The itch to configure
Post last updated 1 month, 2 weeks ago
For a few years now, mostly since I started being more interested in the tools I use for university and my job, I've had the itch to tweak my config files. VS Code, Neovim, the terminal, the OS - if it had a config, I had to touch it.
Any time a new plugin appeared or I saw a nice-looking config on the internet, I had to tweak mine too. My Neovim config went through innumerable mutations, always just a few lines away from perfection. The bad part is that I almost always ended up giving up halfway through. The result? Quasi-working functionalities that compounded my frustration until I'd revert to a "distro" like LazyVim.
My new toy is Helix. I love the idea of a minimalistic yet batteries-included text editor, but the execution hasn't convinced me yet. The main appeal to me was that you don't need to configure much of it, as opposed to Neovim,1 and it is really snappy too.
I'll keep playing with it for a bit; however, I am discouraged by the lack of some (fundamental, in my opinion) features like version control integration, file navigation,2 or a plugin system (this one seems to be stuck in limbo). I realize this is an open-source project and developers do this in their spare time, but I feel like the long time between releases is harming the project, and there doesn't seem to be a clear roadmap for it either-or I failed to find it.
Despite all this, Helix is a cool project and worth a try.
You can reach out by sending me an email.
Yes, you can have a very small config in Neovim too, but come on, we both know it won't stay small for long.↩
Both of these can be hacked with pretty good results, but it feels weird to need to use three or more separate programs to make a sane workflow. Maybe I'm just too used to the comfort of having things readily available in more mature software.↩