Re: [orca-list] Vim, is it usable for us?

[Jason White <jason jasonjgw net>]

When last I ran it, the graphical mode of Vim wasn't accessible with Orca.

On 8/30/20 5:06 PM, Jeanette C. via orca-list wrote:
> Hi Rastislav,
> Aug 30 2020, Rastislav Kish via orca-list has written:
> ...
> > * how usable is Vim with Orca?
> Not a straight answer: I have a braille display and use Vim from the
> commandline, right this second. :) There are graphical modes, not sure
> how accessible they are and if that could improve usability further.
> ...
> > H, J, K and L keys doesn't seem to work at all, 
> Navigation by letters was an old Vi feature, it can be enabled in the
> config files, I don't know how right now, but somehow I must have set it
> up some time ago. Someone here might know, otherwise
> https://www.vim.org/
> should have an answer.
> ...
> > * Is Vim potentially useful for blind people? I can imagine, that 
> > when a sighted person sees the whole layout of a page, he / she has 
> > an imagination in his / her head what he / she wants to select, 
> > delete or replace,
> It takes a certain mindset, I think, but it can be very useful, because
> of the language and all the commands. Vim has the look of a very simple
> editor, thus, I think, you won't get much out of structure with Orca.
> There aren't headings, tables and other document elements to navigate
> to, because it is all just text. But if you are programming, scripting,
> typing simple notes, text for your personal use or use markup languages
> like Tex, markdown, HTML or similar, Vim can be of help. Though I am
> sure that a few graphical environments can be just as helpful, though
> quite different in their approach.
> ...
> What an editor like Vim lacks in GUI structure it may give back in many
> other power-features. As mentioned, I can't speak for Vim's look and
> feel with Orca, nor even with any text-to-speech based screenreader in
> the terminal. It is very suited to a braille display if you feel
> comfortable with all the commands, maybe even basic scripting for the
> real power features.
>
> Vim is not the only alternative in that area though: there is also
> emacs, which in itself has - or had - a built-in screenreader.
>
> Apologies if this answer was way too cautious and general, but I find it
> difficult to classify anything as a must-have and of course I haven't
> worked with it under exactly your circumstances.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Jeanette