Unicode checkbox lists? Surely you're joking.

[John Gabriele]

Hi all,

This isn't a question, or a request.

I just stumbled upon an article about [github's markdown](
https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown). They appear to
have some markup for "checkbox lists" (which they call "task lists"). It
goes like:

~~~
colors:

- [ ] red
- [x] green
- [ ] blue
- [x] pink
~~~

(Looks like the rendered html gives you clickable boxes ... not sure why
you'd want that in most docs.)

If I were to do that in Pandoc markdown, it would probably be using Unicode
characters, like so:

~~~
colors:

| ☐ red
| ☒ green
| ☐ blue
| ☒ pink
~~~

(Looks good in source, and pretty good as html as well. Also, I only type
each Unicode char once, and then copy/paste thereafter.)

That said, it would be neat if Pandoc would recognize those Unicode
checkbox characters as list markers, so you could write:

~~~
colors:

☐ red
☒ green
☐ blue
☒ pink
~~~

(replacing each pipe character with a space, such that the 4-space rule is
honored).

Seems like there's a handful of really neat unicode markup possibilities
out there which, while breaking compat with other markdowns, would OTOH be
pretty rad. :)

-- John

[BP Jonsson]

How do you type/enter those chars? Looking them up in a character finder? I
have hacked my keyboard layout to be more to my liking

http://people.uleth.ca/~daniel.odonnell/Blog/custom-keyboard-in-linuxx11

I also use keymaps in Vim, and I expect that we someday will have keyboards
which are actually touch screens so that we see the layout we are currently
using. Typing in a layout different from the one printed on the physical
keys is a skill I've failed to acquire. I know someone who does it but he
has typed so much on an actual Russian keyboard that he has it in muscle
memory.

Post by John Gabriele
Hi all,
This isn't a question, or a request.
I just stumbled upon an article about [github's markdown](
https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown). They appear
to have some markup for "checkbox lists" (which they call "task lists"). It
~~~
- [ ] red
- [x] green
- [ ] blue
- [x] pink
~~~
(Looks like the rendered html gives you clickable boxes ... not sure why
you'd want that in most docs.)
If I were to do that in Pandoc markdown, it would probably be using
~~~
| ☐ red
| ☒ green
| ☐ blue
| ☒ pink
~~~
(Looks good in source, and pretty good as html as well. Also, I only type
each Unicode char once, and then copy/paste thereafter.)
That said, it would be neat if Pandoc would recognize those Unicode
~~~
☐ red
☒ green
☐ blue
☒ pink
~~~
(replacing each pipe character with a space, such that the 4-space rule is
honored).
Seems like there's a handful of really neat unicode markup possibilities
out there which, while breaking compat with other markdowns, would OTOH be
pretty rad. :)
-- John
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[John Gabriele]

Post by BP Jonsson
How do you type/enter those chars? Looking them up in a character finder?

I look in [a list I keep of commonly-used chars], then either copy/paste or
else type in the code point number (in Emacs, that's "C-x 8 RET
{code-point} RET").

[a list I keep of commonly-used chars]:
http://unexpected-vortices.com/doc-notes/some-common-unicode-characters.html

-- John

[Ryan Gray]

To make the line breaks, you can always add two spaces at the end of each line.

You can also use HTML entity names and codes, but those don't always nice in source. I found these matched:

☐ Red
⊠ Blue

I was not finding entities with 'x' and a counterpart without that matched in size and had entity names rather than codes.

However, I rather like:

- Red
- ✓ Blue

Since that's an easy to remember entity name.

-Ryan

Post by John Gabriele
Hi all,
This isn't a question, or a request.
~~~
- [ ] red
- [x] green
- [ ] blue
- [x] pink
~~~
(Looks like the rendered html gives you clickable boxes ... not sure why you'd want that in most docs.)
~~~
| ☐ red
| ☒ green
| ☐ blue
| ☒ pink
~~~
(Looks good in source, and pretty good as html as well. Also, I only type each Unicode char once, and then copy/paste thereafter.)
~~~
☐ red
☒ green
☐ blue
☒ pink
~~~
(replacing each pipe character with a space, such that the 4-space rule is honored).
Seems like there's a handful of really neat unicode markup possibilities out there which, while breaking compat with other markdowns, would OTOH be pretty rad. :)
-- John
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For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

[Shahbaz Youssefi]

I'm against anything that's not on the keyboard. The checkboxes do look
neat, but they are hard to type, and as a programmer, I don't like spending
1 minute typing only one character.

I like the github style though. It's simple to write and still looks
fabulous.

Post by Ryan Gray
To make the line breaks, you can always add two spaces at the end of each line.
You can also use HTML entity names and codes, but those don't always nice
☐ Red
⊠ Blue
I was not finding entities with 'x' and a counterpart without that matched
in size and had entity names rather than codes.
- Red
- ✓ Blue
Since that's an easy to remember entity name.
-Ryan
Hi all,
This isn't a question, or a request.
I just stumbled upon an article about [github's markdown](
https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown). They appear
to have some markup for "checkbox lists" (which they call "task lists"). It
~~~
- [ ] red
- [x] green
- [ ] blue
- [x] pink
~~~
(Looks like the rendered html gives you clickable boxes ... not sure why
you'd want that in most docs.)
If I were to do that in Pandoc markdown, it would probably be using
~~~
| ☐ red
| ☒ green
| ☐ blue
| ☒ pink
~~~
(Looks good in source, and pretty good as html as well. Also, I only type
each Unicode char once, and then copy/paste thereafter.)
That said, it would be neat if Pandoc would recognize those Unicode
~~~
☐ red
☒ green
☐ blue
☒ pink
~~~
(replacing each pipe character with a space, such that the 4-space rule is honored).
Seems like there's a handful of really neat unicode markup possibilities
out there which, while breaking compat with other markdowns, would OTOH be
pretty rad. :)
-- John
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[Joseph Reagle]

As an aside, anything I don't write in a text editor and use pandoc on,
I use zim wiki for; it has great checkbox/task functionality and uses
the syntax much like below.

Post by John Gabriele
- [ ] red
- [x] green
- [ ] blue
- [x] pink

[John Gabriele]

Post by Joseph Reagle
As an aside, anything I don't write in a text editor and use pandoc on,
I use zim wiki for; it has great checkbox/task functionality and uses
the syntax much like below.

Thanks for the heads-up. Though, I'm not crazy about how the Zim wiki
syntax looks for those checkboxes.

Since Pandoc's line blocks preserve leading space (using non-breaking
spaces), if I need nested checkbox lists (which doesn't happen often, for
me), I think for now I can live with (and prefer to the Zim syntax):

~~~
| ☐ this
| ☑ that
| ☒ but not this
| ☒ nor that
| ☐ other
| ☑ nil
~~~

-- John

[John MacFarlane]

Post by John Gabriele
Hi all,
This isn't a question, or a request.
I just stumbled upon an article about [github's markdown](
https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown). They appear to
have some markup for "checkbox lists" (which they call "task lists"). It
~~~
- [ ] red
- [x] green
- [ ] blue
- [x] pink
~~~

One option that would already work with pandoc is:

- ![_] red
- ![x] green
- ![_] blue

and then at the end:

[_]: unchecked.png
[x]: checked.png

You supply whatever images you like.