diff --git a/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/index.md b/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/index.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..acc9072 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/index.md @@ -0,0 +1,76 @@ ++++ +title = "One Week with Tiler" +date = 2019-01-19 + +[taxonomies] +tags = ["vim", "en-au", "plugins", "tiler", "tiling"] ++++ + +Tiler is a tiling split manager for VIM. Here is my experience with it +installed for one week. + + + +Recently I had to work with Java (instead of Python) and one thing that happens +when you're working with Java is that you have a bunch of files open at the +same time. Also, I do prefer to keep things in splits 'cause there is always +some information you need to keep visible for reference. But a lot of splits +make visibly finding stuff very *very* hard. + +Then suddenly, it hit me: I could use a tiling window manager and it wouldn't +be such a mess; on the other hand, using different windows for each VIM (with +each file) would make copying'n'pasting a hell. So if I could actually find a +tiling *plugin*, that would give me the best of both worlds. + +And that's where [Tiler]() gets in. + +Tiler is a tiling plugin for VIM. But it doesn't do anything by itself, +meaning, it won't intercept every call to a split to do the tiling. But itadds +new commands to manage the tiling. + +For example, to open a new split using the tiling, you need to use +`:TilerOpen`. Again, Tiler won't capture every split, so you can still open +splits with `:split` and `:vsplit`, which would break the tiling arrangements, +so you can put everyhing back in order with `:TilerReorder`. + +Tiler has a layout (well, layouts, but they follow the same principle) of one +large split for the main content and small ones for everything else. To bring +one split to the main area, you can use `:TilerFocus`. + +And that's basically it. + +What I did was to add shortcuts to `:TilerReorder` and `:TilerFocus`. So I +open splits like everyone else + +![](tiler-no-tiling.png) + +... and then using `` (the configurable leader key followed by +space) to call `:TilerReorder` and I get a nice, tidy workspace: + +![](tiler-tiling.png) + +Although it may look cumbersome, my `leader` is defined to `space`, so to tidy +up everything, all I have to do is press space twice in normal mode. + +Also, to help with the "focus on one thing" part, I also put a shortcut to the +`:TilerFocus` command, with `f`. + +And here are my bindings: + +```vim +nmap f :TilerFocus +nmap :TilerReorder +``` + +One last thing: The size of the main area is configurable, which is good, +since I found it a bit too large. To adjust it, you can use +`g:tiler#master#size`, which is the size of main split. I found 55% to be a +good size, so I put + +```vim +let g:tiler#master#size = 55 +``` + +And that's it. As usual, it takes some time to put the keybinds in "auto mode" +(you know, day-to-day use), but I feel it helps a lot on actually put focus on +some task without the cluttering of splits. diff --git a/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/tiler-no-tiling.png b/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/tiler-no-tiling.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d19ada5 Binary files /dev/null and b/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/tiler-no-tiling.png differ diff --git a/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/tiler-tiling.png b/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/tiler-tiling.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd8847c Binary files /dev/null and b/content/thoughts/one-week-with-tiler/tiler-tiling.png differ