we need a hybrid program like this, which is not as simple as pure markup, and is not as powerful as a proper templating language? I personally just run markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML As a…
its for people who want latex but are mad that latex became c++
Became? When? I have latex documents written a couple decades ago that still render fine.
What happens in 10 years to all the Quarkdown documents once this fad fades away?
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
If one just chooses a reasonable documentclass and if need be a few packages suited to the requirements of one's document, then it all "just works" with (mostly) sensible defaults and minimal configuration. Memoir hugely simplified my own work in LaTeX back when I was doing book composition. Or, just use LyX....
Well, you'll have to install and keep those packages somewhere on your system. And maybe a few months from now after your latex distribution got updated by the system your document suddenly no longer compiles. What I want is something like npm-like package management for this, where the packages are just kept there next to the document. I don't care if I'll have a package 20 times on my system either, storage hasn't…
Write a Nix expression to compile your document. That way you can be sure it keeps working. I did this long ago for my PhD thesis and other papers.
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#189I was a bit surprised to see Kotlin as the main language (I quite like it, but had to move away from JRE-based anything) I hope it can be built as a native binary...
There is kotlin native these days; so not impossible. Kotlin is kind of nice for this stuff; which is probably why they picked it. IMHO Kotlin is undervalued as a python replacement; it's pretty convenient for a lot of data processing stuff. And being able to use whatever Java libraries are around is also not a bad thing. Anyway since it is kotlin, you could use kts (the scripting support). You'd still need a jre and…
I personally prefer the dotnet ecosystem so for me f# is the definitive python replacement.
But I am digressing.
Re: Quarkdown: A modern Markdown-based typesetting system
#190This, Typst, etc etc are primarily typesetting systems for papers . I would love alternatives to HTML or whatever, but I tried Typst too and it's very clear that the authors only really care about typesetting for papers and other long form prose. Stuff like forms, invoices, flyers, handouts, leaflets, business cards -- an afterthought, at best. Edit: Actually I was thinking of Sile not Typst, but I think the same app…
I might be using Typst wrong, but it's like a visual programming environment. I guess I found my jsfiddle or other tools that other people use.
It's very satisfying to play with visualizations in Typst, especially since it updates the output so fast (instant for small projects).