Grokking Org-mode and putting it in charge

Re:Grokking Org-mode and putting it in charge by silentbicycle on Friday April 08, 2011 @01:58PM (#2424926)

What I don't get is why it uses multiple asterisks for levels (and an ugly font-lock hack to hide all but the last):

    *    header
    **   second level
    ***  third level
    **** fourth level
    etc.

when it's feasible to set outline-regexp to

    " *[*+.-]"    ; broken out due to HN's formatting

and then just use spaces and asterisks (and dots, pluses, minuses, etc.) directly:

    *    header
     *   second
      *  third
       * fourth

org-mode is really powerful, but does so much that it's hard to learn upfront. I've used Emacs heavily for several years, but never quite gotten into it. I have my own variant (a thin extension to outline-mode), which uses the 10% of org-mode's functionality that I actually care about.

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Re:Grokking Org-mode and putting it in charge by gcv on Friday April 08, 2011 @03:11PM (#2425203)

Lines with multiple asterisks mean something different from outlines marked with spaces and asterisks (or hyphens, or numbers). You can only put a TODO, a priority, or a tag on a line with multiple asterisks. The spaces-plus-whatever lines are not meant for top-level tasks, but for little sublists.

I'm inclined to agree that it's a bit unsightly, but the font-lock hack works well enough for me, and I use the distinction in my outlines all the time.

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Re:Grokking Org-mode and putting it in charge by jshen on Friday April 08, 2011 @06:05PM (#2425780)

I think that is a legacy of outline mode.

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Re:Grokking Org-mode and putting it in charge by silentbicycle on Friday April 08, 2011 @07:27PM (#2425985)

But not an inescapable one!

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