I'm not super advanced in org-mode, so take what I have to say as
"non-authoritative", but:

I don't think you need any prefix on lines in your org-mode file.
Lines with some number of * are headers as you noted
Lines that start with a - make a list of items.

I'm not sure what you can do with lists ... but probably that has an effect
on formatting.
So you can have a paragraph (no prefix), then a list (list items start with
-) then another paragraph ...

I haven't tried to "export" my org files so I don't know how it would
look.  I just use the files as a todo/done list/database/thing.

bjb


On Fri, Jun 24, 2016 at 12:11 PM, Chris Patti <cpatti@gmail.com> wrote:

> So, this is one of those weird moments where I feel really stupid
> saying this, but I can imagine others have dealt with this as well.
>
> When I first started using org-mode, I thought you prefixed every line
> with some number of *.
>
> Then, I discovered that the *** were headings, and actual items under
> those headings were prefixed with '-'.
>
> This is a simple thing, but WOW did it make a huge difference.
>
> * I kept wondering why exports to PDF or HTML looked like crud
> * Things like beamer wouldn't render my slides properly
>
> etc etc.
>
> I'm going to go over the documentation and ensure I wasn't just
> looking past something, but I wonder if others have had this problem.
>
> -Chris
>
> --
> Christopher Patti - Geek At Large | GTalk: cpatti@gmail.com | AIM:
> chrisfeohpatti | P: (260) 54PATTI
> "Technology challenges art, art inspires technology." - John Lasseter,
> Pixar
>
>