The vim equivalent of that is visual mode, eg `vwd` which is exactly the same structure as you’re saying you want from kakoune.
So vim is verb-noun for simple things, but if you want, you can use visual mode if you’re doing something more complex or just want visual confirmation first.
That's exactly what I do, because I need the visual confirmation and can't really wrap my head around it otherwise.
Sometimes when I don't realize I'm in insert mode, I jump around the document and don't know what just happened. Visual cues in-between would have been nice, so I don't always feel as surprised as I do, lol.
Although I don't know if in that particular fiddly case it would have any benefit.
Not noticing that I'm in insert mode isn't something I can remember struggling with.
There are different solutions for it:
- Obsessively press escape so you're always in normal mode
- Style the statusline so it's very colorful when you're not in normal mode
- Have the cursor be "fat" when in normal mode and "thin" when in insert mode (isn't this the default?)
Even though I've been using Vim for 15 years or so I also enter visual mode for some commands. It's quite useful, but not necessary all the time (like di" for instance).
If you have a reasonably long `updatetime`, you could try something like `autocommand CursorHoldI * stopinsert`.
On both vim and nvim, updatetime is 4 seconds, so if you have 4 seconds of inactivity that autocommand will automatically put you back into normal mode.
Not an equivalent, visual mode extends selection on move, so you can't stay in perma visual mode like you can in the Helix/Kakoune world where extending selection is different
So vim is verb-noun for simple things, but if you want, you can use visual mode if you’re doing something more complex or just want visual confirmation first.