Vertical layout

yumete can set a page vertically, the way Chinese and Japanese books are set (縱書): characters run from top to bottom, and each new column stands to the left of the one before. It is a way of looking at the file. The file on disk stays an ordinary text file, and :w writes exactly what you typed.

A terminal cell is about twice as tall as it is wide, so one full-width character in two cells is a square. Stack those squares and you get a column that reads like a printed page.

Turning the page

Two kinds of file are always set across:

• Program files. Open a .rs or .py and the page stays horizontal. Indentation is part of the syntax there, and line numbers and diagnostics need one line to a row. :vertical says so on the status line and changes nothing else: switch back to your manuscript and it is still vertical.
• Tables. A file opened with --table is a grid, and a grid is always horizontal.

On the status line and in messages, a column is called a 縱 (zong). Here "line" and "column" each have two meanings, so the column gets a name of its own. A paragraph is one line of the file. A long paragraph wraps into as many columns as it needs and runs on from the foot of one column to the head of the next.

   12  他  起那
   章  在  了年
   ︒1997  大冬
       年  雪天
       寫  ︒︐
       了    山
       第    下

Two paragraphs with an empty line between them, each wrapping into two columns. 1997 is set across in one cell (see Half-width characters).

How long a column is

By default a column is as long as the window is tall. To set your own length:

:view-wrap-vertical 24      24 characters to a column
:view-wrap-vertical 0       as long as the window again
:view-wrap-vertical         the same as 0

The length can be 8 to 64; a smaller number is raised to 8 and a larger one lowered to 64. The setting is zong_length under [editor] (0 follows the window). A column never runs past the bottom of the window, whatever number you give. :view-wrap is the horizontal measure and does nothing to a vertical page.

Two more settings shape the columns:

• zong_gap under [editor]: half-width cells of white space between one column and the next, 0 to 4. The default is 0.
• :view-pages-vertical 2 cuts the window into two pages, one above the other. You read the top page right to left, then the bottom page right to left. It takes 1 to 4, and 1 is one page. The setting is pages_vertical under [editor]. On a horizontal page the number waits until you turn the page.

Moving

The page has turned ninety degrees, and by default h j k l turn with it. Each key goes where it points:

j at the foot of a column carries on at the head of the next one, so you can walk a whole paragraph with one key.

The mouse wheel turns the page sideways, three columns a notch. :wheel 5 changes how many.

Keys that follow the text instead

:vertical-keys logical
:vertical-keys visual       the default
:vertical-keys              switch to the other one

With logical, the four letters mean what they mean on a horizontal page: h and l are a character back and a character on, j and k are the next and previous line. A line here is a column, so j steps to the column on the left. A count or an operator then means the same thing in both layouts: 3j is three lines and d2l is two characters, whichever way the page points. Choose this if you record macros or switch layouts often. The setting is vertical_keys under [editor].

The setting changes only those four letters:

• The arrow keys always point. ↓ is one character down the column and ← is the column on the left, under either setting.
• Key bindings you write mean the logical keys. "x" = "@dl" in [keys.normal] deletes one character under either setting. Only the keys your own hand presses are turned.
• gh gl gj gk do not change. A paragraph and its two ends do not point anywhere.

Under the vim keymap, whether h and l cross the end of a paragraph follows which_wrap, as it does in vim.

Where the cursor is

The status line reads Zong 55, Heng 11, Chr 20 on a vertical page. These are the horizontal Ln, Col and Chr turned on their side:

Heng and Chr differ when several half-width characters share one cell (see Half-width characters). In 26年, 年 is the third character but stands in the second cell. When the status line is crowded, Chr is the part left out.

Paragraph numbers

Each paragraph's number stands above its first column, two digits to a row, so 1280 takes two rows. Two numbers side by side could run together, so every other number is a step dimmer. Odd and even follow the paragraph number, so the pattern does not crawl as you scroll. The number of the paragraph the cursor is in has the theme's accent colour. A ~ marks the empty line at the end of the file. :view-numbers-fill on gives the number band a ground of its own.

What the page does on its own

Punctuation turns

Punctuation is drawn in its vertical form:

Only the screen changes. Copying, searching and saving all see the original characters.

How much turns follows :render: under off the marks are drawn as the file has them; basic, the default, turns the marks above; full also sets the curly quotes, “” as ﹃﹄ and ‘’ as ﹁﹂.

The vertical forms live at U+FE10–FE48. Fonts with CJK coverage have them: Source Han and Noto CJK, Sarasa Gothic, LXGW WenKai Mono. A font with only Latin glyphs shows boxes instead.

Line breaking

A column does not begin with a mark that closes something (。 ， 、 」 ） and the like), and does not end with a mark that opens something (「 （). When a break would fall there, the character moves to the next column with its neighbour. A two-cell mark such as —— or …… is never split between two columns. The horizontal page follows the same rules.

Half-width characters

Latin letters and digits stand one to a row, against the right side of the cell, so they line up with the right edge of the Chinese characters.

A short run of them is set across inside one cell instead, so a year reads as one number and not as a stack of digits. This is tatechuyoko (縱中橫):

[editor]
tatechuyoko = 4    # 0 is off; 2 to 8 is the longest run set across

The default is 4, which covers years (1997) and chapter numbers (第12章).

• A run is set across whole, or not at all. Half of 1997 in one cell and half in the next would read as 19 and 97.
• A run of 2 fits the cell exactly, so the grid is not disturbed. This is how Japanese books set two-digit numbers.
• A run of 3 or more is wider than the cell. It borrows the gap to its left, and only that column moves over. A few years and acronyms on a page cost little; if a page is full of long runs, set it back to 2.
• A run longer than the setting is stacked one character to a row.

The cursor still moves one character at a time. Press j on 1997 and Heng and Chr move four times while the cell stays boxed whole.

Paper ticks

[editor]
paper_ticks = 10

This puts a faint tick in the margin every ten characters, as on squared manuscript paper, so you can judge length at a glance. It is off by default (0). Turning it on gives every column a margin, so the whole page shifts one cell to the left. A reading or a hung mark takes the cell before a tick does.

The margin

One cell to the right of each column is the margin. Readings, hung punctuation, emphasis dots, 平仄 marks and paper ticks are drawn there. :view-margin decides when a column keeps that cell; see The page for its values, and Ruby and annotations for what goes in it.

Hanging punctuation

In old books, 。，、？！：；「」 do not take a square of their own. They hang in the margin beside the character they belong to, and the text runs on unbroken. A page of dialogue then stops looking half empty.

:view-hanging on
:view-hanging off
:view-hanging toggle
:view-hanging            say whether it is on

The setting is hanging_punctuation = true under [editor]. It needs a vertical page and a margin. If either is missing, the command says so; write :view-hanging! on to turn them on with it.

   off      on
   起那     了 那
   了年     大 年
   大冬     雪｡冬
   雪天        天,
   ︒︐        山
     山        下
     下        起

The hung marks are half-width, because the margin is one cell wide:

A full-width mark in that cell would spill over the column to its right.

Some marks always keep their square:

• 《》 【】 『』 〔〕 have no half-width form.
• —— and …… would break in two.
• A mark at the start of a paragraph has nothing to hang on.
• A mark whose character already has something in its margin.

An opening bracket hangs beside the character it opens onto. Every other mark hangs beside the character before it.

Two marks in a row do not hang. 。」 and 、」 squeeze together into one square of the text, ｡｣, half a cell each; print sets them the same way. ？」 and ！」 have no true half-width form, so each of the two takes its own square at full size.

When a reading and a hung mark want the same cell, the mark wins and the reading moves up to the rows above its character.

One sentence to a column

When you proofread, you read one sentence at a time.

:view-sentence on       one sentence to a column
:view-sentence off      full columns again

Every sentence then starts at the head of a new column. A sentence ends at 。 ！ ？ or …, and a closing quote after it goes with it: 「你回來了。」 is one sentence, and the 」 is not pushed onto the next column. A sentence longer than a column still wraps into the next one; only the next sentence always starts fresh.

   我他﹁
   點問你
   頭︒回
   ︒  來
       了
       ︒
       ﹂

The breaks are the same ones the sentence motions jump between (H and L, or ( and ) under the vim keymap), so the head of every column is a place the cursor can jump to.

Nothing in the file changes. It needs a vertical page; :view-sentence! on turns that on too.

See also

• Ruby and annotations: readings, emphasis dots and 平仄, all drawn in the margin.
• CJK motions: moving by word, clause and sentence.
• Settings for every [editor] setting named here.