[riquito]

I love

https://github.com/techlivezheng/vim-plugin-minibufexpl

to see each buffer in a tab, plus minimum configuration to move between tabs with CTRL-PAGEUP/DOWN. Feels like switching tabs in a browser and it's easier to see which files you have open

    " Switch buffers
    " note that I must first define what is <C-PageUp> for rxvt
    " http://cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-xfree/2006-07/msg00011.html
    nmap    <ESC>[5^    <C-PageUp>
    nmap    <ESC>[6^    <C-PageDown>
    nnoremap <silent> <C-PageDown> :bnext<CR>
    nnoremap <silent> <C-PageUp> :bprevious<CR>

[mihaifm]

You might want to give Bufstop a try, it solves a lot of problems buffer switchers have and it's much more customizable.

https://github.com/mihaifm/bufstop

I've also created Vimpanel (since we're talking about Vim as an IDE)

https://github.com/mihaifm/vimpanel