[tinthedev]

I'm not quite sure who this is for.

Markdown is for keeping things simple.

There's plenty of of "proper" markup languages and full programming languages to actually write code in.

Why do we need a hybrid program like this, which is not as simple as pure markup, and is not as powerful as a proper templating language?

I personally just run markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML

As a dev, I find this works the best for me. But I also cannot imagine that learning Quarkdown would improve my workflow meaningfully, and I also cannot imagine recommending someone learn such a niche product instead of having them learn HTML/CSS and Python (Jinja if they need fancy). Seems like a comparable amount of effort.

[tiffanyh]

This is for academic and publication journals.

Which is why you see Typst it's strongest competitor in the Comparison Chart.

[cschmidt]

Every conference has their own required LaTeX style file that must be used. Unless there is an automated way to convert these exactly, I don't see how LaTeX alternatives can be used.

[behnamoh]

as an academic I don't see myself using this because I don't see my co-authors using this.

[bjornasm]

They should have added Quarto there imo.

[andai]

It's for me, as far as I can tell! I like making PDFs.

My ideas start in Obsidian (Markdown) and then I use pandoc and add a bunch of cursed inline LaTeX hacks to the Markdown for the final product.

I guess cursed hacks are part of any workflow, but I am definitely going to check this out.

[throwawaymaths]

its for people who want latex but are mad that latex became c++

[WillAdams]

If one just chooses a reasonable documentclass and if need be a few packages suited to the requirements of one's document, then it all "just works" with (mostly) sensible defaults and minimal configuration.

Memoir hugely simplified my own work in LaTeX back when I was doing book composition.

Or, just use LyX....

[nailer]

LaTeX also has some bizarre defaults like bitmap fonts in a tool designed to allow people to create high quality typeset documents.

[slashdave]

Became? When? I have latex documents written a couple decades ago that still render fine.

What happens in 10 years to all the Quarkdown documents once this fad fades away?

[behnamoh]

when this tool has "FakeBold"[0] like Latex has, I'll make the switch.

[0]: https://x.com/OrganicGPT/status/1920202649481236745/photo/1

[coliveira]

That's why these things don't go anywhere. If I need to write formatting details, it is better to use LaTeX which is a well-tested and stable language that will last for another 30 years.

[behnamoh]

Plus, with Latex you can use LLMs as assistants and they do a great job thanks to so much Latex data they've seen in training.

[zero0529]

Yet also incredible verbose and outdated

[beneboy]

Could definitely see using this for docs. We end up with HTML scattered through our markdown files whenever we need something beyond basic formatting, which is ugly. The ecosystem support is the real question though - Markdown works everywhere because it's been around forever.

[MisterTea]

> I personally just run markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML

Unix philosophy vs highly integrated vertical Microsoft style applications. One benefits users, the other, the vendor.

[nonethewiser]

>markdown -> HTML/CSS -> python templating (Jinja or something) -> PDF/HTML

Uh...

maybe thats why they just want markdown -> PDF/HTML

[tinthedev]

Well, but you don't have `markdown -> PDF/HTML`

Also, if you don't need the python bits, you just skip Python :)