John Beckett wrote:
> Sorry I'm late, but I just listened to the Vim BOF session that Bram
> mentioned three months ago.
>
> In the talk, Bram sounded quite evangelical with regard to promoting
> Vim usage, and he asked for suggestions on how he should best spend
> his limited time in working towards a new version ("Vim 8").
>
> I am posting this introductory message with my response, plus a
> second message describing a feature I would like ("EncryptLine").
>
> The best way to expand Vim usage IMHO would be to work out better
> default settings to improve the first hour of contact. In addition,
> perform necessary fixups, but resist new features.
>
> If I were starting Vim usage now, I would probably abandon it as
> soon as I discovered that pressing PageUp did NOT reverse the effect
> of PageDown. I still hate that! Vim has many wonderous features, but
> I imagine that many people don't stay to find them because of
> irritations like PgUp/PgDn.
Mostly PageUp and PageDown do the reverse of each other. If you mean
that the cursor has moved, that is a completely different thing.
> Highlighting all matches when searching is excellent, but there
> needs to be a way for a new user to turn it off. I map Space for
> this, however, it would be better to press Escape to clear
> highlights and message text (if Escape is pressed while in Normal
> mode, remove search highlights and clear any message). Maybe also
> have a way for this feature to be turned off.
This feature is off by default. Only when you run Vim in non-compatible
mode it's on.
Switching off search highlighting is part of the tutor. People who skip
the vimtutor are going to run into trouble anyway.
> I won't say more now. If Bram feels that improved defaults would be
> worth investigating, a discussion here would probably be best.
> OTOH people who dream in Vim script may not be the best source of
> ideas on how Vim should be configured to win new converts.
I do agree that good defaults are important. But backwards
compatibility is also important. It's not always easy to make a choice.
--
Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.
/// Bram Moolenaar -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- http://www.Moolenaar.net \\\
/// sponsor Vim, vote for features -- http://www.Vim.org/sponsor/ \\\
\\\ download, build and distribute -- http://www.A-A-P.org ///
\\\ help me help AIDS victims -- http://ICCF-Holland.org ///
