13 ms·

VS Code Org Mode

181 points by spac 4y ago

fire 4y ago
This honestly looks pretty interesting, and reminded me of Obsidian more than anything; I wonder what the level of effort would be on inter-compatibility between this and obsidian projects ( obsidian has a nice mobile app, which would be useful for bridging the gap back to vscode on a full machine )
Derbasti 4y ago
Without the agenda, without tables, without time tracking, without executable code blocks, and without exporting, this is missing the point of org mode. Have a look at orgExtended for Sublime Text for a more fully featured reimplementation of org mode.
- nine_k 4y ago
  Org Mode is large enough for different people to value different subsets. What's important for me is the tree structure, tags, states (like TODO, but I use many custom variants in different files), links, archiving, quoting (including code blocks, but I don't need to run them in place), easy per-file properties, easy export to many formats. I barely use time tracking, and never use agenda though. Anyway, a subset of features implemented is a good foundation for further development.
  - alpaca128 4y ago
    Most if not all of the features you listed are also possible with Markdown (though unfortunately different tools & parsers slightly disagree on the syntax). What sets org-mode apart is the interactivity: time tracking, code execution right in the file etc. Though of course if you're already an Emacs user the choice is still pretty clear. Right now I'm trying out Obsidian, with a plugin it has kanban boards using Markdown in the background. Which is the one kind of feature I've missed for a long time: actual 2d representation of content instead of keeping it limited to linear text files, sometimes vertical lists just aren't quite enough.
- flakeoil 4y ago
  You could use the Agenda from EasyOrg [0] in combination with VS Code or Sublime to get the Agenda functionality. EasyOrg has its own editor just in case. [0] https://easyorgmode.com https://easyorgmode.com
nequo 4y ago
The gifs in the README are a great idea. Makes the instructions very digestible.
emrah 4y ago
This is a welcome extension of course which I'm sure will improve further but I've really been spoilt by the "live preview" editing mode for markdown available in various tools like Slack, Obsidian etc.
agumonkey 4y ago
Gonna be fun to see how they implement it :)
dang 4y ago
Related: Org-Mode for Visual Studio Code - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16198369 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16198369 - Jan 2018 (124 comments)
WithinReason 4y ago
Can someone explain to me what org mode is? Is it simply a markdown editor?
- indymike 4y ago
  Short version: an text file based note taker, an outline editor, a calendar and an operating system disguised as a text editor came together to make an incredibly handy personal information manager. The file format looks like markdown, but is not markdown (and existed before markdown).
- zelphirkalt 4y ago
  Org mode started as an Emacs only thing. Over time it has evolved into a much more capable thing than markdown format. One can do almost anything in the org mode format: literate programming with code blocks which can be executed (org babel), plain text spreadsheets, scheduling and summarizing scheduled events in an agenda view, time tracking, thesis writing (it has the necessary syntax for element one needs when writing a thesis, unlike normal markdown), inter-document linking, and probably many other things. Some time ago people started slowly bringing things to VS Code. Org mode syntax has also been separated out as "orgdown". Now finally other editors are catching up to what has been possible in Emacs for a long time using org mode. They still got a long way to go, because integration of org mode things in Emacs is very far ahead, but at least work is being done.
  - hatmatrix 4y ago
    I know there was a proposal to call the language specification as "orgdown" but that has been accepted?
    - xeonmc 4y ago
      I propose that a more catchy name would help its adoption. "Org-y" would suffice.
      - bee_rider 4y ago
digdugdirk 4y ago
How does this compare to something like Dendron?
- Prestoon 4y ago
  This doesn't have note templating, schemas, back links, note links, wiki links, it's nowhere near as close as Dendron is feature wise.
czechdeveloper 4y ago
Seems abandoned and incomplete? Or what am I missing?
- spac 4y ago
  The maintainer of org-mode seems interested in this project, which I thought was cool.
zitterbewegung 4y ago
VS Code is an acceptable emacs
- Buttons840 4y ago
  You sure? I don't think VS Code is open-source (happy to be proven wrong) and that's an important part of Emacs.
  - coldtea 4y ago
    It's not the important part of Emacs for everybody though.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - FPGAhacker 4y ago
    https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium
  - trelane 4y ago
    Perhaps you mean Free Software rather than Open Source? Parts of VS Code are open source but they are not Free Software.
- kjhughes 4y ago
  Arguably not without a Lisp-based implementation and extension language. That said, as a multi-decade Emacs (and Lisp) user, I do like VS Code and its JavaScript/TypeScript basis.
- nickysielicki 4y ago
  Not until it gets something akin to helm/ivy/consult. I like emacs and have been using it for like 8 years, and doom makes my additional configuration small and manageable, but I’d switch to vscode in a heartbeat if it was possible to replicate basic features of an extended emacs. I just want a good editor at the end of the day. * wgrep is hugely useful. * Fuzzy searching with orderless is unmatched in any other editor. Being able to resume is hugely useful. Being able to plop the results into a saved buffer is hugely useful. * magit is the only way to do complicated rebases. I really want to move on but until vscode fixes their search, I’m stuck. I can live without a good git interface, I can’t live without navigating projects in a grep-oriented way. Vim doesn’t have this either, by the way.
johan_felisaz 4y ago
I feel like it would have been nicer to have a perfect match with orgmode syntax (e.g. they use square brackets instead of chevrons for time stamps). It would make migration easier... Really impressive project nonetheless!
- fooofw 4y ago
  Org mode actually uses both square and angle brackets for timestamps [1], but the square-ones are inactive, i.e. they don't show up in the agenda view. I guess the angle ones are the most useful, though. [1] https://orgmode.org/manual/Timestamps.html https://orgmode.org/manual/Timestamps.html
sfink 4y ago
I recently started using this, but I have to say it is of limited utility without folding. I nearly always end up opening up .org files in emacs instead just so I can collapse sections and concentrate on the stuff I care about at the time.
Arch-TK 4y ago
I find these org mode re-creations in other editors neat but the problem always seems to fall to the fact that other editors can't properly support org-indent-mode as they lack support for virtual text or because of other problems. In org with org-indent-mode mode the following text: * Foo ** Bar baz Is rendered as: * Foo * Bar baz This visual indentation and separation is, at least to me, an important feature which helps when reading. It is basically a must-have for any org-mode re-implementation (I'm not just making up obstacles here, I daily-drive neovim and like the idea behind the org-mode plugin for neovim but I've tried it multiple times and it just doesn't work for me). There are also probably many other shortcomings too.
- rami3l 4y ago
  With VSCode there doesn't seem to be such a technical limit. See: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sean10.markless-sean10 https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sean10.m...
- dotancohen 4y ago
  I think that Emacs does print two asterisks for the Bar heading, but all save the last are coloured the same colour as the background. And a single space is used for indentation for every heading asterisk - so a four-asterisk heading is indented four spaces. I'm also a VIM user suffering Emacs just for org-mode. Evil makes it livable.
  - Jtsummers 4y ago
    Your system defaults effect this. https://orgmode.org/manual/Clean-View.html https://orgmode.org/manual/Clean-View.html
  - alpaca128 4y ago
    So that's why it always looked so weird in my case, with all asterisks but one being colored white like normal text. Apparently this feature doesn't always work as intended. At least there's another plugin which replaces the asterisks with a single symbol per heading.

181 points by spac 4y ago

fire 4y ago

This honestly looks pretty interesting, and reminded me of Obsidian more than anything; I wonder what the level of effort would be on inter-compatibility between this and obsidian projects ( obsidian has a nice mobile app, which would be useful for bridging the gap back to vscode on a full machine )

Derbasti 4y ago

Without the agenda, without tables, without time tracking, without executable code blocks, and without exporting, this is missing the point of org mode. Have a look at orgExtended for Sublime Text for a more fully featured reimplementation of org mode.

nine_k 4y ago
Org Mode is large enough for different people to value different subsets. What's important for me is the tree structure, tags, states (like TODO, but I use many custom variants in different files), links, archiving, quoting (including code blocks, but I don't need to run them in place), easy per-file properties, easy export to many formats. I barely use time tracking, and never use agenda though. Anyway, a subset of features implemented is a good foundation for further development.
- alpaca128 4y ago
  Most if not all of the features you listed are also possible with Markdown (though unfortunately different tools & parsers slightly disagree on the syntax). What sets org-mode apart is the interactivity: time tracking, code execution right in the file etc. Though of course if you're already an Emacs user the choice is still pretty clear. Right now I'm trying out Obsidian, with a plugin it has kanban boards using Markdown in the background. Which is the one kind of feature I've missed for a long time: actual 2d representation of content instead of keeping it limited to linear text files, sometimes vertical lists just aren't quite enough.
flakeoil 4y ago
You could use the Agenda from EasyOrg [0] in combination with VS Code or Sublime to get the Agenda functionality. EasyOrg has its own editor just in case. [0] https://easyorgmode.com https://easyorgmode.com

nequo 4y ago

The gifs in the README are a great idea. Makes the instructions very digestible.

emrah 4y ago

This is a welcome extension of course which I'm sure will improve further but I've really been spoilt by the "live preview" editing mode for markdown available in various tools like Slack, Obsidian etc.

agumonkey 4y ago

Gonna be fun to see how they implement it :)

dang 4y ago

Related: Org-Mode for Visual Studio Code - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16198369 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16198369 - Jan 2018 (124 comments)

WithinReason 4y ago

Can someone explain to me what org mode is? Is it simply a markdown editor?

indymike 4y ago
Short version: an text file based note taker, an outline editor, a calendar and an operating system disguised as a text editor came together to make an incredibly handy personal information manager. The file format looks like markdown, but is not markdown (and existed before markdown).
zelphirkalt 4y ago
Org mode started as an Emacs only thing. Over time it has evolved into a much more capable thing than markdown format. One can do almost anything in the org mode format: literate programming with code blocks which can be executed (org babel), plain text spreadsheets, scheduling and summarizing scheduled events in an agenda view, time tracking, thesis writing (it has the necessary syntax for element one needs when writing a thesis, unlike normal markdown), inter-document linking, and probably many other things. Some time ago people started slowly bringing things to VS Code. Org mode syntax has also been separated out as "orgdown". Now finally other editors are catching up to what has been possible in Emacs for a long time using org mode. They still got a long way to go, because integration of org mode things in Emacs is very far ahead, but at least work is being done.
- hatmatrix 4y ago
  I know there was a proposal to call the language specification as "orgdown" but that has been accepted?
  - xeonmc 4y ago
    I propose that a more catchy name would help its adoption. "Org-y" would suffice.
    - bee_rider 4y ago

digdugdirk 4y ago

How does this compare to something like Dendron?

Prestoon 4y ago
This doesn't have note templating, schemas, back links, note links, wiki links, it's nowhere near as close as Dendron is feature wise.

czechdeveloper 4y ago

Seems abandoned and incomplete? Or what am I missing?

spac 4y ago
The maintainer of org-mode seems interested in this project, which I thought was cool.

zitterbewegung 4y ago

VS Code is an acceptable emacs

Buttons840 4y ago
You sure? I don't think VS Code is open-source (happy to be proven wrong) and that's an important part of Emacs.
- coldtea 4y ago
  It's not the important part of Emacs for everybody though.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- FPGAhacker 4y ago
  https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium https://github.com/VSCodium/vscodium
- trelane 4y ago
  Perhaps you mean Free Software rather than Open Source? Parts of VS Code are open source but they are not Free Software.
kjhughes 4y ago
Arguably not without a Lisp-based implementation and extension language. That said, as a multi-decade Emacs (and Lisp) user, I do like VS Code and its JavaScript/TypeScript basis.
nickysielicki 4y ago
Not until it gets something akin to helm/ivy/consult. I like emacs and have been using it for like 8 years, and doom makes my additional configuration small and manageable, but I’d switch to vscode in a heartbeat if it was possible to replicate basic features of an extended emacs. I just want a good editor at the end of the day. * wgrep is hugely useful. * Fuzzy searching with orderless is unmatched in any other editor. Being able to resume is hugely useful. Being able to plop the results into a saved buffer is hugely useful. * magit is the only way to do complicated rebases. I really want to move on but until vscode fixes their search, I’m stuck. I can live without a good git interface, I can’t live without navigating projects in a grep-oriented way. Vim doesn’t have this either, by the way.

johan_felisaz 4y ago

I feel like it would have been nicer to have a perfect match with orgmode syntax (e.g. they use square brackets instead of chevrons for time stamps). It would make migration easier... Really impressive project nonetheless!

fooofw 4y ago
Org mode actually uses both square and angle brackets for timestamps [1], but the square-ones are inactive, i.e. they don't show up in the agenda view. I guess the angle ones are the most useful, though. [1] https://orgmode.org/manual/Timestamps.html https://orgmode.org/manual/Timestamps.html

sfink 4y ago

I recently started using this, but I have to say it is of limited utility without folding. I nearly always end up opening up .org files in emacs instead just so I can collapse sections and concentrate on the stuff I care about at the time.

Arch-TK 4y ago

I find these org mode re-creations in other editors neat but the problem always seems to fall to the fact that other editors can't properly support org-indent-mode as they lack support for virtual text or because of other problems. In org with org-indent-mode mode the following text: * Foo ** Bar baz Is rendered as: * Foo * Bar baz This visual indentation and separation is, at least to me, an important feature which helps when reading. It is basically a must-have for any org-mode re-implementation (I'm not just making up obstacles here, I daily-drive neovim and like the idea behind the org-mode plugin for neovim but I've tried it multiple times and it just doesn't work for me). There are also probably many other shortcomings too.

rami3l 4y ago
With VSCode there doesn't seem to be such a technical limit. See: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sean10.markless-sean10 https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=sean10.m...
dotancohen 4y ago
I think that Emacs does print two asterisks for the Bar heading, but all save the last are coloured the same colour as the background. And a single space is used for indentation for every heading asterisk - so a four-asterisk heading is indented four spaces. I'm also a VIM user suffering Emacs just for org-mode. Evil makes it livable.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  Your system defaults effect this. https://orgmode.org/manual/Clean-View.html https://orgmode.org/manual/Clean-View.html
- alpaca128 4y ago
  So that's why it always looked so weird in my case, with all asterisks but one being colored white like normal text. Apparently this feature doesn't always work as intended. At least there's another plugin which replaces the asterisks with a single symbol per heading.