Prevent `esc` from exiting cell editor while using vim key bindings about livebook

[jonatanklosko]

@josevalim since most editors do that, it definitely doesn't hurt to have that and if it helps then even better!

[josevalim]

Which Livebook version? If you haven't tried main, please do, VIM support has been rewritten.

[bcardarella]

I'm recent as of March 1

[bcardarella]

just updated to lastest main and the behavior is still identical

[jonatanklosko]

@bcardarella I'm probably missing something, could you clarify the steps? When I enter visual mode with v, select something and hit esc, it gets back to vim navigation mode for me.

[bcardarella]

@jonatanklosko the issue is not with switching between visual mode and insert mode. The issue is hitting esc again and the focus is now no longer on the editor but on the livebook itself. So you can navigate between the cells. So hitting esc by mistake happens frequently.

[josevalim]

@bcardarella oh, I see. Honestly, I would be a pity to change that. I hit escape all the time to swap between Livebook navigation and cell editing. Perhaps what needs to change is to have a clearer indicator of which type of mode we are?

[jonatanklosko]

Ah, so it's rather about switching from vim navigation mode to livebook navigation mode, that's been the intended behaviour so far.

We only have that small "ins" indicator in the bottom-right, though for vim there is the red caret, so it's a bit more distinctive. But I don't think the indicator should be massive, because it could be too distracting when switching between the modes.

One thing we could do is to have a setting where escaping the cell editor takes double esc. I'm not entirely convinced, but that's the best idea I have so far. @bcardarella did you have any specific setting in mind?

[bcardarella]

yeah I figured it was intended behavior, if there was room for a custom setting to override that would be nice. But even just having a better visual indication. Because right now here is the difference between the two modes:

the first is in edit mode, the 2nd is livebook navigation mode. Very tricky to differntiate

[jonatanklosko]

Note that the cursor for non-vim is even less noticeable. The intended indicator is in bottom-right:

"ins" means editor is focused (Livebook insert mode), not vim-insert mode :D

[josevalim]

what if we slightly highlight the current line? as in most editors?

[bcardarella]

That could work but I wouldn't be able to say for certain until I play with it. But I don't want to send you all down on whack-a-moles on different solutions. AFAIK I'm the first to raise this concern so it may not make sense to just solve this for me.

[josevalim]

Closing this one for now, we will see how the active line will feel in practice.