A Vim Guide for Experts

The way very simple commands are spelled out demonstrates the author's complete disconnect with his target audience. They are supposed to be "experts" so a) they already know all of that anyway, and b) they are perfectly capable of parsing arcane commands so things like the "Let’s look at this example more closely:" are borderline offensive.

> For the "expert", it's just to have a progression in the series. It's entirely subjective.

And, like everything on the WWW, it will sadly be taken at face value by future readers.

> I read the whole user manual, it's a pain. There are too many details in many areas, not enough in others.

The user manual is easy to read, laced with concrete examples, with each chapter building on previous ones. It also refrains from creating arbitrary hierarchies between users. It is by far the best available resource for new users. One that people keep re-hashing for views.

> It's way too long, too. I don't see a beginner reading that and getting the info he (or she) needs before giving up.

There is quite a lot more to cover than what's glossed over in that series of posts, though, and new users deserve better than a handful of random nuggets.