143 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
143 lines
5.3 KiB
Plaintext
[1]Skip to content
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* [2]Blog
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* [3]Connect
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* [4]About
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* [5]Index
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* [6]Blog
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* My thoughts on Helix after 6 months
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My thoughts on Helix after 6 months
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Published June 19, 2023 — 3 minute read
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Photo of Tim Hårek Andreassen Tim Hårek Andreassen
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Back in [7]January I decided to try out Helix as my primary editor and
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today I have almost been using it for 6 months and these are my
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thoughts.
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[8]# What I like
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[9]# Keystrokes
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Helix lives in the opposite land when it comes to keystrokes in
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comparison to Vim, and it was only difficult for the first couple of
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days. I’ve become fond of the way to navigate around.
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[10]# Minor modes
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I really like that there are more modes, called [11]“Minor modes”, and
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the reason why I like them are that whenever I initate a mode there is
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a subtle pop-up in the lower-right corner with the available actions
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with the activated mode. This is super helpful when you are first
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learning Helix and when you are doing something you don’t do on a
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regular basis. It lowers the chance of having to switch context in
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order to do something. For instance, I know that m activates “Match
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mode”, but sometimes I may forget how to select around specific
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selector like (), but with Helix I will have a little helper that tells
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me that the next key is a and then the next helper will help me select
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just ().
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[12]# Moving around
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I’ve become really fond of the idea that every move-action is also a
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selection/highlight, I find that I miss that feature whenever I edit
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server-configs via SSH or somewhere else when I’m not in Helix. It
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feels natural after a while because you get used to moving around
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text/code with w and e.
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[13]# Configuration
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No more Vimscript and Lua, just plaintext TOML! The documentation for
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how to configure the editor is great and most of the defaults are also
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great! My editor-config is just 23 lines in contrast to my
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Neovim-config which is 209 lines long.
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[14]# Language server protocol (LSP) support
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I had some experience with this from Neovim, but it felt cumbersome
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having to configure everything. With Helix I can simply run hx --health
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markdown and see what LSP is required for Markdown.
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$ hx --health markdown
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Configured language server: marksman
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Binary for language server: /opt/homebrew/bin/marksman
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Configured debug adapter: None
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Highlight queries: ✓
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Textobject queries: ✘
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Indent queries: ✘
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I even managed to get it working with Deno thanks to its documentation
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on how to use custom LSPs for specific languages.
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[15]# What I don’t like
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There really isn’t anything in particualr that I don’t like about
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Helix. I really miss having it installed on servers by default, but I
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completely understand that that is a big ask 😅 It’s not too difficult
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to swap between Vim-bindings and Helix-bindings for short sessions.
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[16]# Conclusion
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Helix is fun and easy! I highly recommend Helix if you:
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* want to try a new editor,
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* tired of configuring {Neo}vim with Vimscript/Lua,
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* or been thinking about trying out Vim, but been hesitant because of
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the modes.
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I will continue to use Helix for the forseeable future, I’m looking
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forward to what future updates will bring!
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Remember to check out Helix’s tutor, hx --tutor for quick introduction
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to its keystrokes and interactions.
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Tagged with [17]100 days to
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offload[18]helix[19]software[20]thoughts[21]tools
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540 words
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[22]Reply via e-mail
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Also mentioned in
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* [23]June 2023
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Last deploy: 2023-07-02 11:14 UTC
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* [24]Stats
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* [25]Privacy
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* [26]Sitemap
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* [27]RSS
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References
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Visible links:
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1. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#main
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2. https://timharek.no/blog/
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3. https://timharek.no/connect/
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4. https://timharek.no/about/
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5. https://timharek.no/
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6. https://timharek.no/blog/
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7. https://timharek.no/blog/trying-helix/
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8. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#what-i-like
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9. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#keystrokes
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10. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#minor-modes
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11. https://docs.helix-editor.com/keymap.html#normal-mode
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12. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#moving-around
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13. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#configuration
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14. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#language-server-protocol-lsp-support
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15. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#what-i-don-t-like
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16. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L71669-427TMP.html#conclusion
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17. https://timharek.no/tags/100-days-to-offload/
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18. https://timharek.no/tags/helix/
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19. https://timharek.no/tags/software/
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20. https://timharek.no/tags/thoughts/
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21. https://timharek.no/tags/tools/
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22. mailto:tim@harek.no?subject=RE: My thoughts on Helix after 6 months
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23. https://timharek.no/blog/2023-june-recently/
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24. https://timharek.no/stats/
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25. https://timharek.no/privacy/
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26. https://timharek.no/sitemap/
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27. https://timharek.no/rss.xml
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Hidden links:
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29. https://timharek.no/
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30. https://timharek.no/blog/my-thoughts-on-helix-after-6-months/
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