Re: On zero width spaces and Org syntax

[Juan Manuel Macías]

Hi Greg, thank you for your comment,

Greg Minshall writes:

> in fact, i am always queasy when i enter ZWNBSP in a .org (or any other)
> file.  some sort of "visible" sequence would be great.  backwards
> compatibility might be a problem.

Yes I agree. I think that in this case, a new mark would not compromise
backward compatibility, as this presumed new mark would do the same
function as zero width space: i.e. delimit to preserve emphasis. Of
course one could go on using a zero-width space, though I keep thinking
that this is rather a puntual workaround and should not form part of the
syntax.

> your last example
>
> : [''*literature*'']
>
> seems a bit of sleight-of-hand, though.  iiuc, text inside square
> brackets isn't highlighted currently, and ZWNBSP doesn't (afaict) turn
> on highlighting.  (maybe there's been recent discussion, modifications
> of this?)

The idea would be to use a kind of 'protection mark', to allow something
in a context where it is not allowed: a passport ;-). As the emphasis
marks are recognized before and after a single quote, I thought that
maybe a sequence of two single quotes could function here as a
protection mark (screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/cPIH9qa.png). For
example:

#+begin_example
| Some examples where emphasis marks are not allowed | Protected emphasis marks 
|
|----------------------------------------------------+--------------------------|
| /meta/literature                                   | /meta/''literature       
|
| [/literature/]                                     | [''/literature/'']       
|
| <*literature*>                                     | <''*literature*''>       
|
| meta/*literature*                                  | meta/''*literature*      
|
#+end_example

With the protection marks we get (in LaTeX for example):

\emph{meta}literature
[\emph{literature}]
<\textbf{literature}>
meta/\textbf{literature}

Best regards,

Juan Manuel