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If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

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Re: If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

#4

Post by cdash »

Why not just use jikl instead if you don't want to lift your hand to move to the arrow keys. I am kind of tired of seeing this obsession with trying to get everyone to use hjkl which just doesn't make any actual sense. I totally get the point about the arrow keys requiring you to lift your hand but you can accomplish the same arrow key logic while keeping your hand in the same place.

Re: If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

#5

Post by a_p »

As someone who uses a custom variant of the Dvorak layout, one thing about Vim that I find annoying is the that the navigation keys only make sense for a Qwerty keyboard. I know that it is easy to do a custom remap but nevertheless I find that it is harder to learn the commands when the keyboard shortcuts are no longer intuitive (e.g not using d for delete, etc.)

Re: If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

#7

Post by enoch_r »

cdash wrote: post #4

Why not just use jikl instead if you don't want to lift your hand to move to the arrow keys. I am kind of tired of seeing this obsession with trying to get everyone to use hjkl which just doesn't make any actual sense. I totally get the point about the arrow keys requiring you to lift your hand but you can accomplish the same arrow key logic while keeping your hand in the same place.

Generally when people advocate using hjkl, they're doing so:

A: for use within vim (where "i" has another meaning already), or

B: for people who have a long history using vim and are already used to the hjkl paradigm, or

C: (most often) both.

I'm really not sure why you would get tired of this "obsession." No one is telling you to use hjkl unless you're using vim.

Re: If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

#8

Post by vacri »

cdash wrote: post #4

Why not just use jikl instead if you don't want to lift your hand to move to the arrow keys. I am kind of tired of seeing this obsession with trying to get everyone to use hjkl which just doesn't make any actual sense. I totally get the point about the arrow keys requiring you to lift your hand but you can accomplish the same arrow key logic while keeping your hand in the same place.

'i' already has a function in vim - one of the most frequently used ones.

Re: If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

#9

Post by CoffeeDregs »

I have probably tried 3 times to ditch the arrows and use hjkl and I've failed each time. What is the trick to overcoming this? Perhaps it's that I've done it while at work that has caused the issue (ie. I need to be productive now!). Pick a weekend and force the switch?

Re: If you have failed to grok vim, ditch the arrow keys

#10

Post by arthulia »

vacri wrote: post #8
cdash wrote: post #4

Why not just use jikl instead if you don't want to lift your hand to move to the arrow keys. I am kind of tired of seeing this obsession with trying to get everyone to use hjkl which just doesn't make any actual sense. I totally get the point about the arrow keys requiring you to lift your hand but you can accomplish the same arrow key logic while keeping your hand in the same place.

'i' already has a function in vim - one of the most frequently used ones.

He makes a good point though. You could switch insert to the h key and do it this way.

Upsides: - ijkl is easier for users learning vim. - don't have to shift your fingers over to h key

Downsides - rebind insert to h (not really a big deal) - middle finger is now responsible for up and down (I honestly don't see this having much effect on efficiency)

I'm tempted to try this, but I hate the feeling of not being familiar with a vanilla config. What if I have to use somebody else's machine?

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