The project draw is the conventional interface from most other IDEs: a mini file explorer bolted onto the side of the editing window that can be used to open files for editing instead of a fuzzy-finder.
The issue with using project drawers is that, with vim, it is unclear which split an opened file is supposed to be in. Maybe the last active one, but like, that can be hard to tell at a glance, and if you get it’s wrong it’s really annoying cos now you have to close that file/buffer, re-open the right one, then navigate to the correct split and open the file you wanted all along in that one.
Instead, vim has the split explorer. This occupies a split whilst you’re finding the file, and it opens it inside of that split window. Now makeit easy to close and get back to the original file and problem solved!
TODO: - work out what the hell a fuzzy finder is and if i need one - make netrw work properly over ssh, currently the alternate file bit doesn’t work