On: A Good Vimrc

[exDM69]

For those just getting started or using vim only occasionally, Tim Pope's vim-sensible is a good, conservative starting point. It just sets some reasonable base configs instead of Vim's crazy default settings. No custom keybindings or fancy plugins included.

Vim is by default intended to be compatible with some historical implementation of vi. In my opinion, it doesn't make any sense any more, but I guess there is some reasoning behind the decision.

https://github.com/tpope/vim-sensible

[Svenstaro → exDM69]

neovim has some saner defaults, by the way.

[fmoralesc → Svenstaro]

Mostly based on vim-sensible's (with some input from the community): https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/2676

[cryptica → exDM69]

Agreed, the current defaults are a major turn-off. Especially for first time users. Vim is incredibly frustrating without auto-indent.

The problem with vim is that you can't use it effectively unless you know almost everything that there is to know about it.

When it comes to vim, you're either a novice or an expert, there is no middle-ground.

[nbouscal → cryptica]

That's just really not true. Vim has a massive middle ground. It has a plethora of features that you don't need to know about, but that make your life marginally easier when you do learn them. Getting up to parity with another editor takes a little bit more time than with a yet-another-WYSIWYG, but you can certainly use vim effectively after a day or two. Everything after that point is just bonus productivity.