The vimtutor program is the essential starting point for anyone looking to learn the basics of using Vim. In as little as a half hour, you can learn 90% of what you'll ever need for vim, however, there are many useful motions and commands that are left out of the program. This article details the simple software package I wrote to address this limitation, vimtutor-sequel.
The Journey
I initially created vimtutor-sequel to fill in the gaps left by the original vimtutor. After completing the original tutorial, I felt there were many advanced features that users could benefit from, which were not covered. Thus, vimtutor-sequel was born.
Featured Lessons (as of 2024-08-04)
The original vimtutor has 7 lessons, I created 8 additional lessons for vimtutor-sequel. Here is a list of the lessons:
- Lesson 8: Splitting Screens
- Lesson 9: Spellcheck
- Lesson 10: Indenting, Commenting, and Changing Case
- Lesson 11: Advanced Search and Replace
- Lesson 12: Macros
- Lesson 13: Vim Scripting
- Lesson 14: Vim Plugins
- Lesson 15: Vim Sessions and Registers
Unexpected Popularity
To promote the project, I wrote posts on Reddit and HackerNews, detailing the features and the motivation behind creating vimtutor-sequel. The response was overwhelming.
I woke up the next day to find that the repository had gained 80 stars overnight. The popularity continued to surge, and within just two days, the project had amassed over 250 stars. It was an incredible and unexpected response.
At the time of writing, vimtutor-sequel has over 250 stars and has gained significant traction, especially on HackerNews where it reached the front page and garnered over 200 points. The project also saw a lot of engagement on Reddit, particularly in the r/vim community.
Community Feedback
The feedback has been tremendous. I've received valuable input from the issues tab on GitHub, as well as from Reddit responses and HackerNews comments. This feedback has been instrumental in planning further improvements to the project.
Above: Snapshot of GitHub traffic for vimtutor-sequel showing the top source of traffic from HackerNews with 2,834 views.
Future Plans
With the initial success and the community's interest, I plan to continue enhancing vimtutor-sequel. Here are a few things on the roadmap:
- Adding more advanced lessons and topics.
- Improving the existing content based on user feedback.
- Exploring ways to make the tutorial even more interactive and engaging.
How You Can Help
If you haven’t tried vimtutor-sequel yet, I encourage you to give it a go and see how it can take your Vim skills to the next level. Your feedback is incredibly valuable, and I would love to hear your thoughts on how to make it even better.
- Try It Out: Download
vimtutor-sequeland start the lessons. - Provide Feedback: Use the Issues tab on GitHub to report bugs, suggest new features, or share your experience.
- Contribute: If you're a developer, feel free to fork the repository and submit pull requests. Contributions are always welcome!
- Star the Repository: If you find
vimtutor-sequeluseful, consider starring the repository on GitHub to help others find it. - Share the Project: Spread the word about
vimtutor-sequelon social media, forums, or with your friends and colleagues who use Vim.
Thank you for reading, and happy Vimming!
Update: The project has grown to 400+ stars and continues to receive contributions and feedback from the community! Additionally, a new lesson on change navigation has been added to the tutorial as Lesson 16.
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