When I was starting with vim, I was searching for 'vim [something]' a lot, from plugins to configurations, trying to improve the experience. I have since switched back to Atom and now to VSCode.

I don't search 'vscode [something]' nearly as much. Most of the configuration options are explained in the interface (both the visual one and `settings.json`). I can find plugins right from the editor and that usually also includes essential information about working with the plugin.

I still use barebones vim for commit messages, and I still find myself looking for how to trigger the spelling suggestions. I never seem to recall the `z=` when I need it.

Just because something is less user-friendly and requires more knowledge or looking for help, it doesn't mean it's more popular.

The Stack Overflow developer survey is probably a more representative sample: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology-_-....

That may indicate users googling how to exit vim.

There. Fixed even more: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%... . And if we take into consideration various versions of how to spell (for example vscode), Visual Studio code dominates even more.

Let's include something more standard for comparison.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%...

Don’t forget emacs of course: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%...

Looks like Emas used to rule the roost but then died away. What really piques my interest is why those of us in Wyoming (and the Dakota’s and Alaska) and apparently love Vim:

https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?q=%22textmate%22,%2...

BBedit. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%...

That may indicate vim users googling for how-to guides.

I think the relevance of these graphs is quite limited by Google's UI (which doesn't allow for wildcarding nor combining results)

See for example: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%...