" show tabs as 4 spaces long (instead of 8)
set tabstop=4

" indent 4 spaces (instead of 8)
set shiftwidth=4

" put spaces instead of tabs (warning: Makefiles don't like that)
set expandtab

" use syntax hilighting, but not too many colours
syn on
hi clear Normal
hi Constant    ctermfg=Black
hi Special     ctermfg=Black
hi Statement   ctermfg=Black
hi Identifier  ctermfg=Black
hi Type        ctermfg=Black
hi PreProc     ctermfg=Black
hi Title       ctermfg=Black
hi HTMLLink    ctermfg=DarkGreen
hi Comment     ctermfg=DarkBlue
hi String      ctermfg=DarkRed

" do not wrap lines
set nowrap

" trick so vim doesn't load the matchparen extension
let loaded_matchparen = 1

" disable all forms of autoindent madness
set nocindent
set nosmartindent
set noautoindent
set indentexpr=
filetype indent off
filetype plugin indent off