Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

Yes, hjkl navigation is certainly one of the things that should learn about a vi clone. But are novices well served, in the 2020s, by that being the primary thing that they learn before anything else?

This is not a criticism of this WWW site specifically. The VIM doco has the same priorities, teaching hjkl navigation before arrow keys. (So do nvi2 and NeoVIM.) The problem is that the received wisdom, that arrow keys are some newfangled idea that might not have reached your terminal manufacturer yet, is massively out of date.

Even if one does not teach the arrow keys first, the BS SPC SO (Control+N) DLE (Control+P) set is surely worth teaching early on. One cannot make any reasonable argument that terminals might not have spacebars. (-:

Re: Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

#5

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 5:06 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

#6

Post by nehal3m » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 5:35 AM UTC

Beautiful project. Vim controls really found their way into my muscle memory through Tridactyl and Vimium, browser extensions that let you drive web pages and the browser itself with Vim keybinds.

Re: Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

#7

Post by anthk » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 6:32 AM UTC

Every roguelike player has these bolted in. Just play Nethack/Slashem/DCSS/Cataclysm DDA:Bright Nights...

Re: Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

#8

Post by tokamak-teapot » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 6:33 AM UTC

JdeBP wrote: post #4

Yes, hjkl navigation is certainly one of the things that should learn about a vi clone. But are novices well served, in the 2020s, by that being the primary thing that they learn before anything else? This is not a criticism of this WWW site specifically. The VIM doco has the same priorities, teaching hjkl navigation before arrow keys. (So do nvi2 and NeoVIM.) The problem is that the received wisdom, that arrow keys…

The reasons I still use vi-style editing in editors are:

1. Efficiency, so I can be fast

2. Minimal stretching and whole-hand movement, so I don't get painful wrists and so I can be accurate.

Using a keyboard's arrow keys doesn't fit with 2.

Re: Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

#9

Post by eska » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 6:40 AM UTC

JdeBP wrote: post #4

Yes, hjkl navigation is certainly one of the things that should learn about a vi clone. But are novices well served, in the 2020s, by that being the primary thing that they learn before anything else? This is not a criticism of this WWW site specifically. The VIM doco has the same priorities, teaching hjkl navigation before arrow keys. (So do nvi2 and NeoVIM.) The problem is that the received wisdom, that arrow keys…

Sorry to be blunt, but if you don’t want to spend effort on touch typing (and therefore avoid arrow keys), learning vim motions is rather pointless and you might as well not bother.

Re: Learn Vim motions with an ice-cream van

#10

Post by johncoltrane » Thu, Jul 02, 2026, 6:42 AM UTC

JdeBP wrote: post #4

Yes, hjkl navigation is certainly one of the things that should learn about a vi clone. But are novices well served, in the 2020s, by that being the primary thing that they learn before anything else? This is not a criticism of this WWW site specifically. The VIM doco has the same priorities, teaching hjkl navigation before arrow keys. (So do nvi2 and NeoVIM.) The problem is that the received wisdom, that arrow keys…

hjkl are more of a cult/status thing anyway because they are not _that_ touch-typing-friendly to begin with, and they suck just as much as the cursor keys for moving the cursor around.

Insisting so much on hjkl is silly. No one is using an ADM-3A in 2026, so the official documentation should let users use the more intuitive cursor keys and downgrade hjkl to what they have always been since vi: __ham-fisted alternatives to the cursor keys__.