Hi Fellow Sublimers!

Is there a way to have the CAPS LOCK key lock into cursor navigation mode?

Ideally, I’d like to hit the caps lock key to lock into cursor navigation mode from which I can hit H, J, K, L to move the cursor around.

For example, this would be the ideal behavior:

1. Hit CAPS LOCK.
2. Press H, J, K, L to move the cursor left, down, up, right.
3. Hit CAPS LOCK to exit cursor navigation mode.
4. Type as you normally would

If using CAPS LOCK is not possible, I’ll be happy with holding CTRL+J+K or something similar. The important thing is being able to lock into navigation / edit mode (but without all the bells & whistles that come with Vintage Mode).

Why not Vintage? I’ve always been fascinated by VIM, but never had the chance to try it. I’d like to try Vintage eventually, however I feel there’s quite a few hurdles for me:

1. Somewhat steep learning curve.
2. Vintage mode docs seem sparse.
3. Vintage mode != VIM

All three of these combined makes it extremely difficult for someone like me (who has never used VIM) to dive into Vintage. I don’t know enough VIM to simply jump into Vintage. I can’t lookup Vintage docs because it seems incomplete. And I can’t lookup VIM docs because Vintage isn’t exactly VIM.

I will eventually try Vintage mode though, but first I just would like to try to ease into things by customizing it as described above.

Is that possible?

1. That’s true, you need like 1 month to get used to, but after that you will scream when you need to write text in any non-VIM editor.
2. That’s true aswell, but when this mode try to miminc an other application, maybe you should look for help searching for that “other” app. Reading VIM docs and trying out which stuff works with Vintage which not, it’s not a big deal. Also, you can read through this: Packages\Vintage\Default.sublime-keymap
3. Most of the cool stuff is already here, i don’t miss anything (but i have to mention i never used VIM full time).

I recommend vim-adventures.com/ for learning vim

You guys have convinced me into switching over to Vintage mode (…not that I was against it in the first place ).

But before I take the plunge, I have 2 quick questions:
(1) Have any of you experienced any annoyances or bugs with using Vintage mode? I just did some searching and noticed a few problems with misbehaving cursors and switching modes.

(2) Would any of you veterans recommend any other ST2 packages/plugins to improve upon the Vintage Mode experience? It’s okay if it steepens the learning curve, I just want to start off on the right foot.

Quarnster, haha this is such an awesome way to learn to learn vi/vim. Bookmarked!

Thanks all

There’s nothing that’s so broken it’s an annoyance to me. Everything I used in vim works fine.

I recommend installing VintageEx too.

I recommend github.com/netpro2k/SublimeBlockCursor

Thank you both for the suggestions!