Aerc: A well-crafted TUI for email

> we keep moving ever backwards

Sadly true, but if you observe a larger timeframe:

- back to Unix time, unixers say GUIs are unneeded complexity, in very little time Unix add X, not like Smalltalk workstations, but still similar, one of the first based on the current 2D graphics for documents, SunWS, or DisplayPostscript server;

- back at first Windows time, Windowser say widget based GUIs are the sole GUI needed, and that last long, but, the web 2.0, QtQuick, ... state clearly no, we can't live on widgets, and we are now essentially back to a much more complex and not much more featuresful DisplayPostscript equivalent, still a kind of DocUI like the Xerox workstations ones, only NOT moldable by end users;

- at a smaller levels menus are mostly substituted with search&narrow tools, from the "classic desktop menu" to "the dash", Android preference with a quicksearch, equally present for apps menu, failed but very good Ubuntu Unity HUD, we can go till search engine and ML (LLM, mostly) prompts, all are "back" at users entering text instead of clicking around pre-made menus;

- decades after CanonCat notes are now very common even for not so power users, and notes pale and limited automation start to appear here and there (R with Quarto, where the user write a mix of data (MD) and code (R) to generate a pdf via pandoc/LaTeX (or something similar in their backend), to Zettlr note "export template" functionalities and so on, actually is the data and code of Lisp and Smalltalk systems back then, in users hands even if that part is sometimes a bit hidden.

Long story short good ideas came back, generally only after an immense amount of time and turned into Greenspun's tenth rule bug-ridden, half-backed soups, but still they are back. So well... As the time passes "digitalization" happen and some start to think, rediscovering old concepts often not knowing they are old, but still came back. Maybe in 50+ the future web will be composed of feeds, full articles in the feed, and the same mechanism will be used for releases announcements, bug tracking, vulnerability notice and so on, as well as something equivalent of emails, equally scriptable.

For me the sole key is not losing all the past memory, so we can know how bad evolution arrives and how they disappear to collect experience and a bit at a time correcting errors.

Reading history I think this same phenomenon happen in all fields, good stuff tend to die early en masses, only few survive often badly changed, but a bit at a time died early stuff came back. Sad for the humanity, sad for those who know but at least still good for future generations.

I must respectfully disagree. It's far from just about writing an email; it's about managing hundreds of emails. With Vim keybindings, I can switch between email accounts, folders, and individual emails in Aerc at lightning speed. I can select emails using the same keybindings as I would to select lines of text in Vim. Then, I can use those same keybindings to delete, move, copy, or mark emails. The efficiency? It's many times better once you understand the Vim mindset. Plus, I can use the same keybinding system in other programs too. Take a look at [oil.nvim](https://github.com/stevearc/oil.nvim), NNN, or [yazi](https://github.com/sxyazi/yazi), or mpv or surfingkeys in your browser.

For Yazi, I even created a hardcore Vim configuration that makes it even easier and more efficient for any user familiar with Vim keybindings.

Just one example: look at your email program. Perhaps you have a folder open with 100 emails. Now, imagine that each email is nothing more than a line of text. So, you have a document with 100 lines of text. In Aerc, I can simply jump to the first line (the first email) with `gg`. And with `G`, I can jump to the last email. With `ff`, I filter all emails that have the same sender. With `fs`, all that have the same subject. With `V`, I mark an email, and with `X` or `dd`, I can delete the email. Before that, I can mark all the emails I filtered with `G`. If I don't want to delete them but move them instead, I just press `pf` and enter the first letters of the desired folder where I want to move my emails. I can also set certain folders where I often move emails as shortcuts. For example, `pb` to move emails to the "Brain" folder. Have a look at my simple config: https://github.com/rafo/aerc-vim/blob/main/binds.conf

Once understood, everything becomes incredibly fast.

Tip: try surfingkeys in your browser.

Huh that's really interesting. I have used mutt before, and I hated how it handled replies and that was the reason I returned to plain gmail.

I guess it's a matter of taste.