Vim Tips Wiki:Todo

Here are some ideas for how you could help improve the Vim Tips wiki.
Feel free to add suggestions to this page (click edit next to Comments).

Use the policy guidelines

Study our policy guidelines and apply them when editing tips. In the sidebar, click Random page until you find a tip you can improve.

Review new tips

Proposed new tips need to be reviewed to decide their fate. Should a new tip be retained? Does it need editing? Should it be renamed? Should its content be merged to one of the existing tips? Is the tip misguided, or too similar to existing tips, and should be deleted?

You can view the discussion pages for each month, or list all proposed new tips.

Please add your opinion to the relevant monthly discussion page. It would help even if you just add "I agree" to someone's opinion. However, please be definite! Saying "this might be improved" isn't much help. What we really want to know is, guessing what improvements are likely to be made in the near future, should this tip be retained?

Todo category and template

Use the Todo category to list tips containing a "to do" request. Pick a tip and try to resolve the Todo item.

If you can see something specific that needs to be done to improve a tip, use the Todo template to add a note to the tip.

Please use Todo with care! There's no point listing all possible improvements that might be made. Only list specific things that could reasonably be done. For example, if you think a tip may be obsolete, you could add a Todo "Check if this tip is required in Vim 7".

Generally, a Todo item should be first in the Comments section, for example:

==Comments==
{{Todo}}
*Need better explanation of purpose of tip, and how to use it.
*Should rename to improve the title (you might suggest a possible title).

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Other comments, if any, would be here.

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Improve all tips in a particular category

Take a tip category, for example Category:Searching, and list the tips in that category. Work through each tip and determine whether material in one tip might be better if moved to another tip. We don't want one mega-tip with all possible information on searching because it would be too large for a reader to digest. Instead, there should be several related tips, each dealing with a specific aspect. See the merge guidelines.

Merge duplicate tips

Use Category:Duplicate to list duplicate tips. Try to merge them using the merge guidelines.

Categories

Study the category guidelines. Can you suggest how the categories can be improved so readers can readily find information? Please make any changes you feel would help, although it might be better to discuss them on the category guidelines talk page first.

Not currently active Add an existing category to tips in the following lists.

• A list of tips that are reviewed and need categorization
• A list of tips that need both review and categorization

Spelling tips

Review the following tips that are related to spell checking. Since this is supported by Vim 7, many of these tips can probably be merged and significantly simplified to retain only information that is useful for the current Vim.

Perhaps there should be a new tip explaining the basics of how Vim 7 works with spelling. Then, other related tips could start with a link to the new tip (making it clear that the built-in spell checking is very easy).

External spell checking might still be desirable because a user has an extensive dictionary built up, or the user prefers the interface. aspell implements one of the finest engines for suggesting alternatives.

• 152 Check spelling for different languages
• 161 Dutch spelling checker
• 172 Using Ispell on a highlighted region
• 290 Use integrated spell checking
• 433 A rough mapping to spellcheck the buffer
• 633 Spell check of word below cursor
• 833 Check spelling and phrases using Google search
• 1149 Use balloonexpr effectively
• 1173 Spelling suggestions anywhere, even in console mode
• 1224 Toggle spellcheck with function keys
• 1382 Auto spelling correction using abbreviations
• 1499 Jump back to spell checked words

Launching Vim

Review the following tips that are related to launching Vim from a GUI shell, or that aim to launch files in tabs in one instance of Vim. Many of these tips can probably be merged. Perhaps doubtful information can be retained in one tip (subject to further review), while good information can be moved to perhaps two other tips (one for Linux and one for Windows)?

It seems desirable to keep VimTip1440 for the "launch files in Windows" tip.

• 185 Make vim the editor for files with unregistered extensions in Windows
• 197 Open file in already running vim from elsewhere
• 279 Set Vim as the default editor for unknown file types in Windows
• 636 Adding Vim to MS-Windows File Explorer Menu
• 640 Add Vim to the Windows Explorer context menu
• 676 Use shortcut key to start gvim in Windows
• 805 Use gvim as an external editor for Windows apps
• 809 Use gvim as an external editor for Linux apps
• 861 Right click in Windows Explorer to open gvim in explorer mode
• 886 Add Vim to Windows Send To menu
• 957 Prevent a second instance of Vim from starting
• 1003 Open files with existing Gvim window in Windows
• 1068 Fix missing gvim context menu in Windows
• 1225 Open files in multiple tabs using the Windows Context Menu
• 1301 Associate files with no extension to Vim under Windows
• 1314 Add open-in-tabs context menu for Windows
• 1440 Launch files in new tabs under Windows
• Launch files in new tabs under Unix