The way I see it, within org-mode you wouldn't have to change anything in
your input, but C-c C-c or other hot keys would do the change automatically.
But I really don't mind if the underlying buffer stays the same, but only
the display changes.

Secondly, typing Unicode characters is pretty easy in emacs through its
input modes. I have recently working on a special input mode for the
key-starved N900 keyboard and it is really simple through quail. For box
characters, you may e.g. use input mode rfc1345 through C-\ rfc1345, and
then type:

&dr&hh&dl
&vv &vv
&ur&hh&ul"

which results in:
┌─┐
│ │
└─┘
Obviously the display of these fancy characters is only syntactic suger, but
so is the use of font colors in the buffer.

Regards,
Dov

On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 16:58, Eric Schulte <schulte.eric@gmail.com> wrote:

> My only worry on this front is that I know how to type "|" and "-" for
> tables, and how to type "*" for headings, but I don't have an easy way
> to type utf8 characters.
>
> If Org-mode starts using exotic utf8 characters which can not easily be
> typed from outside of Org-mode then it loses some of the "it's all plain
> text" appeal.
>
> I agree with Darlan that something using Emacs display functionality
> (like used by org-pretty-entities) could be preferable because it would
> preserve the underlying text.
>
> Best -- Eric
>
> Darlan Cavalcante Moreira <darcamo@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > If changing the actual character in the file is be the best option (maybe
> > it could cause problems for the exporters), then an approach similar to
> > org-pretty-entities could be used for this.
> >
> > --
> > Darlan
> >
> > At Mon, 6 Dec 2010 11:19:55 +0200,
> > Dov Grobgeld <dov.grobgeld@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Even though this announcement looks very cool, this again reminded me of
> >> something I've been thinking off when using orgmode. And that is the use
> of
> >> unicode characters. With the latest versions of emacs that support
> unicode
> >> and with rich fonts such as DejaVu Monospace, it is as easy to use
> unicode
> >> characters as ascii. What I was thinking of is that the current ascii
> >> graphics of e.g. tables could automatically be switched to box drawing
> >> characters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-drawing_characters) when
> >> pressing C-c or Tab. Other characters that could be used are automatic
> >> replacement of leading asterisks to various bullets. Each indentation
> level
> >> could be given a different bullets. E.g. "*"==▸, "**"==●, etc. I'm sure
> that
> >> arrows and various brackets may also be useful for various contexts.
> >>
> >> Of course the use of these characters would be configurable and would be
> >> turned off automatically for buffers that are not UTF-8 encoded.
> >>
> >> Perhaps I'll one day learn the inner workings of org-mode sufficiently
> to do
> >> this myself, but if there is someone who meanwhile wants to pick up the
> >> idea, you're welcome!
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Dov
> >>
> >> On Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 09:05, Nathan Neff <nathan.neff@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Much easier to read, and I love the nesting/indenting of
> >> > sub-headings.
> >> >
> >> > http://nateneff.com/   - Need to understand
> org-mode-clockreport-rules.html<
> http://nateneff.com/org-mode-clockreport-rules.html>
> >> >
> >> > --Nate
> >> >
> >> > _______________________________________________
> >> > Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> >> > Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> >> > Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
> >> > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode
> >> >
> >
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