cream is meant to be an easier-to-learn vim which implements the Common User Access keybindings. I haven't used it, but they have a snazzy webpage.
The downside to something like cream is that it's much less likely to be available on a given system than is vim. Either vim or vi itself is guaranteed to be installed on any unix-ish system.
If you are interested in learning vim, so as to be ready to use it or vi for those times when you need to, your best bet may be to install it on your windows system and start using it instead of notepad. There is lots to be learned, and if learn it you will be able to do things much faster than before.
Tips and resources
- Vim's help is pretty thorough: try the command
:help help
to get started.
- Undoing is easy: just press
<ESC>
and/or <CTRL-C>' a couple times to get back to normal mode. You can then undo any accidental changes, using
u`, until you're back to where you want to be.
<CTRL-R>
will redo.
:help vimtutor
will bring up a tutorial.
- I found this visual cheat sheet invaluable when first learning vim.
After you put in a couple of hours learning basic commands, you'll probably start saving time with basic editing. Also, it's quite interesting: it makes editing a bit more like an arcade or strategy game. This aspect, i.e. preventing brain-rot and the loss in productivity that comes with perceived drudgery, may actually be more valuable than the increase in speed.
This post has more tips on learning vim: stackoverflow.com/questions/74625/what-is-the-best-way-to-force-yourself-to-master-vi
edit
in Windows doesn't use these conventions either. That being said, you can rebind commands in most editors including vi and emacs.