Vim is not TextMate

When I first discovered Vim I wasted a lot of time trying to bend it backwards into a traditional editor. The below quote sums it up perfectly:

Vim is not TextMate or whatever other editor you have used before. There is no way to transfer all your old habits seamlessly, point blank.

Instead of wasting your time trying to make Vim and your terminal into something that it’s not and can’t be you should learn how to use and customize Vim wisely. All your Cmd+Shift+Ctrl+Alt combos won’t lead you anywhere. Especially in a terminal where Alt is often problematic and Cmd unusable.

Consider using leader(:help leader):

• it’s portable on every platform
• it’s less prone to conflicts with your OS or terminal emulator
• it opens a lot of easy to remember possibilities

— romainl

Adding gobs of plugins instead of learning Vim’s native functionality is another common trap, so I maintain a secondary lightweight Vim config called Ninjarc with minimal plugins to keep me sharp.

Finally, Tim Pope’s philosophy of favouring commands over leader key combos yields a more cohesive configuration. I’m experimenting with Spacemacs-style command mnemonics in my Aetherwolf Vim config. For example, instead of binding Leader+T to open NerdTree, :tn is used (Toggle NerdTree). This allows :tt for Toggle Tagbar and so on – a nice memorable taxonomy rather than a flat multitude of somewhat arbitrary leader combos.

I might eventually move this into Denite menus à la SpaceVim, but for now I’m digging the simplicity of using :ex commands.