YJL

Sometimes, it’s the fate, a destiny, a simple passage that you are supposed to go through. And you only discover the hidden path which has always been there entire time. In computer world, that could be just a few keystrokes away.

1, 2, 3, and 4, 5, 6, and 7, 8, 9, keep counting, 10, 11, 12, …, 76, 77, 78.

The cursor in the screenshot is at the column 78, what a coincident. For a very long time, I only split terminal into two horizontal panes. Vim on the left and the rest of shell sessions shared the right pane vertically.

Yesterday, I was trying to do some writing — not computer related topics, but the layout had been giving me strange feeling. I could feel that I want the writing area to be aligned at center in terminal window.

I know there is a Vim plugin of a few specifically designed for that one feature or this kind of program, but I don’t want to install any. Simply because I am still trying to see if Vim is right for writing that type of writing, with Vim Notes, usually I would write using LibreOffice Writer.

Anyway, I decided to make an extra split, then evenly distributed the space horizontally among three panes, Vim in the middle. It did look good, and when I placed cursor at the end of line, the Vim position indicator told me that is 78.

We are accustomed to habits or may be just liking even numbers too much. For me, the number of three wasn’t something I would use for a layout of anything, but it turned out quite well.

The number came by chance purely I’d say. My screen resolution, the terminal emulator, the font and size, the layout and number of panes, too many variables mingling together, and I still got 78.

What can you say? Maybe it’s really a sign.