Vim Tip : Using Viewports

Vi(m) is a versatile editor with great power built into it. There are a whole lot of commands which one can use to accomplish complex tasks which are next to impossible in other text editors barring say an Emacs. A couple of months back, in an article on Vim editor, I had covered some of the most commonly used commands. But what I had covered was only a tiny spec of the number of commands available for this editor.

Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier has written a very interesting article which explains the concept of viewports in Vim. Viewports enable one to open and view multiple documents in the Vim editor simultaneously. It is similar to but not the same as the tabs concepts one see in many GUI text editors where multiple documents can be opened in tabs inside a single editor instance.

I have been a Vim user since the first time I started using it and I have never felt the need to use another one for any of my editing purposes be it web development, coding or writing a letter. It is really fascinating that in a couple of keystrokes, one can accomplish such complex tasks in Vim which would require much greater effort in other text editors.