My preferred way nowadays is adding an Extend mapping layer as an omnimode, omniapp way of navigating etc, then leaving Vim be. You always meet fresh Vim on other machines and then it's no fun if you've messed up yours. Besides, you can't swing a dead nnoremap in there without crashing some other mapping that you'll end up missing in the end.

Yes, well, um. I map the Extend layer with PKL on Windows and XKB on Linux. It's been a while since I updated my files. Next week when I'm back from vacation I'll try to get something fresh up. What's your platform of choice?

Right, um. Could you maybe upload a fresh /usr/share/X11/xkb directory from your distro? So I can compare it with mine from Ubuntu 12.04. Unless you happen to know that they use the same X.Org version, that is...

Okay, note how I just posted my Magnum Opus topic including Linux/XKB files? :)

If Arch Linux uses the same X.Org version as Ubuntu 12.04 and has the same X.Org file structure (I think it does) then you could use my patch directly on a fresh XKB folder. If not, then note that in the same directory as the patch I also put my modified files. Try comparing those to yours - if the only changes are mine then you're good to go.

A WASD approach is good for games, where you are likely to move towards all directions with more or less the same frequency, whereas while editing you are likely to use up and down much more than other directions (check the "Interesting Highlights" section):

http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/command-frequency.html

Therefore hjkl works better than it looks.