They were right about what worked for them, but wrong to think it would work for you. While I wasn't there and can't refute your claim of their disdain for anyt

They were right about what worked for them, but wrong to think it would work for you. While I wasn't there and can't refute your claim of their disdain for anything but full immersion in CLI vi with no GUI aids or non-standard helper keys, it is true that if you want to be able to do basic functions on any version of vi on any system (including one with no graphical environment) then you are better off knowing the keyboard commands. That said, it sounds like you found a way into it that suits your needs...good.