.emacs.d VS evil-collection

If you want to dip your toes, I'd maybe try out https://github.com/doomemacs/doomemacs if you like vi style keybindings or https://github.com/seagle0128/.emacs.d or if you want to use something more traditional. Then I'd recommend https://github.com/gcv/julia-snail for the julia side of things.

Do not use doom as the heretics suggest! It is an awful experience and very janky, they also change how emacs is configured in a weird way that doesn't lead to one understanding the lisp or how emacs starts up. I'd suggest witchmacs (https://github.com/snackon/Witchmacs) or centaur emacs (https://github.com/seagle0128/.emacs.d) to get a feel of how a config actually looks like. With doom it is obscured under so much. As an exvimmer I moved to god-mode and emacs bindings just because everything always works with these. Using evil gets a little complicated since it doesn't always function properly. But using evil is probably best for you at the moment.

My favourite emacs starter kit is centaur emacs, it makes great use of hydras and improves on the standard key bindings. But I have to say I love the look of NΛNO and the svg-lib. u/Nicolas-Rougier, have you thought about combining some of the features of centaur with your work?

If you are looking for an alternative to doom without evil mode, I recommend centaur emacs. https://github.com/seagle0128/.emacs.d

To me, Vanilla Emacs config certainly. I create Centaur Emacs for myself and share to others.

There is https://github.com/seagle0128/.emacs.d and there is my own distro https://github.com/Ultra-Hax/magmamacs which is more minimal but less customizable and more opinionated both of these distros are very minimal and blazing fast.

Example configuration - https://github.com/seagle0128/.emacs.d/blob/e225dbe431f1e7ad368f3fe11d63ceb60c5acfcb/lisp/init-window.el#L142

It looks like that package has an issue tracker here, if you wanted to raise one: https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-collection/issues

Honestly, I've yet to find a plugin that I use that isn't covered by https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-collection. I love emacs, but I can't stand the chords.

Evil and Evil Collection is the nuclear option.

I still have phases where I experiment with modal editing, but I haven't messed with Evil-mode in a long time. I prefer Meow, in part because it doesn't invest everything on a single command layout. And the sample Dvorak layout meshes really well with Emacs bindings for special modes (like Dired and Ibuffer). So you don't have to install and configure something like Evil-collection just to use the same bindings everywhere.

The problem I have with evil in Emacs is that it is another layer on top of vinalla Emacs. Not many packages are designed with evil key bindings in mind. You need packages like https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-collection and and https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-magit and https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-ediff to make Emacs feel more "evil". Distros like Doom and Spacemacs integrate these packages for you, but then you're even farther away from the default Emacs experience. I also find online help worse for evil bindings. To figure stuff out you often have to resort to looking at vim or neovim documentation. "Vanilla" Emacs is famously "self documenting" but last I checked evil couldn't provide useful help, within Emacs, in the same way.

Evil does interfere with bindings in some modes, but https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-collection fixes a lot of these issues, both for built-in modes and a lot of popular third-party ones.

Oh, and stick this in your use-package for general: ;; We want SPC as a leader key, probably. So do this. It just affects what ;; keybinds are overridden by the `override' keymap functionality that ;; `general' provides. ;; ;; https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-collection#making-spc-work-similarly-to-spacemacs ;; ;; NOTE: `evil-collection' binds over SPC in many packages. To use SPC as a ;; leader key with `general', first set these override states: (setq general-override-states '(insert emacs hybrid normal visual motion operator replace))

You might want to look into the evil-collection package.

Evil mode is incredible, but it has real disadvantages in the Emacs context. It is another layer above Emacs, which makes Emacs different from its default self. E.g. most packages don't come with evil-mode key bindings. The popular Emacs packages are handled by https://github.com/emacs-evil/evil-collection but, there is always going to be a layer of translation between how upstream describes its key bindings and how Evil binds them.