FocusWriter

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

How do you generate a random string?
Put a Windows user in front of vi, and tell them to exit.

That sounds like me when I try to use vim — and I've used Linux for about 14 years now. One of the first things I do when I build a new Linux computer is install Jstar (JOE actually, Jstar is a flavor of JOE, which stands for "Joe's Own Editor." There's also Jpico, Jmacs and Rjoe "flavors").

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by hobnail

I suspect that something about going into and out of insert mode in vi is what makes it easier to use.

Do you think so? I think the modal nature of vi/vim is what confuses most new users.

I've never used vim so I don't know how fancy/configurable it is but when writing code emacs is my favorite, particularly when it does color coding, bouncing the cursor to the matching parenthesis, etc. And when you start writing elisp then you know you're in the deep end.

Yeah vim can do all that too. I'm not a zealot in the vim v emacs debate, I just happened to learn vi first, later vim and it can do so much that I've never needed to go back and learn the other.

I would say that ease of use is not the same as ease of getting started. Vim, and I'm sure emacs is the same, rewards time spent learning, especially early on. Once you become fluent in even a few basic commands your productivity rises considerably.

But most of the added value it provides is useful for my job, software development. I have tried to use it for regular writing (short stories, letters, journalling) and prefer something like Focuswriter.

[pazos]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I've used FocusWriter for years. Even made a few custom themes for myself.

(...)

I replaced keyany.wav with the sound effect of an explosion.

You've made your bed now lie in it

Originally Posted by latepaul

But most of the added value it provides is useful for my job, software development. I have tried to use it for regular writing (short stories, letters, journalling) and prefer something like Focuswriter.

This. Vim, nano or kakoune are great text editors for plain text (including markdown) but don't replace Focuswriter, Libreoffice or any other WYSIWYG text processor.

Wordgrinder looks cool BTW, but life is too short to learn another set of shortcuts and I'm already make myself a nice set of custom ones for focuswriter. The whole program is very nice to use. And -for devs or hobbists- its source code very nice to read. One of the best qt apps I saw on the wild for sure

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Do you think so? I think the modal nature of vi/vim is what confuses most new users.

It could be just me. Like you I started on vi, but to be honest I started it before it was vi when it was ex and it started you without the full screen and you started with the colon prompt. So it was sort of a super-duper ed. At the colon prompt you type vi to go into full screen mode. The next version was vi.

Then a few years later I started learning emacs and for me it was a real mind warp to always be in insert mode. But I can see what you're saying considering that on Windows you're always in insert mode in Word, Notepad, etc.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by pazos

This. Vim, nano or kakoune are great text editors for plain text (including markdown) but don't replace Focuswriter, Libreoffice or any other WYSIWYG text processor.

I almost always look at writing and formatting as two different "jobs" now. I write in a text editor (Jstar or Fountain-Mode in Emacs) and format it in a variety of command line or GUI "formatters." (Very rarely LibreOffice now.)