FWIW I the think the most intrusive encumbrance for me in OO for iPad is having to continually activate and exit a separate glowing blue text field for each node in the outline.

It's especially noticeable when working on the iPad with an external keyboard. Tapping the cursor keys to move up or down a line simply doesn't work – you have to reach over to the screen and tap the outline node that you want to work on next.

No, screen taps are not cheap :-) Not for the user. Especially when their hands are on a keyboard.

Markdown outlining feels faster and more fluid. You can quickly move with the cursor keys, and go on typing, in a very familiar and undistracting way. A much more encouraging ratio of effort to effect – productivity in short.

To block indent or outdent in Editorial for iPad, for example, I can select a few rows with cursor keys or touch, and use two buttons which I've added to its bar. Should I be able to do this in OO ? Probably, but I haven't yet discovered how to - I end up indenting or outdenting each line individually.

For other block operations, in OO, the sequence of Edit > Check a box for each line > choose an operation icon > Done feels unfamiliar and cumbersome to me ...

For screenshots of a visual design which I already find unintrusive, coherent, and flexible on iOS6 (light and dark versions) see, for example:
http://www.macdrifter.com/2013/08/ed...t-editors.html