Learning Vim after vimtutor

Question

What should the next steps to learning Vim be, after completing vimtutor? I've watched videos on YouTube, read tutorials online and questions/answers on SE, and am busy reading Practical Vim.

Are there any other good resources available? Actually practicing and using Vim -- not just watching/reading about it -- is surely a good way to learn. Any suggestions on the best way to use the built-in help system to learn Vim?

PS: Although this question on SO has been closed for being off-topic, several of the answers there look useful.

PPS: I used vim many years ago, moved to Emacs for Org-Mode, and am now returning to vim :)

Answer 1

Sharpen the saw

The best general advice is a simple one, "Sharpen the saw" from Bram's Seven habits essay. I also suggest Vimcasts blog post: On sharpening the saw.

Basically "sharpening the saw" can be summarized as:

Don't learn everything all at once, but learn a few things at a time. When you find an inefficiency look for ways to improve it. Repeat

Vimrc

I also recommend you use nearly blank vimrc. You should roughly understand each line in your vimrc. Use :help and google learn more.

Plugins

General plugin advice:

• Slowly add a plugin or two when the need arises.
• Do not install a plugin without looking for a native solution first
• Must have good documentation
• Avoid plugins with many mappings
• If it doesn't feel Vim-like then avoid it
• Avoid if there are mappings that don't work with the . command (may have to use repeat.vim)

More good places to learn more about Vim

• Vimcasts - Great articles and screencasts by Drew Neil, the author of Practical Vim.
• Derek Wyatt's Vim Videos - Good collection of Vim topics.
• Learn Vimscript the Hard Way - Steve Losh teaches how to customize Vim from the basics to the more advanced.

TL;DR

Read :help and try to make small incremental changes to your workflow.

Answer 2

I heartily recommend this tutorial adaptation, for EX-tra Vim power: http://dahu.github.io/vim_waz_ere/

Answer 3

You can learn a great deal by following the questions and answers on the vim or vim_use mailing list, http://vim.sourceforge.net/maillist.php#vim. While this StackExchange site is great for simple questions and answers, the mailing list is better for questions that require some discussion.