From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Nicolas Goaziou Subject: Re: how to change the headline starter * Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:52:29 +0200 Message-ID: <8739i7ke8i.fsf@gmail.com> References: <1016444425.2577651310651584384.JavaMail.root@zimbra29-e5.priv.proxad.net> <87oc0wx3sq.fsf@gnu.org> <87liw0ek6b.fsf@nzebook.haselwarter.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:53609) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qhg0b-00006V-Nv for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:52:38 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qhg0Z-0001IS-Vo for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:52:37 -0400 Received: from mail-wy0-f169.google.com ([74.125.82.169]:51879) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qhg0Z-0001IM-Ii for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Fri, 15 Jul 2011 06:52:35 -0400 Received: by wyg36 with SMTP id 36so853338wyg.0 for ; Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:52:34 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <87liw0ek6b.fsf@nzebook.haselwarter.org> (Philipp Haselwarter's message of "Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:28:28 +0200") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Philipp Haselwarter Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Hello, Philipp Haselwarter writes: > Is there any particular reason for it to be hardcoded? Apart from the > fact that /well it just is this way right now/ I mean. I don't know the truth here, but I'd guess it is about keeping Org structure in ASCII. Org is about simplicity and portability (and about depth and flexibility, but those come after in the motto). Having to type unicode symbols for such a basic task as creating an headline may be considered as a failure from this point of view. I'm not even talking about using some other ASCII character, as it would bring incompatibilities with existing structures, like lists or comments. In the same vein, I had thought about offering the user to choose list bullets among unicode symbols[1] ("-", "+" are not very convenient if you write mathematics in the item). But I changed my mind: - creating an item would require the user to type the unicode symbol, which may not always be easily accessible on a keyboard. - adding subsequent items would imply, for the same reason, the use of M-RET, making it difficult to modify the Org file from outside of Emacs. Even if you choose some accessible unicode symbol, it will still be one order of magnitude harder to reach than "*". > That'd be useful information for anyone interested in changing it. Then > you can still just tell them to write a patch if they care that much > ('cause even in org-mode-land patches don't write themselves just yet) > [I just had the most awesome idea for a feature request]. > If it's "just" about inheriting from a variable in some 300 places it > could at least be discussed. I think some parts of Org code use `outline-regexp', some others use `org-outline-regexp' and some parts have it hard-coded. For the sake of consistency, It would certainly be a good idea to generalize the use of `org-outline-regexp'. But considering that the actual code for headlines is very stable, and that no one reported an impossibility to accommodate to stars there, I guess such changes are at a very low priority. Footnotes: [1] I even considered adding unicode overlays on standard bullets in order to help readability. But: 1. Too much overlays slow down Org drastically, 2. I don't like to have hidden information in my buffers, 3. Once again, I would stray away from simplicity. Regards, -- Nicolas Goaziou