VIM is a powerful command-line text editor usually a default package in the majority of *nix distros (that includes Mac's OS X). I believe there are ports available for other OSes, even winblows. Firstly, vim is a man's editor. Whiners and GUI lovers can stop reading now. Although, VIM offer GUI ports such as MacVim. Men with thick beards, please stay tuned.

He starts with a bit of comparison between opinions on IDE versus editor and comments from others on both sides of the vim argument. Then he gets to the tips - here's a list of some of them:

• Syntax highlighting
• Tabs as spaces
• Search and show matches as you type
• PHP-specific highlighting
• Highlighting matching brackets/parentheses
• Auto change to to editing file's cwd