Chris Patti <cpa...@gmail.com> writes: > Can anyone give me an example of when it's a good idea to use lists > rather than headlines? > > They feel rather like a violation of the principle of least surprise > to me, because when you use them, and then try to use pretty much any > other Org feature on them (marking them as a TODO item, tagging, etc.) > it doesn't work because lists aren't meant to be used that way.
> I'm guessing I'm missing something obvious here, and that's why I'm asking. Lists are lists. Headlines are headlines. If you need something to show up in an agenda view, use a headline. >From the perspective of document structure, headlines vs. lists corresponds with section headings vs. lists in Markdown: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markdown#Example I find lists to be a good means quickly to organize and reorganize items within an entry. I use them for brainstorming, for making grocery lists, for itemizing ingredients in recipes, for documenting what I did on a task, etc. Though you can't tag them or add todos to them, you can use checkboxes to track your progress on items in a list. - http://orgmode.org/manual/Checkboxes.html#Checkboxes Lists also play an important role in export. E.g., this list... - apples - Fuji - Red Delicious - bananas - pears Exports to html as... <ul class="org-ul"> <li>apples <ul class="org-ul"> <li>Fuji</li> <li>Red Delicious</li> </ul></li> <li>bananas</li> <li>pears</li> </ul> Matt
