Michael Lake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Sonia Hamilton wrote: > >> Can anyone recommend a simple text formatting language/package?
I use a combination of tools; Markdown via PanDoc and ConTeXt being key among them, for different purposes. >> To explain a bit more: I want a formatting language that's text based (so >> it's easier to keep track of diffs in source control, and editable in vim), >> for doing stuff you'd usually do in Open Office Word Processor - bullet >> points, bold/italic, tables, etc. I'd like output in pdf, so it's easily >> printable cross-platform. I have similar requirements in a business context, as well as producing "Word" compatible (read trivially editable) content. >> I've briefly thought about things like LaTeX, postscript and Docbook, >> but they all seem overkill for what I want to do, and will take too >> much time to learn. Any language is going to take time to learn, although you picked three that are either inappropriate (Postscript) or extremely complex outside their limited area. > Look at the following Wiki text markup. > > Markdown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown > RestructuredText: http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html > Textile: http://www.textism.com/tools/textile/ > > Pick one that you like the syntax of AND that has the features that you want. > Here is what I have found on their features: > > Markdown RestructuredText Textile > tables? no, use HTML tags yes yes > can include divs? yes no yes > class/attributes? manual no yes If you are processing Markdown (or, in fact, most of the other formats mentioned here) I strongly suggest you look at the 'pandoc' package. It is a nice, effective document translator. It can read a range of formats including "enhanced Markdown", which I use, and then output a wide range of formats including HTML, RTF, and PDF via LaTeX or ConTeXt. It also turns the "tables?" question for Markdown into a "yes" option. Regards, Daniel -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
