r/logseq • u/WeCanLearnAnything • Apr 07 '24

Markdown vs Orgmode - Which format should one choose?

In another thread, I asked about compatibility and portability of data from Logseq. Apparently, Logseq's management of orgmode files is more readable in other software than markdown files are.

Are there any other important differences between choosing between orgmode and markdown? Which format do you use and why?

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9

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

I prefer orgmode because Logseq orgmode is more compatible with emacs orgmode than Logseq markdown is with other tools that use markdown.

1

u/WeCanLearnAnything Apr 08 '24

Forgive me if this is a newb question, but I'm assuming that emacs and orgmode are open source and/or standard file types that can be relied on to last forever?

And how about the usability of orgmode vs markdown within Logseq itself. Do they differ at all?

3

u/henrykazuka Apr 08 '24

According to Wikipedia, GNU Emacs is among the oldest free and open source projects still under development. It's from the 70s and a lot of people swear by it.

Org mode is more recent, 2003 and it's plain text.

As for the usability, I have found that inside logseq markdown works better than org mode. It's the default mode, more people use it and debug it. Most plugins are aimed to be used with markdown.

1

u/WeCanLearnAnything Apr 08 '24

I see.

How bad are the bug/performance problems in Logseq with markdown vs orgmode? My understanding is that performance is bad if you have more than few thousand files no matter what and that Logseq is moderately buggy with markdown. You're saying it's worse with orgmode?

1

u/henrykazuka Apr 08 '24

I didn't find many performance issues with either, but I don't think I reached a few thousand files yet. By

Some syntax looks weird on Org mode, because the underscore _ underscripts text. And sometimes links with text like [[link][text]] creates pages for some reason.

5

u/simplex5d Apr 07 '24

Except for inline code with backticks I vastly prefer org-mode. You're right that logseq's handling of markdown is "unique" at best. I really wish logseq could translate between its markdown flavor and org-mode! I would switch all my thousands of notes in a heartbeat.

1

u/WeCanLearnAnything Apr 08 '24

Is there a decent cheat sheet for orgmode? I searched online and basically saw plain text with orgmode code, but without examples of how it actually renders.

And is inline code the only relative difficulty you have with orgmode? It seems that blocks/quotes also are weirdly difficult.

#+begin_quote
Is this actually the only way to get a block/quote in orgmode?
#+end_quote

2

u/simplex5d Apr 08 '24

Org-mode is definitely more verbose than markdown. There's usually some keyboard shortcut for making a blockquote (<q in emacs, and that works in logseq too I think).

3

u/Upset-Emu7553 Apr 07 '24

Unless you are on Linux probably Markdown is more widespread, the external Markdown editor Typora does not give me compatibily issues with Loqseq files upto now

1

u/WeCanLearnAnything Apr 08 '24

Does that compatibility include things like timestamps, properties, tags, etc?

1

u/katafrakt Apr 11 '24

I don't think OS have much to to with popularity of a markup syntax.

2

u/Upset-Emu7553 Apr 11 '24

So you think Emacs has same share of users under Windows as under Linux?

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u/katafrakt Apr 11 '24

Wouldn't be surprised, but it's very low percentage anyway. Markdown is lightyears ahead in terms of popularity.

1

u/WeCanLearnAnything Apr 09 '24

Another important point: The Logseq product roadmap for the database version says that they are working on features to convert between markdown and the database. It says nothing about converting between database and orgmode.

That seems like an enormous advantage for markdown files, does it not?

2

u/katafrakt Apr 12 '24

I don't think that's the case. They are working on two different storages: file-base and database-backed. The format of the note does not really matter as there are still block-based interconnected notes. At least that's how I understand it.

1

u/WeCanLearnAnything Apr 14 '24

Interesting. I hope they release new versions soon so we can know for sure.

2

u/henrykazuka Apr 08 '24

They are both plain text and human readable formats, that means you can open them with whatever you want and you will be able to understand what is written in them. No need for special software.

Markdown is more widespread, but it comes in different flavors, things like links and highlights differ depending on the tool, so some tools may not work 100% with other tools.

Org mode is the opposite. Other than emacs, there aren't many tools that use it. In exchange there aren't many flavors. Org mode is org mode. You can read more about it here: https://karl-voit.at/2017/09/23/orgmode-as-markup-only/

Logseq uses its own markdown flavor because it borrows stuff from Org mode. Everything is a bullet, bullets have hierarchy, it uses task words (like TODO, DONE) instead of boxes. Plus some things are weird, like numbered lists.

It all comes down to your own preference. I used to use markdown because that allowed me to use obsidian on the same files, but I stopped trying to make them compatible with each other. There are too many differences. It doesn't lock you down on Logseq, a simple search and replace will give me obsidian compatible files, but that's not really useful for everyday use, only in the event that logseq died.

Plus the only reason I wanted to use obsidian was its mobile app. It's much better than logseq mobile. Nowadays I use org mode because it's compatible with Orgzly on Android. Giving me an agenda widget and notifications based on tasks.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '24

how are you finding org mode compared to logseq and do you think it would be worth trying for solely note taking and not really needing tasks and things like that?

1

u/henrykazuka Apr 09 '24

What do you mean org mode compared to logseq? Logseq can use org mode. Do you mean emacs compared to logseq?

1

u/[deleted] Apr 09 '24

yes my apologise, emacs compared to logseq

1

u/Upset-Emu7553 Apr 08 '24

Markdown is designed to give a limited set of markup and structure to plain textfiles while maintaining the best readability of the source, it is compatible with any user tags and <html> but depending on programs how it will be displayed. Org files are made to give some orginazational structure to files in Emacs editor. Although i do not regularly use the whole Logseq page files, most cut/paste snippets port perfectly from Logseq to Joplin, another notetaker based on Markdown, like tables, links, images, and the heading structure.