diff --git a/dotfiles/vimrc b/dotfiles/vimrc
index fd040cd..e03f193 100644
--- a/dotfiles/vimrc
+++ b/dotfiles/vimrc
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ set expandtab       " tabs are spaces
 set backspace=2     " backspace like in a graphical text editor
 set wildmode=longest,list   " change filename autocomplete to be more like bash
 set mouse=v                 " some vim defaults to mouse=a, which sucks for copying and pasting in Xorg
+set textwidth=80    " set textwidth to 80 characters
+set colorcolumn=+1  " make it obvious where 80 characters is
 syntax on
 filetype on             " enable file type detection
 filetype plugin on      " enable file type plugins