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<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<title>Structured Commons :: SCEP0106 - Document formats suitable for “source” documents </title>
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<h1><a href="http://www.structured-commons.org">Structured Commons <strong></strong></a></h1>
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<!--<h1>SCEP0106 – SCEP0106 - Document formats suitable for “source” documents</h1>-->
<table class="docinfo"><col class="docinfo-name" /><col class="docinfo-content" />
<tbody valign="top">
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">SCEP:</th><td class="field-body">106</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Title:</th><td class="field-body">Document formats suitable for “source” documents</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Version:</th><td class="field-body">72553b43ff9b2176cc8f50197af23e8cd3c5eac5</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Last modified:</th><td class="field-body">2015-05-14 12:58:18 UTC (Thu, 14 May 2015)</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Author:</th><td class="field-body">Raphael ‘kena’ Poss</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Status:</th><td class="field-body">Draft</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Type:</th><td class="field-body">Informational</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Created:</th><td class="field-body">2014-06-23</td></tr>
<tr class="field"><th class="docinfo-name">Source:</th><td class="field-body"><a href="scep0106.rst">scep0106.rst</a> (<tt>fp:jzfQBa0-Owi93TfYOPsYrx1RrShWAEVDl-Lgmd5FCMZ-Uw</tt>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="contents topic" id="contents">
<p class="topic-title first">Contents</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#introduction" id="id15">Introduction</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#summary" id="id16">Summary</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#general-guidelines" id="id17">General guidelines</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#source-formats-and-citation-network" id="id18">Source formats and citation network</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#support-for-multiple-source-formats" id="id19">Support for multiple source formats</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#choice-of-markup-languages" id="id20">Choice of markup languages</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#technology" id="id21">Technology</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#history-of-source-document-formats" id="id22">History of source document formats</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#source-formats-vs-requirements" id="id23">Source formats vs. requirements</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#latex-vs-other-markup-languages" id="id24">LaTeX vs. other markup languages</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#example-markup-languages" id="id25">Example markup languages</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#see-also" id="id26">See also</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#references" id="id27">References</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#copyright" id="id28">Copyright</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="introduction">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id15">Introduction</a></h2>
<p>The Structured Common model <a class="footnote-reference" href="#scep-100" id="id1">[1]</a> is highly dependent on a
consensus by authors and readers about what constitutes the "source"
of a published document: the object fingerprint <a class="footnote-reference" href="#scep-101" id="id2">[2]</a> used for
inter-document citations should identify the "essence" of a scientific
work, as independent as possible from its representation in various formats.</p>
<p>This <span class="caps">SCEP</span> provides <strong>guidelines and rationales</strong> for users of written
documents, in particular scholarly authors, to <strong>choose source formats
according to their compatibility with the Structured Commons vision</strong>
and other requirements.</p>
<div class="section" id="summary">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id16">Summary</a></h3>
<p>The content of the following sections can be summarized as follows:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><strong>prefer document sources when computing fingerprints</strong> and citing
new or existing works;</li>
<li><strong>publish document sources</strong> (eg. TeX) alongside their presentation
formats (eg. <span class="caps">HTML</span>, <span class="caps">PDF</span>, <span class="caps">EPUB</span>) and <strong>indicate clearly which source
format is used</strong>, eg. via file name extensions or user instructions;</li>
<li>do not under-estimate the importance of <strong>long-term durability</strong>, a
requirement not commonly honored by popular word processing software;</li>
<li>acknowledge and do not under-estimate the recent (2005-2015) user demand
for <strong>markup languages that enable fast adoption, fast editing and
fast reading in source form</strong>, eg. <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a> or <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p>This <span class="caps">SCEP</span> is only applicable to Structured Common objects that
primarily consist of written text, ie. <span class="caps">NOT</span> data sets, images, program
source code, program executables, virtual machine images, etc.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="general-guidelines">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id17">General guidelines</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="source-formats-and-citation-network">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id18">Source formats and citation network</a></h3>
<p>It is possible to integrate printable PDFs in the Structured
Commons network directly; ie., compute fingerprints of <span class="caps">PDF</span> files
directly and/or cite works via their <span class="caps">PDF</span> fingerprints.
However, the Structured Commons model strongly encourages authors to
<em>publish their document sources as well</em>.</p>
<p>This requirement is already prevalent in online document libraries,
either from established academic publishers or in open repositories
like arXiv <a class="footnote-reference" href="#arxiv" id="id3">[3]</a>. Moreover, once authors take the habit to publish
document sources alongside other presentation formats, it becomes
possible to <strong>make fingerprints independent from document
representation</strong>.</p>
<p>This in turn enables authors to (re-)generate alternate representations of
a document after it has been published, without breaking the existing
fingerprint-based citations from other works.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="support-for-multiple-source-formats">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id19">Support for multiple source formats</a></h3>
<p>There currently exist multiple workflows and tools used by scientific
authors to prepare documents prior to publication. Anecdotically,
this diversity is maintained and usually polarised by conflicting
requirements between the authors’ desire for a <span class="caps">WYSIWYG</span> editing
interface and the field’s requirement for high-quality print
typesetting and long-term portability of document formats; the
conflict is epitomized by this common question from graduate students
worldwide: <em>"should I use Word or LaTeX to write my thesis?"</em></p>
<p>For various reasons, some of which detailed below, this controversy
may be soon resolved <em>for scientific works</em> by a common shift away
from word processors, towards standard-based and document-centric
workflows using multiple editing tools simultaneously—including but
not limited LaTeX, and also newer "lightweight" markup formats like
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a> or <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, this <span class="caps">SCEP</span> acknowledges that both technology and user
preferences will continue to evolve over time, and thus that <em>the
Structured Common model should not restrict users to a single source
format or technology</em>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="choice-of-markup-languages">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id20">Choice of markup languages</a></h3>
<p>This <span class="caps">SCEP</span> recommends the following <strong>prioritization of criteria</strong> when
considering multiple candidate markup languages for a new Structured
Commons documents, in decreasing priority order:</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li><strong>standardisation</strong>: how well-specified is the markup language,
how many different implementations exist that have
a common interpretation of the markup language, and
how likely will it be possible to re-implement
tools from format specifications long after current
implementations have been lost.</li>
<li><strong>semantic transparency</strong>: how much does the markup syntax
suggest the semantic role of annotated content elements.</li>
<li><strong>readability in source form</strong>: how much can still be learn and
understood from a document source if all knowledge about the format
and document processing machinery has been lost.</li>
</ol>
<p>Criterion #1 promotes all standard-based workflows and formats
(eg. <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML"><span class="caps">HTML</span></a>, etc) over implementation-based workflows
and formats (eg. <span class="caps">OOXML</span>, <span class="caps">OXF</span>, etc.), because program-centric
environments have only poorly/partially standardized interchange
formats, and it is thus unlikely that documents can be recovered from
sources after current implementations fall out of use.</p>
<p>Criterion #2 promotes pre-structured markup languages like <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a> or <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML"><span class="caps">HTML</span></a> compared to general markup languages like <span class="caps">XML</span>, where
markup tags can be inscrutable without access to an externally provided
schema, or print-oriented typesetting languages like <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troff">Troff</a>,
where markup tags specify layout and typography instead of semantics.</p>
<p>Criterion #3 promotes "transparent" markup languages like <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a> or <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Org-mode">Org-mode</a>, where the source form of a document is usually also
conveniently readable, compared to command-based or tag-based
languages like <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texinfo">texinfo</a> or <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML"><span class="caps">HTML</span></a> which require
preprocessing/interpretation to become conveniently readable.</p>
<p>Other criteria to further discriminate between alternatives are
intendedly not covered by this <span class="caps">SCEP</span>, in order to:</p>
<ol class="arabic simple">
<li>acknowledge possibly diverging preferences by research field or
user community.</li>
<li>acknowledge the evolution of markup languages and technology over
time, in particular regarding their support for "specialized
features" (eg. inline mathematical formulas), integration as inline
comments in programming languages, support by popular editor
programs, etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>See also <a class="reference internal" href="#example-markup-languages">Example markup languages</a> below.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="technology">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id21">Technology</a></h2>
<div class="section" id="history-of-source-document-formats">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id22">History of source document formats</a></h3>
<p>Historically, the following requirements have <strong>motivated major
technology shifts</strong> by authors, ie. situations where authors willfully
decided to adapt their workflow and working style and accept/adopt new
tools and technology for source documents, even sometimes at the cost
of a partial feature loss from their existing habits and expectations:</p>
<table border="1" class="table docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="30%" />
<col width="10%" />
<col width="10%" />
<col width="40%" />
<col width="10%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">Requirement</th>
<th class="head">Advent period</th>
<th class="head">Origin</th>
<th class="head">Historical motivation and shift</th>
<th class="head">Casualties / compromises</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><strong>sep</strong>: Ability to specify content and layout separately,
to facilitate collaboration and reuse</td>
<td>1960-1990</td>
<td>Authors</td>
<td>As authors started using personal computers and collaborating
with peers using digital formats, implementers were forced to
provide more features to enable separation of form and
content, which in turn stimulated more and more new authors to
learn and use these features from the get-go.</td>
<td>Reduced expectation/use of fine-grained, per-character control over typography and print.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><strong>multi</strong>: High-quality and high-fidelity support for multiple reading
environments, in particular web and print</td>
<td>1995-2005</td>
<td>Readers</td>
<td>This requirement from the advent of the World Wide Web forced
authors to adopt tools with extensive support for <em>multiple
output formats</em>, with output quality becoming a higher priority
requirement when selecting editor programs than user interfaces.</td>
<td>Reduced expectation/use of <span class="caps">WYSIWYG</span> editing.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><strong>long</strong>: Long-term durability, ability to continue working
with a document long after it was created, even after the
original editor program has been obsoleted, updated, etc.</td>
<td>2000-2010</td>
<td>Authors</td>
<td>This requirement emerged in the early 2000’s as the majority of word processor users
faced the realization that new software eventually drops compatibility with old
documents over time. It stimulated the development and general adoption of
<em>standard-based document languages</em> independent from the particular
programs used to edit them.</td>
<td>Longer time between the definition of new editing features
and general availability in authoring and reader software.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><strong>reflow</strong>: Ability for readers/viewers to recompute a
presentation layout without access to the author’s editing
environment</td>
<td>2000-2010</td>
<td>Readers</td>
<td>This requirement from users of portable document readers and
smart phones stimulated acceptance of <em>source delivery</em>,
ie. of publication channels where readers/viewers have access
to part of whole of the "source" document format and can
recompute renderings, at will, using standards-based
technology.</td>
<td>Reduced expectation/use of workflows
where authors decide the final appearance of documents.</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><strong>trans</strong>: Transparent/human-friendly source language that enables fast adoption, and fast reading
and interpretation by humans without prior processing</td>
<td>2005-2015</td>
<td>Authors and Readers</td>
<td>This requirement from users who mostly communicate online with peers using
lightweight client interfaces (chat, web forms, mobile apps)
stimulated the creation and adoption of markup languages where <em>the
source definition of a document is also an adequate text-only
rendering</em>, confortable to read and reuse in "simple" interfaces
with limited or no support for formatting.</td>
<td>Steeper learning curve when authors start seeking more
control over rendering than provided by the markup language.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="source-formats-vs-requirements">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id23">Source formats vs. requirements</a></h3>
<p>The following table illustrates how technology has evolved to respond
to the requirements stated above over time:</p>
<table border="1" class="table docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="17%" />
<col width="19%" />
<col width="21%" />
<col width="11%" />
<col width="9%" />
<col width="5%" />
<col width="9%" />
<col width="9%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head" colspan="3">Edition environments / source formats</th>
<th class="head" colspan="5">Features vs. Requirements</th>
</tr>
<tr><th class="head">Group</th>
<th class="head">Flavor</th>
<th class="head">Examples</th>
<th class="head">sep</th>
<th class="head">multi</th>
<th class="head">long</th>
<th class="head">reflow</th>
<th class="head">trans</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td rowspan="2">Word processors</td>
<td>Print-oriented</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Word">Word</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibreOffice">LibreOffice</a></td>
<td>yes <a class="footnote-reference" href="#a" id="id4">[4]</a></td>
<td>no</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>no</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>Online-oriented</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Dreamweaver">Dreamweaver</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress">Wordpress</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Docs">Google
docs</a></td>
<td>yes <a class="footnote-reference" href="#a" id="id5">[4]</a></td>
<td>no</td>
<td>no</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>no</td>
</tr>
<tr><td rowspan="4">Markup languages</td>
<td>Print-oriented</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troff">Troff</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX">TeX</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a></td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>no <a class="footnote-reference" href="#b" id="id6">[5]</a></td>
<td>no</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>Online-oriented</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML"><span class="caps">HTML</span></a></td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>no <a class="footnote-reference" href="#c" id="id7">[6]</a></td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>no</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>Hybrid, tag-based
markup</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texinfo">Texinfo</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGML"><span class="caps">SGML</span></a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook">Docbook <span class="caps">XML</span></a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_Old_Documentation"><span class="caps">POD</span></a></td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>no</td>
</tr>
<tr><td>Hybrid,
punctuation and
layout-based markup</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_markup">Wiki markup</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Org-mode">Org-mode</a>
<a class="reference external" href="http://asciidoc.org/">AsciiDoc</a></td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>At the time of this writing, word processors are coming out of fashion for scientific works
in favor of markup languages, with LaTeX historically prevalent in
mathematics, logics and computer science.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="latex-vs-other-markup-languages">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id24">LaTeX vs. other markup languages</a></h3>
<p>LaTeX is commonly advertised to new scientific scholars as the go-to
markup language suitable for academic publishing. LaTeX particularly
contrasts with most word processing software with its long history of
technical stability, reliability and typeset output quality, and these
differences is commonly used as "selling point".</p>
<p>However, all users, including new authors, teachers of LaTeX and
existing LaTeX users, should consider how LaTeX may not fully cater for
recent requirements from both authors and readers:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><strong>client-side interpretation</strong>: LaTeX still has only limited support
for web and e-book publishing; in particular, its underlying TeX
engine is designed to position words on a page, not organize text in
semantic groups suitable for re-formatting in different ways by
different readers.</li>
<li><strong>learning curve</strong>: LaTeX presents an extremely steep learning curve
to new authors, which opposes a significant threshold to adoption.</li>
<li><strong>lightweight implementation</strong>: LaTeX requires access to a working
LaTeX typesetting infrastructure, including a relatively large
software and data base (hundreds of megabytes), to "interpret"
source documents to a format understandable by humans.</li>
</ul>
<p>In contrast, the new generation of "lightweight markup formats"
pionereed by Wikipedia (<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_markup">Wiki markup</a>), Web fora (<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a>) and
inline source code documentation (<a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a>, <a class="reference external" href="http://asciidoc.org/">AsciiDoc</a>) is tailored to
these new requirements without sacrificing the other advantages of
LaTeX compared to word processors.</p>
<p>In short, this <span class="caps">SCEP</span> recommends scientific authors to <strong>consider
alternate source markup languages</strong> for new works, tailored to contemporary
user expectations, without sacrificing the Structured Commons vision:
<strong>long-term document durability</strong>.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="example-markup-languages">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id25">Example markup languages</a></h3>
<p>The following table summarizes a few markup languages in common use at
the time of this writing (2014). <strong>This table is provided for
informational use only</strong>. This <span class="caps">SCEP</span> does not endorse nor promote any
of these languages and associated technologies.</p>
<table border="1" class="table docutils">
<colgroup>
<col width="9%" />
<col width="12%" />
<col width="8%" />
<col width="9%" />
<col width="8%" />
<col width="8%" />
<col width="45%" />
</colgroup>
<thead valign="bottom">
<tr><th class="head">Name</th>
<th class="head">Status</th>
<th class="head">Origins /
motivation</th>
<th class="head">Strong
support for
print</th>
<th class="head">Strong
support for
math</th>
<th class="head">Strong
support for
tables</th>
<th class="head">Links</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX</a></td>
<td>Actively used <span class="amp">&</span>
coherently
maintained</td>
<td>Scientific
publishing</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX">user manual</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://www.sharelatex.com/">example online editor</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReStructuredText">rST</a></td>
<td>Actively used <span class="amp">&</span>
coherently
maintained</td>
<td>Technical
documentation</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html">user manual</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://notex.ch/">example online editor</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://rst.ninjs.org/">alternate online editor</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://asciidoc.org/">AsciiDoc</a></td>
<td>Actively used <span class="amp">&</span>
coherently
maintained</td>
<td>Technical
documentation</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://asciidoc.org/userguide.html">user manual</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki_markup">Wiki markup</a></td>
<td>Actively used,
coherently
maintained</td>
<td>Knowledge
preservation</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup">user manual</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sandbox">example online editor</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_LilyPond">LilyPond</a></td>
<td>Actively used,
coherently
maintained</td>
<td>Music
engraving</td>
<td>yes</td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://lilypond.org/manuals.html">user manuals</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://weblily.net/web/guest/runlilypond">example online editor</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown">Markdown</a></td>
<td>Actively used <span class="amp">&</span>
fragmented
implementations</td>
<td>Web authoring</td>
<td><a class="footnote-reference" href="#m" id="id8">[7]</a></td>
<td><a class="footnote-reference" href="#m" id="id9">[7]</a></td>
<td><a class="footnote-reference" href="#m" id="id10">[7]</a></td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/">user manual</a>,
<a class="reference external" href="http://daringfireball.net/2004/03/dive_into_markdown">manifesto</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Org-mode">Org-mode</a></td>
<td>Actively used,
coherently
maintained</td>
<td>Productivity
enhancements</td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td>yes</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://orgmode.org/#docs">user manuals</a></td>
</tr>
<tr><td><a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_%28markup_language%29">Textile</a></td>
<td>Somewhat less
actively used,
fragmented
implementations</td>
<td>Web authoring</td>
<td> </td>
<td> </td>
<td>yes</td>
<td><a class="reference external" href="http://txstyle.org/">user manual <span class="amp">&</span> example online editor</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>In the table above,</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li>"Strong support for print" indicates native features for
controlling the formatting of print outputs, including paper format
and page layout.</li>
<li>"Strong support for math" indicates native support for
mathematical formula’s, including superscripts (<span class="formula"><i>x</i><sup>2</sup></span>),
subscripts (<span class="formula"><i>f</i><sub>0</sub></span>), and general use mathematical symbols
(eg. infinity <span class="formula">∞</span>, pi <span class="formula"><i>π</i></span>, sum <span class="formula"><span class="limits"><span class="limit"><span class="symbol">∑</span></span></span></span>,
implication <span class="formula"> ⇒ </span>, algebraic sets
<span class="formula">ℝ</span>).</li>
<li>"Strong support for tables" indicates native support for
tabular data, including row headers, text alignment within cells
and merging of adjacent cells.</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="section" id="see-also">
<h3><a class="toc-backref" href="#id26">See also</a></h3>
<ul class="simple">
<li>Wikipedia’s comparison of <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_markup_language">Lightweight markup languages</a></li>
<li>Wikipedia’s <a class="reference external" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_document_markup_languages">Comparison of document markup languages</a></li>
<li>The C2 WikiWikiWeb’s page on <a class="reference external" href="http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TextFilter">Text Filters</a></li>
<li><a class="reference external" href="http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/">Pandoc</a>, a universal markup format converter</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section" id="references">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id27">References</a></h2>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="scep-100" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id1">[1]</a></td><td><span class="caps">SCEP</span> 100. "Structured Commons Model Overview"
(<a class="reference external" href="http://www.structured-commons.org/scep0100.html">http://www.structured-commons.org/scep0100.html</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="scep-101" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id2">[2]</a></td><td><span class="caps">SCEP</span> 101. "Structured Commons Object Model and Fingerprints".
(<a class="reference external" href="http://www.structured-commons.org/scep0101.html">http://www.structured-commons.org/scep0101.html</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="arxiv" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id3">[3]</a></td><td>ArXiv.org: "Why Submit the TeX/LaTeX Source?"
(<a class="reference external" href="http://arxiv.org/help/faq/whytex">http://arxiv.org/help/faq/whytex</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="a" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label">[4]</td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id4">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id5">2</a>)</em> Support for separation of content and presentation is present
but is usually opt-in by authors.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="b" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id6">[5]</a></td><td>Support for client-side reflowing is partially available via
conversion to another markup language, typically <span class="caps">HTML</span>, but the
conversion tools may not support all the markup used by
authors.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="c" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label"><a class="fn-backref" href="#id7">[6]</a></td><td>Implementations focus on rendering by web browsers; alternate
styling/presentation for print or e-book readers is possible
but rarely or only partially supported by tools.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<table class="docutils footnote" frame="void" id="m" rules="none">
<colgroup><col class="label" /><col /></colgroup>
<tbody valign="top">
<tr><td class="label">[7]</td><td><em>(<a class="fn-backref" href="#id8">1</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id9">2</a>, <a class="fn-backref" href="#id10">3</a>)</em> Control over print formatting, math and tables for Markdown is
not provided by the main Markdown implementation; it is commonly
provided by third-party conversion tools to other markup formats.</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="section" id="copyright">
<h2><a class="toc-backref" href="#id28">Copyright</a></h2>
<p>This document has been placed in the public domain.</p>
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