hamacs/ha-org-word-processor.org

#+title:  Org As A Word Processor
#+author: Howard X. Abrams
#+date:   2020-09-10
#+tags: emacs org
#+startup: inlineimages

A literate programming file for making Org file more readable.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :exports none
  ;;; ha-org-word-processor --- Making Org file more readable. -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-
  ;;
  ;; © 2020-2023 Howard X. Abrams
  ;;   Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
  ;;   See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  ;;
  ;; Author: Howard X. Abrams <http://gitlab.com/howardabrams>
  ;; Maintainer: Howard X. Abrams
  ;; Created: September 10, 2020
  ;;
  ;; This file is not part of GNU Emacs.
  ;;
  ;; *NB:* Do not edit this file. Instead, edit the original literate file at:
  ;;           ~/src/hamacs/ha-org-word-processor.org
  ;;       Using `find-file-at-point', and tangle the file to recreate this one .
  ;;
  ;;; Code:
#+end_src
* Introduction
I like having org-mode files look more like a word processor than having it look like programming code. But that is me. The end results:

[[file:screenshots/org-as-word-processor.png]]
* General Org Settings
Since I use ellipsis in my writing… to /change/ how org renders a collapsed heading.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (use-package org
    :config
    (setq org-pretty-entities t
          org-hide-emphasis-markers t
          org-auto-align-tags nil
          org-tags-column 0
          org-ellipsis "⤵"                ; …, ➡, ⚡, ▼, ↴, , ∞, ⬎, ⤷, ⤵
          org-catch-invisible-edits 'show-and-error
          org-special-ctrl-a/e t ; Note: Need to get this working with Evil!
          org-src-fontify-natively t      ; Pretty code blocks
          org-agenda-breadcrumbs-separator " ❱ "))
#+end_src

I would like Quote and Verse blocks /special/, that is, in italics. This means, we first need to allow them to be /different/, and then I can alter [[file:ha-theme.org][my theme]] to make quotes italics:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
  (setq org-fontify-quote-and-verse-blocks t)
#+END_SRC

Oh, and as I indent lists, they should change the /bulleting/ in a particular sequence. If I begin with an =*= asterisk, I walk down the chain, but with the dashed bullets (my default choice), I stay with dashed bullets. Numeric bullets should cycle:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (setq org-list-demote-modify-bullet '(("*" . "+") ("+" . "-") ("-" . "-")
                                        ("1." . "a.") ("a." . "1.")))
#+end_src

The =org-indent-indentation-per-level=, which defaults to =2= doesn’t really work well with variable-width fonts, so let’s make the spaces at the beginning of the line fixed:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (use-package org
    :custom-face (org-indent ((t (:inherit fixed-pitch)))))
#+end_src

The following adds frame borders and window dividers to give space between window buffers. Do I need this when my Org files indent the text? Dunno, but it makes the view more pleasant.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (modify-all-frames-parameters
   '((right-divider-width . 2)
     (internal-border-width . 10)))

  (dolist (face '(window-divider
                  window-divider-first-pixel
                  window-divider-last-pixel))
    (face-spec-reset-face face)
    (set-face-foreground face (face-attribute 'default :background)))

  (set-face-background 'fringe (face-attribute 'default :background))
#+end_src

** Hide Heading Stars
I’ve struggled with hiding the initial asterisks that denote a headline in Org.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun org-mode-hide-stars ()
    (font-lock-add-keywords
     nil
     '(("^\\*+ "
        (0 (put-text-property (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0) 'face
                              (list :foreground
                                    (face-attribute 'default :background))))))))
#+end_src

And hook this function to Org:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (use-package org
    :hook (org-mode . org-mode-hide-stars))
#+end_src
** Markup View
The variable, =org-hide-emphasis-markers=, is key to pretending that Emacs can be a word processor, however, since the org markup controls aren’t viewable, I find it challenging at times, to change that. The [[https://github.com/awth13/org-appear][org-appear project]] seeks to fix this by showing the markup when the point is nearby:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
   (use-package org-appear
     :straight (:type git :host github :repo "awth13/org-appear")
     :init (setq org-appear-trigger 'manual)
     :hook
     ((org-mode . (lambda ()
                     (add-hook 'evil-insert-state-entry-hook
                               #'org-appear-manual-start nil t)
                     (add-hook 'evil-insert-state-exit-hook
                               #'org-appear-manual-stop nil t)))
       (org-mode . org-appear-mode)))
#+end_src

This makes the emphasis markers appear only in Evil’s insert mode.
** Typographic Quotes
According to [[http://endlessparentheses.com/prettify-your-quotation-marks.html][Artur Malabarba]] of [[http://endlessparentheses.com/prettify-you-apostrophes.html][Endless Parenthesis]] blog, I type either a /straight single or double quote/, ", Emacs actually inserts Unicode rounded quotes, like “this”. This idea isn’t how a file is /displayed/, but actually how the file is /made/. Time will tell if this idea works with my auxiliary functions on my phone, like [[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.orgzly&hl=en_US&gl=US][Orgzly]] and [[https://github.com/amake/orgro][Orgro]].

Stealing his function, and updating it a bit, so that “quotes” work to insert /rounded/ quotation marks:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha--insert-round-quotes (opening closing)
    "Insert rounded quotes in prose but not inside code.
  The OPENING and CLOSING variables are either or .

  Rules:

   • At beginning of line or after a space (in other words,
     single-quoting a word or phrase), insert OPENING and CLOSING
     string, and leave point between them.

   • At beginning of existing word, insert OPENING, as the assumption
     is to go somewhere else to insert the CLOSING character.

   • If looking at the CLOSING character, move past it.

   • Otherwise, insert an CLOSING character, as this is probably
     finishing the quotation.

  Inside a code-block, just call `self-insert-command'."
    (cl-flet ((insert-pair ()
                (insert opening) (insert closing) (forward-char -1)))

      ;; Don't do anything special in code blocks:
      (if (and (derived-mode-p 'org-mode)
               (org-in-block-p '("src" "latex" "html" "example")))
          (call-interactively #'self-insert-command)

        ;; Define some regular expressions to make the `cond' clearer:
        (let ((existing-word (rx word-start))
              (starting-anew (rx (or bol space)))
              (existing-endq
               (rx-to-string `(seq (or "'" "\"" ,opening ,closing)
                                   (optional (any "=_/*"))))))
          (cond
           ((looking-at   existing-word) (insert opening))
           ((looking-back starting-anew) (insert-pair))
           ((looking-at   existing-endq) (goto-char (match-end 0)))
           (t                            (insert closing)))))))
#+end_src

Now we can take advantage of the abstraction for “double quotes”:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-round-quotes ()
    "Insert “” and leave point in the middle.
  Inside a code-block, just call `self-insert-command'.
  See `ha--insert-round-quotes' for rule details."
    (interactive)
    (ha--insert-round-quotes "“" "”"))

  (define-key org-mode-map "\"" #'ha-round-quotes)
#+end_src

And something similar for single quotes:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-apostrophe ()
    "Insert ‘’ and leave point in the middle.
  Inside a code-block, just call `self-insert-command'.
  See `ha--insert-round-quotes' for rule details."
    (interactive)
    (ha--insert-round-quotes "‘" "’"))

  (define-key org-mode-map "'" #'ha-apostrophe)
#+end_src

*Note:* I still need to worry about how quotes affect [[file:ha-org.org::*Spell Checking][spell checking]].

What would be nice, is that if I end quotes using the functions above, that if I immediately delete, I delete both pairs.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-delete-quote-pairs (&optional N)
    "If positioned between two quote symbols, delete the last.
  Used as advice to `org-delete-backward-char' function."
    (when (and (looking-at (rx (any "\"" "'" "`" "”" "’")))
             (looking-back (rx (any "\"" "'" "`" "“" "‘"))))
      (org-delete-char N)))

  (advice-add #'org-delete-backward-char :before #'ha-delete-quote-pairs)

#+end_src

Can we do the same with ellipses?

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-insert-dot-or-ellipsis ()
    "Insert a `.' unless two have already be inserted.
  In this case, insert an ellipsis instead."
    (interactive)
    (if (and (derived-mode-p 'org-mode)
             (org-in-block-p '("src" "latex" "html" "example")))
        (call-interactively #'self-insert-command)
      (cond
       ((looking-back (rx "…"))   (delete-backward-char 1)
                                  (insert "⋯"))
       ((looking-back (rx ".."))  (delete-backward-char 2)
                                  (insert "…"))
       (t                         (insert ".")))))

  (define-key org-mode-map "." #'ha-insert-dot-or-ellipsis)
#+end_src

After reading [[https://www.punctuationmatters.com/en-dash-em-dash-hyphen][this essay]], I’ve gotten obsessive with elongating dashes. In this case, typing a dash surrounded with spaces, e.g. something – like this, we convert them to [[https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+2013][en dash]]. But if I type two dashes in a row—which identifies an emphasized clause—I can convert it directly to [[https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+2014][em dash]]. Continually typing a dash replaces that character with longer and longer dashes⸺

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-insert-space ()
    "Insert a space unless previously typed a dash.
  In this case, insert an n-dash instead."
    (interactive)
    (if (and (derived-mode-p 'org-mode)
             (org-in-block-p '("src" "latex" "html" "example")))
        (call-interactively #'self-insert-command)
      (if (or
           (looking-back (rx line-start (one-or-more space) "-"))
           (looking-back (rx (not "-"))))
          (call-interactively #'self-insert-command)

        (delete-backward-char 1)
        (insert "– "))))             ; Replace dash with en-dash + space

  (define-key org-mode-map " " #'ha-insert-space)

  (defun ha-insert-long-dash ()
    "Insert a `-' unless other dashes have already be inserted.
  In this case, insert an n-dash or m-dashes instead."
    (interactive)
    (if (and (derived-mode-p 'org-mode)
             (org-in-block-p '("src" "latex" "html" "example")))
        (call-interactively #'self-insert-command)
      (cond
       ((looking-back (rx "-"))  (delete-backward-char 1)
        (insert "—"))
       ((looking-back (rx "—"))  (delete-backward-char 1)
        (insert "⸺"))
       ((looking-back (rx "⸺"))  (delete-backward-char 1)
        (insert "⸻"))
       ((looking-back (rx "⸻"))  (delete-backward-char 1)
        (insert "------------------------------------------------------------"))
       (t                        (insert "-")))))

  (define-key org-mode-map "-" #'ha-insert-long-dash)
#+end_src

The /issue/ is how do we deal with org’s dashed bullets? In this case, we want to insert an actual dash, but elsewhere, we /visually/ display the dash as a more emphasized glyph.
** Ligatures
Well, using the =composition-function-table=, we can finally get some ligatures to improve readability without Harfbuzz.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-textual-litagures ()
    "Non-programming litagures for readable and text-derived modes."
    (set-char-table-range composition-function-table
                          ?f '(["\\(?:ff?[fijlt]\\)" 0 font-shape-gstring]))
    (set-char-table-range composition-function-table
                          ?T '(["\\(?:Th\\)" 0 font-shape-gstring])))

  (when (ha-running-on-macos?)
    (add-hook 'text-mode-hook #'ha-textual-litagures))
#+end_src
This is now fine and ffantastic!
* Org Beautify
The Org Beautify package, overrides my darker themes, and headlines should behave, so I manually set these:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (defun ha-word-processor-fonts ()
    "Configure `org-mode' fonts and faces."
    (interactive)
    (when window-system
      ;; First step is to make all Org header levels to use the variable
      ;; font, and be the same color as the default text:
      (let ((default-color (face-attribute 'default :foreground)))
        (dolist (face '(org-level-1 org-level-2 org-level-3 org-level-4
                                    org-level-5 org-level-6 org-level-7 org-level-8))
          (set-face-attribute face nil :height 1.1
                              :foreground default-color :weight 'bold
                              :font ha-variable-header-font)))

      ;; Change the header sizes to show their level visually:
      (set-face-attribute 'org-level-1 nil :height 2.2)
      (set-face-attribute 'org-level-2 nil :height 1.8)
      (set-face-attribute 'org-level-3 nil :height 1.4)
      (set-face-attribute 'org-level-4 nil :height 1.2)

      (dolist (face '(org-block org-code org-verbatim org-table org-drawer
                                org-table org-formula org-special-keyword org-block
                                org-property-value org-document-info-keyword))
        (set-face-attribute face nil :inherit 'fixed-pitch :height 'unspecified))

      (set-face-attribute 'org-block-begin-line nil :height 0.85)
      (set-face-attribute 'org-block-end-line nil :height 0.8)

      (set-face-attribute 'org-drawer nil :height 0.8)
      (set-face-attribute 'org-property-value nil :height 0.85)
      (set-face-attribute 'org-special-keyword nil :height 0.85)))
#+end_src

We call this function when we start:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (ha-word-processor-fonts)
#+end_src
* Org Modern
The [[https://github.com/minad/org-modern][org-modern]] project attempts to do a lot of what I was doing in this file.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (use-package org-modern
    :straight (:host github :repo "minad/org-modern")
    :after org
    :hook ( ; (add-hook 'org-mode-hook #'org-modern-mode)
           (org-agenda-finalize . org-modern-agenda))
    :custom
    (org-modern-table nil)
    :config
    (set-face-attribute 'org-modern-symbol nil :family "Iosevka")
    (global-org-modern-mode))
#+end_src

I like the smaller code blocks as well as the <2022-06-16 Thu> timestamps.
* Checkboxes
According to an idea by [[https://jft.home.blog/2019/07/17/use-unicode-symbol-to-display-org-mode-checkboxes/][Huy Trần]], (and expanded by the [[https://github.com/minad/org-modern][org-modern]] project), we can prettify the list checkboxes. To make completed tasks more distinguishable, he changed the colors:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defface org-checkbox-done-text
  '((t (:foreground "#71696A" :strike-through t)))
  "Face for the text part of a checked org-mode checkbox.")

(font-lock-add-keywords
 'org-mode
 `(("^[ \t]*\\(?:[-+*]\\|[0-9]+[).]\\)[ \t]+\\(\\(?:\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?[0-9]+\\][ \t]*\\)?\\[\\(?:X\\|\\([0-9]+\\)/\\2\\)\\][^\n]*\n\\)"
    1 'org-checkbox-done-text prepend))
 'append)
#+end_src
* Padding
The [[https://github.com/TonCherAmi/org-padding][org-padding]] project looks places extra space before and after headers and blocks (essentially leading), to create a more word-processor-y experience. Great idea, however, I have spent a lot of extra time entering blank lines before and after my headers and blocks:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
  (use-package org-padding
    :straight (:host github :repo "TonCherAmi/org-padding")
    :hook (org-mode . org-padding-mode)
    :config
    (setq org-padding-block-begin-line-padding '(0.5 . 0.3)
          org-padding-block-end-line-padding '(0.1 . 0.5)
          org-padding-heading-padding-alist
          '((4.0 . 1.5) (3.0 . 0.5) (3.0 . 0.5) (3.0 . 0.5) (2.5 . 0.5) (2.0 . 0.5) (1.5 . 0.5) (0.5 . 0.5))))
#+end_src

However, I'm just going to have to write a function to clean this.

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :tangle no
  (defun ha-remove-superfluous-org-padding ()
    (interactive)
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (ha-remove-org-header-padding)
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (ha-remove-org-block-padding))

  (defun ha-remove-org-header-padding ()
    ;; (goto-char (point-min))
    (while (re-search-forward (rx (optional bol (zero-or-more space) eol "\n")
                                  (group bol (one-or-more "*") (one-or-more space) (one-or-more any) "\n")
                                  (optional bol (zero-or-more space) eol "\n")) nil t)
      (replace-match (match-string 1) nil :no-error)))

  (defun ha-remove-org-block-padding ()
    ;; (goto-char (point-min))
    (while (re-search-forward (rx (optional bol (zero-or-more space) eol "\n")
                                  (group bol (zero-or-more space) "#+BEGIN" (one-or-more any) eol "\n"
                                         (zero-or-more (group bol (zero-or-more any) eol "\n"))
                                         bol (zero-or-more space) "#+END" (zero-or-more any) eol "\n")
                                  (optional bol (zero-or-more space) eol "\n")) nil t)
      (replace-match (match-string 1) nil :no-error)))
#+end_src
Now that is some complicated regular expressions.
* Technical Artifacts                            :noexport:
Note, according to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/vahsao/orgmode_use_capitalized_property_keywords_or/][this discussion]] (and especially [[https://scripter.co/org-keywords-lower-case/][this essay]]), I’m switching over to lower-case version of org properties. Using this helper function:

Let's provide a name so we can =require= this file:
#+begin_src emacs-lisp :exports none
  (provide 'ha-org-word-processor)
  ;;; ha-org-word-processor.el ends here
#+end_src

Before you can build this on a new system, make sure that you put the cursor over any of these properties, and hit: ~C-c C-c~

#+description: A literate programming file for making Org file more readable.

#+property:    header-args:sh :tangle no
#+property:    header-args:emacs-lisp :tangle yes
#+property:    header-args    :results none   :eval no-export   :comments no

#+options:     num:nil toc:t todo:nil tasks:nil tags:nil date:nil
#+options:     skip:nil author:nil email:nil creator:nil timestamp:nil
#+infojs_opt:  view:nil toc:t ltoc:t mouse:underline buttons:0 path:http://orgmode.org/org-info.js