Vi/Vim keycaps

[trax]

I already made a thread in Unicomp section but I figured I might as well post my idea here since.
I'm (still a nooby) Vim user. Vim is based on Vi, a text editor made 40 years ago. Vim is (mostly) command-line and basically makes you type commands to edit the text file (look it up).

I was thinking of getting myself (or gb but I don't think so) a keyboard with legends for Vim (like a Photoshop board).
After a few minutes in Google I found this picture:

for IE8 and below: http://www.viemu.com/vi-vim-cheat-sheet.gif





and also the following product, based on this drawing:

http://www.4keyboard.com/vi-and-vim-editor-keyboard-sticker-p-350.html


When I tried to recreate it on the WASDKeyboards designer the text didn't fit at all, yet the stickers seem to be pretty clear.

Does any1 have an idea on how I would get me a keycap set with those printings? (Don't care about the stem. cherry,alps,bs, all good)

[Lethal Squirrel]

You could try sending them image files of each key rather than actually using the text editor.

[nullstring]

Whatever you do, keep us updated.
I just had the exact same idea.

I wouldn't consider myself a nooby user, but I still don't use half of vim's functionality. This might help.

[oluf]

Whatever you do, keep us updated.
I just had the exact same idea.

I wouldn't consider myself a nooby user, but I still don't use half of vim's functionality. This might help.

I agree... Great idea! Keep us posted. =)

:wq

[trax]

I contacted WASDKeyboards and they said the following:

As you may already know, we can't print in color and the keycaps are obviously solid colors. We also cannot print on the sides of the keys, so we only have the top of the key to work with. We can print the legends the way we do our Photoshop keyboard. We can create this layout for you like, but it will take some time. If several people can commit to ordering either sets or keyboards, then we can justify creating it right away.

If at least 4 or 5 people are willing to pre-order this, I'll create a new listing on our website to take the orders and have the layout made shortly after. Price is $59.99 for a keycap set or $139.99 for a keyboard. I made the legends for 3 keys to give you an idea of what it'll look like. Let me know if there's some interest to preorder.



If you drop the idea for an "Operator" color, you could essentially take different colored keycaps, theres only 4 conflicting keys (keys with 2 colors).

[sth]

This is actually illegal. Vim cheaters get thrown in prison and forced to learn emacs.

[inlikeflynn]

This is actually illegal. Vim cheaters get thrown in prison and forced to learn emacs.

that is horrible. don't speak of something so terrible as having to learn emacs

[trax]

In stead of using laser etching or engraving, would be possible (contacts ?) to get a triple shot key cap: White/Cream caps with 2 different font colors.
Similar to the keycaps with russian legends.

[sth]

those are dyesubbed, not doubleshots.

[sth]

This is actually illegal. Vim cheaters get thrown in prison and forced to learn emacs.

that is horrible. don't speak of something so terrible as having to learn emacs

then learn vim the hard way. by learning vi

[inlikeflynn]

This is actually illegal. Vim cheaters get thrown in prison and forced to learn emacs.

that is horrible. don't speak of something so terrible as having to learn emacs

then learn vim the hard way. by learning vi

i think we had a communication break down there as I know vi and very much dislike emacs

[hashbaz]

If you're going to take up the One True text editor, don't bother with worldly contrivances like cheat sheets.  You must despise all for vim's sake, my son.

[sth]

This is actually illegal. Vim cheaters get thrown in prison and forced to learn emacs.

that is horrible. don't speak of something so terrible as having to learn emacs

then learn vim the hard way. by learning vi

i think we had a communication break down there as I know vi and very much dislike emacs

oh yeah - that wasn't specifically directed at you

[dorkvader]

In stead of using laser etching or engraving, would be possible (contacts ?) to get a triple shot key cap: White/Cream caps with 2 different font colors.
Similar to the keycaps with russian legends.

triple (and quadruple) shot keycaps do exist, but they are somewhat rare, and none are being made currently in quantity (except clickclack!)

I would strongly advise a multicolour dyesub PBT keycap set. If you get 25 or so people in on it, it will hopefully be under $120.

[nullstring]

I'd be ok with what WASD is proposing.
We can color the keycaps based on the lowercase color of the "cheatsheet"
(With the exception of the numerals which will use the shift color)

[blert]

Slightly tangential probably, but I think this version looks nicer : http://i.imgur.com/1tiqn.png
YMMV.
That's from http://mainerror.at/post/3640141133/vim-graphical-cheat-sheet-ubuntified  .

And there's a German version there as well.

If I were me, I'd make the shortcuts display on my monitor with a keyboard shortcut (like recent Ubuntu does with the unity shortcuts and the super/windows key).  Again, mileage varies according to driving conditions and operator proclivities.

[w0ng]

Please let us know how this is coming along.


As mentioned, cheat sheets only help so much. But I'd be interested in purchasing a set if done properly, purely for cosmetic reasons.

Check out http://michael.peopleofhonoronly.com/vim/ . This is the closest cheat sheet to being useful, since:

1) it uses arrow symbols. arrows are a better visual cue than words
2) It shows Ctrl+key combo shortcuts, which is a lot more useful than showing uppercase/lowercase letters only

Backslash is noted as 'Not used' in most the cheatsheets, but it is the default mapleader key, used in command mode.

[ and ] is noted as 'misc' in those cheatsheets, when something more like 'jump to prev' and 'jump to next' would be more meaningful.

One bad thing about each of the cheatsheets you google for is that they don't always follow the correct English mnemonics that vim uses (e.g. H, M, and L is supposed to stand for Home, Middle, Last line of visible window... but the cheat sheets call it other names). If there is enough interest in this taken off, I'll volunteer to check everything with :h a, :h b, :h c, etc. to ensure the mnemonics are correct.

Misc: consider adding a 'Ctrl' legend on the caps-lock key, since it's common for hardcore vim/emacs users to map capslock to control in their OS (e.g. with setxkbmap in Linux, with autohotkey in Windows) to reduce key travel (e.g. pressing capslock+[ is easier than reaching over to the Escape key every time you want to leave the command-line mode, capslock+f/b/d/u is easier than ctrl+f/b/d/u for scrolling up and down).

[trax]

Im interested in orgenasing a group buy, however:

- I don't have any contact details with any keycap manufacturers (I'm pretty sure I can ask around though).
- I'm terrible at graphics design and wouldn't even buy my own design.

[canthonytucci]

Interesting idea, but they are pretty awful looking. Maybe just use a cheat sheet image as your desktop? That's what I did.

[Xuan]

I've started sketching some simplified layout.


I was thinking it should look similar to the APL Minis