Great job on this!

> what is all this need for complicated editing features? Why does a text editor require programming capabilities? Why is there even a requirement to learn how to use a text editor? Isn't it enough to have the ability to enter text, use Backspace/Delete/Home/End/Arrow/etc, menu and toolbar, some shortcuts, a search and replace feature and so on? A simple and short answer — to reduce repetitive manual task.

For me, the entry way, what convinced me to try Vim, was the advantage of not needing to move the mouse. That back and forth movement - lifting my hand, grasping for the mouse, moving the cursor to where it needs to be, clicking and dragging to highlight text, ctrl-x, moving the cursor to where it needs to be, ctrl-v, repeated throughout the day just felt inefficient.

But what really makes it feel like a super power is the repetitive tasks thing. Convert hundreds of dates from dd.mm.yyyy to ISO 8601? No problem! Alphabetize those lines? Can do. Convert that Jira ticket title to a git branch name? It's done already.

But "repetitive tasks" would never have convinced me to try it. "Just use cut and paste", I would have countered.

systemvoltage

What's the best way to rapidly move around without having to count lines? I sometimes use Ctrl + U and Ctrl + D to move entire pages but always found it a bit more laborious to move around in Vim. 13j seems like it would require me to count exactly 13 lines before I can get there.

I use vim + mouse unfortunately because it is quicker unless there is a better way?

rendall

> What's the best way to rapidly move around without having to count lines?

oooh. I have a treat for you! Check out "hybrid line numbers". I thought they would be weird when I heard about them, but they're awesome, and I never need "absolute line numbers". But the linked article shows you how to set up toggling if you need them.

Basically, they look like this:

  3 Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, 
  2 nunc in iaculis ipsum.
  1 Suspendisse dapibus odio erat,
 98 non varius nulla porttitor at. // <-- You are here
  1 Nullam in convallis elit.
  2 Sed nec venenatis ligula.
  3 consectetur adipiscing elit. 
  4 Sed hendrerit ac ante sed viverra.

In this example, your cursor is at line 98 and so shows the absolute line number. The other lines are relative to your current line. If you want to go down to the line that starts consectetur, you see that it is below you 3 lines. You have to type 3j. If you need to find a specific line number, say 24, type :24

Here's an article on them: https://jeffkreeftmeijer.com/vim-number/

arunix

I used to use this method until I tried out easymotion, which really does live up to its name.

https://github.com/easymotion/vim-easymotion