diff --git a/.vimrc b/.vimrc
index 2319958..7d6dfc8 100644
--- a/.vimrc
+++ b/.vimrc
@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@ set number
 set binary noeol
 
 " set auto-indenting on for programming
-set ai
 set autoindent
 set cindent
 set expandtab
 set shiftwidth=2
-set ts=2
+set tabstop=2
+set softtabstop=2
 
 " turn off compatibility with the old vi
 set nocompatible
@@ -21,22 +21,59 @@ set nocompatible
 " turn on the "visual bell" - which is much quieter than the "audio blink"
 set vb
 
-" do not highlight words when searching for them. it's distracting.
-set nohlsearch
+set hlsearch
+nnoremap <leader><space> :nohlsearch<cr>
 
 " automatically show matching brackets. works like it does in bbedit.
 set showmatch
 
 " make that backspace key work the way it should
-set backspace=indent,eol,start
+set backspace=2
 
 " ruby indenting
 if has("autocmd")
   filetype indent on
 endif
 
-" Map tab navigation to mirror cursor navigation
-" tab left, similar to 'h: move-let'
-nmap <C-h> :tabprevious <cr>
-" tab right, similar to 'h: move-let'
-nmap <C-l> :tabnext <cr>
+"make K work like J
+noremap K kJ
+
+"swap j/k with gj/gk (movement by window line vs file line)
+nnoremap j gj
+nnoremap gj j
+nnoremap k gk
+nnoremap gk k
+vnoremap j gj
+vnoremap gj j
+vnoremap k gk
+vnoremap gk k
+
+"quick command for :tabedit
+nnoremap <Leader>e :tabedit<space>
+
+"cycle through tabs using C-h and C-l
+nnoremap <C-h> gT
+nnoremap <C-l> gt
+
+"move tabs left and right using S-h and S-l
+func! MoveTabLeft()
+  let tab_n = tabpagenr() - 1
+  if tab_n == 0
+    exec "tabm" tabpagenr('$') - 1
+  else
+    exec "tabm" tab_n - 1
+  endif
+endfunc
+
+func! MoveTabRight()
+  let tab_n = tabpagenr() - 1
+  let last_tab = tabpagenr('$') - 1
+  if tab_n == last_tab
+    exec "tabm" 0
+  else
+    exec "tabm" tab_n + 1
+  endif
+endfunc
+
+nnoremap <S-h> mz:exec MoveTabLeft()<CR>`z
+nnoremap <S-l> mz:exec MoveTabRight()<CR>`z