[kgroll]

This is actually a really good guide. I use vim daily at work, and my .vimrc shares most of these settings.

One big productivity boost for me was remapping the Escape key to something a little more convenient. I just remapped the ESC key altogether, but this can throw you off if you find yourself working at lots of different computers. If you prefer something less permanent, you can map a key sequence to ESC. I like this one, which maps 'sdf' to ESC if you're in insert mode:

  imap sdf <ESC>

jkjk is also a sequence I've seen used.

[jjcm]

I typically just remap the escape key to capslock at the OS level. Even though it can through you off like you said, I still find it more convenient than key walks to generate an escape.

[edanm]

Why jk twice? I just use jk. Almost never appears in actual writing, and it makes vim much easier to use.

[zem]

Dijkstra would disapprove (:

[pge]

ctrl-[ is also equivalent to Esc

[hasenj]

weird

I use <C-j> in insert mode (not to be confused with <C-j> in command mode, which jumps to the buffer below).

[swah]

So you can't type sdf in your code?

[stralep]

You can type it... Just slowly

My combination is just kj.

[cageface]

I have jj in my .vimrc.

[zem]

vf is the easiest-to-type two-letter sequence i could find that doesn't appear in any english word. other languages' mileages may, of course, vary. (and if some chavfucker wants to object, well...)

[fortes]

I use ;;

[cageface]

Not a lisp programmer, I take it.

[telemachos]

I'm less learned: the first thing I thought was case branches in Bash scripts.

[X-Istence]

This would suck if one is also Dutch. We have kj appear rather frequently in words.

[judofyr]

You can also use Ctrl-C to get out of insert mode.

[ptn]

Yes, but that's not equivalent to Esc, use this:

inoremap <C-c> <Esc>

[graywh]

That bypasses any InsertLeave autocmds.

[junkbit]

Finally! A use for caps-lock

[graywh]

Emacs and Vim users sometimes return Caps Lock to its previous function: Control. It's more useful than Escape.