Re: [O] Is it possible to keep /all/ the heading properties in one place?

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

Oleh Krehel <address@hidden> writes:

> Already have been using it for years. I actually prefer outline.el to
> org-babel for most things now. But not for GTD - for that I need Org.
>
>> Alas, the Devil is in the detail:
>>
>>   (example
>>    ...
>>    (properties ...))
>
> Not really. You see, the `beginning-of-defun' trick is: a defun is a
> thing that starts in the first column (that's why we escape all parens
> in the first column in Elisp). This trick has been working successfully
> for decades. It's both fast and simple.

It reminds me one mistake I made a couple years ago, when I changed
"key=value" to ":key value" in export attributes, for consistency with
Babel parameters.

When looking at

  #+ATTR_LATEX: :key1 value1 :key2 value2

I thought it would be easy to parse it using `read', and get
a ready-to-use plist.

Unfortunately, users were required to tell the difference between
a symbol and a string (e.g., :key #value is invalid, so you need to
write :key "#value"), and to know the characters to quote in the strings
they would like to use.

Some users complained, and told me that "Org is not a programming
language". Fair enough. Org has, indeed, to strike a balance between
structure, required for efficiency and maintainability, and sloppiness,
needed when you want to quickly jot down notes in a document, or simply
let your ideas flow as you type, without hindrance.

In my experience, I think your suggestion would just repeat the very
same mistake. Yet, again, I may be wrong, so I guess you will have to
try and take the requirements for Org into consideration.

> Suggestion, and I've said it before, Org needs a standard simple inline
> kbd markup. Just like Markdown's <kbd></kbd> and Texinfo's @kbd{}.
> Since Org is tied into Emacs having an easy (and unambiguous) way to
> denote keyboard shortcuts would be very convenient.

This is export back-end specific. Org has no use for a "kbd" markup.

> Adding that would also progress the direction of having Org be the
> language for Emacs manuals. Right now, Org's own manual is in Texinfo,
> which is a shame since no one likes Texinfo and few people understand
> enough of it to get by.

Org can export to Texinfo. It can be helpful for those not understanding
well enough the latter.

> Do we have a way in Org to archive a heading form anywhere into a memoir
> format like this:
>
>     * 2014
>     ** 2014-01 January
>     *** 2014-01-03 Thursday
>     **** CANCELLED Foobar
>     CLOSED: [2014-01-03 Fri 09:42] SCHEDULED: <2013-12-25 Wed>
>     Added: [2013-08-08 Thu 17:38]
>     **** DONE Baz
>     CLOSED: [2014-01-03 Fri 17:12]
>
> Each heading is archived into level 4, on the day it was closed.  I had
> it working a few years ago, relying on org-archive.el. But when I tried
> this week, it stopped working, so I had to rewrite it.

I suggest to start a bug report, if possible with an ECM demonstrating
the issue, in another thread.

> Thanks, I didn't know about it. It looks very similar to Racket's
> Scribble, and my own ElTeX.

Indeed, and they are all focused towards exporting. Export is but one
part of Org.


Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou