Colemak Evil is a set of remappings that implements some of Shai Coleman's awesome Vim remappings in Emacs (more information).
Here are the main differences from Shai's mappings:
- The only Vim mapping that works in insert mode is Esc (this avoids conflicts with Emacs's shortucts). Tab in insert mode doesn't take you into normal mode.
- Folding and several other features aren't implemented.
You can install Colemak Evil (as colemak-evil) from the MELPA repository.
Once it's installed, add the following to your .emacs file:
(require 'colemak-evil)
Type :hints (or just :h) to bring up the hint screen.
Escape takes you into normal mode, but you may find that defining your own key combination using Key Chord to be more comfortable. The only adjacent home-row combinations that are relatively uncommon in English "hn" and "td." If you find yourself unintentionally entering normal mode when typing quickly, you might try reducing the key delay:
(key-chord-define-global "td" 'evil-normal-state)
(setq key-chord-two-keys-delay .01)
If this doesn't work, you can use the spacebar as one of the keys:
(key-chord-define-global " e" 'evil-normal-state)
There are also some Vim features that haven't yet been implemented in Evil. You'll probably have to add quite a few of your own mappings to get your setup where you want it. For insert-mode mappings, check out ErgoEmacs, which provides saner alternatives to Emacs's mappings (there's a Colemak version).
Lalopmak Evil, another set of Emacs mappings based on Shai's Vim layout, "takes some of Shai's ideas even further." If you're used to and happy with Shai's mappings, you'll probably be satisfied with Colemak Evil. But if you're just starting out or you're an efficiency fanatic, Lalopmak Evil may be the better choice.