Markdown vs Org Mode

Overview

Markdown

Stacks22.1K

Followers16.5K

Votes960

Org Mode

Stacks36

Followers39

Votes10

GitHub Stars6

Forks2

Markdown vs Org Mode: What are the differences?

Introduction

Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting text on websites, while Org Mode is a document organization mode in Emacs. Although both Markdown and Org Mode are used for text formatting, they have several key differences.

Syntax Complexity: Markdown has a simpler and more intuitive syntax compared to Org Mode. Markdown uses simple symbols like hashtags for headings, asterisks for bold and italics, and hyphens for lists. On the other hand, Org Mode uses a complex syntax that includes various special characters, keywords, and indentation for structuring documents, scheduling deadlines, and adding timestamps.
Features and Functionality: Markdown is primarily designed for text formatting and basic document structuring. It focuses on simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for writing simple blog posts, documentation, and web content. Org Mode, on the other hand, offers advanced features such as task management, note-taking, agenda generation, spreadsheet integration, and much more. It is widely used by Emacs users for organizing their personal and professional lives.
Exportability: Markdown is widely supported and can be easily exported to various output formats like HTML, PDF, and Word documents using different tools and converters. It provides flexibility for publishing and sharing documents across different platforms and devices. Org Mode, on the other hand, is primarily used within Emacs, although it can also be exported to different formats. However, exporting Org Mode files may require more configuration and customization compared to Markdown.
Workflow Integration: Markdown is commonly used with static site generators, content management systems, and blogging platforms. It seamlessly integrates with tools like Jekyll, Hugo, and WordPress, making it easier to create and manage website content. Org Mode, on the other hand, is mainly used within the Emacs environment and provides a powerful and extensible ecosystem for writing, organizing, and automating various tasks. It enables users to have a holistic workflow within a single application.
Collaboration and Version Control: Markdown files are plain text files that can be easily shared and collaborated on via version control systems like Git. This makes it easier for multiple users to collaborate on the same document, track changes, and manage different versions. Org Mode files, on the other hand, are typically stored as Emacs Org files, which may require additional setup and knowledge of Emacs for collaborative editing and version control.
Ease of Learning: Markdown is relatively easy to learn and use, even for those who are new to markup languages. Its minimalistic syntax makes it accessible to a wide range of users, including non-technical writers and bloggers. Org Mode, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve due to its more complex syntax and extensive features. It is primarily used by Emacs power users, programmers, and users who require advanced document organization and workflow management capabilities.

In summary, Markdown is a simple and widely supported markup language for text formatting, ideal for basic document structuring and web content. Org Mode, on the other hand, is a feature-rich document organization mode within Emacs, providing advanced functionality and customization options for users with more complex document management needs.

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Advice on Markdown, Org Mode

Rick

founder at Webcompose.ca

May 8, 2020

Needs adviceon

GitHub

Markdown

npm

I am a newbie to StackShare and the GitHub community. I want to understand how to use an include statement to get a collection of Markdown files to create a book. I have been told that there are a number of useful tools. My problem is that npm and Node.js are also very new to me. Any suggestions on how to get my md chapters into a printable document would be helpful.

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Comments

Detailed Comparison

Markdown	Org Mode
Markdown is two things: (1) a plain text formatting syntax; and (2) a software tool, written in Perl, that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.	It is used for keeping notes, maintaining TODO lists, planning projects, and authoring documents with a fast and effective plain-text system
-	Editing; Planning; Clocking; Agendas; Capturing;
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 6
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 2
Stacks 22.1K	Stacks 36
Followers 16.5K	Followers 39
Votes 960	Votes 10
Pros & Cons
Pros 345 Easy formatting 246 Widely adopted 194 Intuitive 132 Github integration 41 Great for note taking Cons 2 Cannot centralise (HTML code needed) 1 No underline 1 No right indentation 1 Non-extensible 1 Not suitable for longer documents	Pros 1 Agenda and Calendar 1 Easy formatting 1 Portable across platforms 1 Suitable for long documents 1 Note-taking Cons 1 Not many editors have org mode support other then Emacs
Integrations
No integrations available	Geckoboard BugMuncher Bitbucket Bugsnag

What are some alternatives to Markdown, Org Mode?

JavaScript

JavaScript is most known as the scripting language for Web pages, but used in many non-browser environments as well such as node.js or Apache CouchDB. It is a prototype-based, multi-paradigm scripting language that is dynamic,and supports object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.

Python

Python is a general purpose programming language created by Guido Van Rossum. Python is most praised for its elegant syntax and readable code, if you are just beginning your programming career python suits you best.

PHP

Fast, flexible and pragmatic, PHP powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

Sublime Text

Sublime Text is available for OS X, Windows and Linux. One license is all you need to use Sublime Text on every computer you own, no matter what operating system it uses. Sublime Text uses a custom UI toolkit, optimized for speed and beauty, while taking advantage of native functionality on each platform.

Ruby

Ruby is a language of careful balance. Its creator, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, blended parts of his favorite languages (Perl, Smalltalk, Eiffel, Ada, and Lisp) to form a new language that balanced functional programming with imperative programming.

Java

Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere!

Trello

Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what, and where something is in a process.

Golang

Go is expressive, concise, clean, and efficient. Its concurrency mechanisms make it easy to write programs that get the most out of multicore and networked machines, while its novel type system enables flexible and modular program construction. Go compiles quickly to machine code yet has the convenience of garbage collection and the power of run-time reflection. It's a fast, statically typed, compiled language that feels like a dynamically typed, interpreted language.

Atom

At GitHub, we're building the text editor we've always wanted. A tool you can customize to do anything, but also use productively on the first day without ever touching a config file. Atom is modern, approachable, and hackable to the core. We can't wait to see what you build with it.

Vim

Vim is an advanced text editor that seeks to provide the power of the de-facto Unix editor 'Vi', with a more complete feature set. Vim is a highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing. It is an improved version of the vi editor distributed with most UNIX systems. Vim is distributed free as charityware.

Related Comparisons

Markdown vs Org Mode: What are the differences?

Introduction

Syntax Complexity: Markdown has a simpler and more intuitive syntax compared to Org Mode. Markdown uses simple symbols like hashtags for headings, asterisks for bold and italics, and hyphens for lists. On the other hand, Org Mode uses a complex syntax that includes various special characters, keywords, and indentation for structuring documents, scheduling deadlines, and adding timestamps.
Features and Functionality: Markdown is primarily designed for text formatting and basic document structuring. It focuses on simplicity and ease of use, making it ideal for writing simple blog posts, documentation, and web content. Org Mode, on the other hand, offers advanced features such as task management, note-taking, agenda generation, spreadsheet integration, and much more. It is widely used by Emacs users for organizing their personal and professional lives.
Exportability: Markdown is widely supported and can be easily exported to various output formats like HTML, PDF, and Word documents using different tools and converters. It provides flexibility for publishing and sharing documents across different platforms and devices. Org Mode, on the other hand, is primarily used within Emacs, although it can also be exported to different formats. However, exporting Org Mode files may require more configuration and customization compared to Markdown.
Workflow Integration: Markdown is commonly used with static site generators, content management systems, and blogging platforms. It seamlessly integrates with tools like Jekyll, Hugo, and WordPress, making it easier to create and manage website content. Org Mode, on the other hand, is mainly used within the Emacs environment and provides a powerful and extensible ecosystem for writing, organizing, and automating various tasks. It enables users to have a holistic workflow within a single application.
Collaboration and Version Control: Markdown files are plain text files that can be easily shared and collaborated on via version control systems like Git. This makes it easier for multiple users to collaborate on the same document, track changes, and manage different versions. Org Mode files, on the other hand, are typically stored as Emacs Org files, which may require additional setup and knowledge of Emacs for collaborative editing and version control.
Ease of Learning: Markdown is relatively easy to learn and use, even for those who are new to markup languages. Its minimalistic syntax makes it accessible to a wide range of users, including non-technical writers and bloggers. Org Mode, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve due to its more complex syntax and extensive features. It is primarily used by Emacs power users, programmers, and users who require advanced document organization and workflow management capabilities.

Markdown vs Org Mode

Overview

Markdown vs Org Mode: What are the differences?