Comments on: Getting into TextMate

By: Alexander Solla

Alexander Solla — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:46:15 +0000

I also agree that some support for Vim keybindings would be a good thing.

One very nice thing about Apple-style short cuts is that they rely on the thumb to use, over the pinky. This makes them useful and ergonomic. You just have to move your thumb over about a half inch, and you're pressing the key.

Emacs' meta-style is not as comfortable to me. I have to stretch my pinky in awkward way, or else move my whole hand to the arrow keys (or worse, the mouse). Which is why I chose Vim over Emacs in the first place. As MacVim (the Cocoa port of GVim) shows, it is quite possible to maintain a mix of modal and Mac-style key bindings together. Indeed, since the Vim bindings don't typically use a meta key, there is no way for them to conflict. (I avoid using those meta key users

I would also like to see some key bindings that move the cursor from the sidebar and back without taking my hands off the keyboard.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:01:50 +0000

Here is a limited vi keybindings for textmate: http://sourceforge.net/projects/tm-vi-plugin/

Quite a bit of vi functionality is missing: For instance, undo is not supported. apple-Z is supported so it is a bit curious that the author did not bind u to apple-Z.

By: Puddles

Puddles — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:06:47 +0000

I'm picking up Mac OS development again after all these years in Windows and UNIX land, and you know what, as nice as TextMate is, I won't use it (which implies paying for it) unless it has vi keybinding. How hard can it be to handle basic vi commands like range, search / replace, etc? For the most part they should readily map to what TextMate already offers. It's not like we're asking for FULL vim compatibility (no, I don't want to play game of life inside TextMate, thank you).

By: asdfasdf

asdfasdf — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:20:03 +0000

Ummm..

Vi keybindings?? Please.. I neeeeed them soooo bad!

By: Richard Careaga

Richard Careaga — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:11:55 +0000

vi. why: sometimes I think I've used more text editors than I've had beers. (Well, kegs.) All it takes is 10 seconds with it and the next thing I've got a string of jjjjjjjj in my textmate file. It ain't mental, it's physical, what the psiguys call procedural memory. It would be a great comfort in mine age to have vi keybindings in textmate, as an option, of course. Think of it as RPN for text.

By: obviously

obviously — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:41:13 +0000

VI ! of course. Only reason I haven't switched all these years.

By: String

String — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:43:46 +0000

++VI

By: carise

carise — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:02:15 +0000

TextMate is definitely cool. However, (votes_for_vi_keybindings)++

By: zenshade

zenshade — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:42:26 +0000

Wow, wonderful to see the outcry for vi keybindings. For me, too, the number one criteria for any "new" editor is will it allow standard vi command mode movements. There's obviously a whole lot that TextMate does better than vim (else I wouldn't even be here) and for those things you don't need the vi way. Adapting to the TextMate way is a win. But being able to traverse a file without moving your fingers out of the home row is just an absolute no brainer.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:46:25 +0000

+1 more for vi keybindings