Using vim as a word processor

tlvince · 2010-11-13 10:02:35

I'd like to write my structured documents in a decent editor. Working with text files all day as a programmer, vim is the natural choice, however I have some questions regarding configuring vim for this use-case. I'll start with:

Proportional fonts

Proportional fonts are much nicer to read for natural language text, so lets ditch monospace. Easier said then done. I envisage difficulty setting this up in urxvt ("design for today not tomorrow"), so I tried a Sans font (DejaVu Sans 9) in GVim first:

What's with the letter spacing? For comparison, here's the same thing in Zim (same font, same size):

How can I get GVim's appearance to match Zim's?

mikesd · 2010-11-13 10:22:02

ViM is console based and therefore is designed to use a monospace font. GViM is a GUI wrapped around ViM and it therefore it also is designed to use a monospace font. I think there has been talk about using proportional fonts with GViM in the past, not sure what stage they got to with it. If you want proportional fonts you may need to pick another editor.

Pank · 2010-11-13 11:24:45

(Almost) needless to say that Emacs does what you want. . .

bernarcher · 2010-11-13 14:24:19

GVim is not designed to properly display proportional fonts.

I use gedit in those cases (and to work with more complex fonts like indic scripts).
Emacs behaves properly as well but you have to get accustomed to the vim-alien user interface (it is possible to use both in parallel, I regularly use vim but have emacs for lisp sources, for example).

Last edited by bernarcher (2010-11-13 14:25:41)

Pank · 2010-11-13 16:12:07

I have never tried it, but Emacs include Viper-mode

Technically speaking, Viper is a Vi emulation package for Emacs. It
implements all Vi and Ex commands, occasionally improving on them and
adding many new features. It gives the user the best of both worlds: Vi
keystrokes for editing combined with the power of the Emacs environment.

This is probably not news, though.

tlvince · 2010-11-15 16:37:53

After tweaking my search terms (confirmed by your helpful replies), it doesn't look good. Shame.

Pank wrote:

I have never tried it, but Emacs include Viper-mode

Thanks for the heads up. I'll give it a go.

Last edited by tlvince (2010-11-16 02:02:22)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-11-13 10:02:35

Using vim as a word processor

Proportional fonts

#2 2010-11-13 10:22:02

Re: Using vim as a word processor

#3 2010-11-13 11:24:45

Re: Using vim as a word processor

#4 2010-11-13 14:24:19

Re: Using vim as a word processor

#5 2010-11-13 16:12:07

Re: Using vim as a word processor

#6 2010-11-15 16:37:53

Re: Using vim as a word processor

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