evil mode to xah fly keys

I am planning to switch to colemak for my kbd layout. The only problem is evil mode. Apparently, xah fly keys is another modal editing pkg which is position based meaning i should be able to use it the same way in qwerty and colemak, any feedback on if it's a good option/replacement for evil?

Best thing ive discovered in my life after emacs and vim. Before discovering it, i switched to colemak(which made me go from 120wpm to 200wpm btw) but i noticed vim keybindings no longer work the same, and bcuz of that im using xfk rn

xah fly keys or evil?

Xfk

oh yeahhh, missread it sry

Seconded for Xah fly keys. It's very good, easy to use and very efficient in my opinion. It's better than vim because it's 1 layer deeper than vim as it is keyboards layouts independent. Unlike Vim, which was created using semi mnemonic principles, XFK was created with the ideal that: Most frequently used functions should take the least amount of effort to execute. So it's more intuitive and efficient. If you press your right hand middle finger, it's to go down. If you tap the the key above that, its to go up. If you press the key under your right hand index, its to go left, and of course pressing the ring finger down is to go right. It's entirely independent of any layout and support pretty much all of them (even more customized ones like Colemak dhk, which I'm using). You just have to put a line specify which layout you're using and that's it. And rebinding XFK or add more keys to it to your liking is also so easy. So all in all, it's very good. But if you're already used to Vim, you may take a tiny short time re-orient your muscle memory to new habit.

so colemak + xfk is not a dumb choice to prevent any future risk of rsi or discomfort?

I would say so. I hardly feel my fingers get tired now even after long days working at the computer. To prevent rsi or discomfort, you should add one more thing, which is your comfortable personal keyboard. For hand health and input efficiency, the most important thing is the physical input device. Buy a keyboard with mechanical key switches or something similar. Typing should feel comfortable and enjoyable. The second important thing is efficiency of shortcuts, namely, the key shortcuts layout. This is where Xah Fly Keys helps you. The importance of letter layout comes after them. This is where Drovak or Colemak helps you. Goodluck and God bless.

thanks a lot for your advice :) will try it (and save for a better keyboard too)

I switched to Meow \[1\] and quite happy about it. There are options to configure it for Colemak. ​ ​ \[1\]: https://github.com/meow-edit/meow

I tried XFK for a few months and don't find it very useful. - From his claims that command composition is not useful, I can only conclude that Xah doesn't seem to be aware of what Vim text objects are. His argument against command composition is that "counting is bad", as if intermediate-and-above Vimmers actually count at all (use relative line numbers). Command composition can additionally be useful in conjunction with searches, marks, and `evil-snipe`. - XFK doesn't have anything resembling Evil's Ex commands. - Vim users often claim that the `.` command is the best command in Vim, and even if you disagree, you'd be hard-pressed to argue that it's anything worse than "very good". What does XFK have? (`repeat-complex-command` doesn't cut it) XFK has a nice leader-key setup, but you can simply set up your own leader-based shortcuts within Evil, possibly with the keys as XFK.

+1 for Meow. It integrates so well with built-in bindings. I also appreciate that it doesn't have a keymap but the author provides a template config with usable defaults. I'm surprised it hasn't gained more traction.

Meow is the first modal editing system where my niche keyboard layout isn't a problem. It's great!