Regarding the syntax for URLs: I for one think Markdown is better here. I have seven megabytes of notes in Org mode and I still regularly mess up the order of the URL and the text.
You shouldn't need to manually deal with links anyway. In Emacs you should be able to use C-c C-l (org-insert-link) to get a prompt for the link and the description which will then be converted to org-format for you.
I'm pretty sure I knew about that at one point, but then forgot -- possibly more than once.
Perhaps a public shaming will help me remember this time.
There are way more shortcuts in emacs than one can possibly remember.
That's why you use which-key.
`C-c C-l` is also useful if you're linking to files (org or other). You can use `M-x org-store-link` in the link destination, and a subsequent `C-c C-l` will let you add that link easily.
I use orgmode for all my notes and productivity system and can't remember ever writing a link manually in orgmode. These two shortcuts are essential. I assume similar exist for markdown and I need to learn them.
Heh, exactly the opposite here - In Markdown I can never remember which one one gets square brackets and which one gets parens.