qwerty keyboards

OK, so you're probably wondering what this one is all about. It's kind of a revelation I had.

So not so long ago, I was watching this video about qwerty keyboards — you know, the layout and stuff. Anyway, the video was explaining how the qwerty layout for keyboards haven't changed since its invention. The point being the layout is super inefficient compared to other layouts such as — Dvorak.

After watching another video I saw how one guy decided to ditch qwerty and try Dvorak. And sure enough, after maybe 6 months effort his typing speed went through the roof.

With that, he was on mission to try and convince everyone to use Dvorak. What do you think happened?

Well nothing, everyone was too used to qwerty to warrant change. Why would they bother?

It's like software, you wanna create the least amount of friction. You want your end user need to be familiar with what you're doing, otherwise the friction is way too high.

It is a huge lesson learned, it is harder to change someone's mind once they are used to something. It is why everyone still uses React despite its pitfalls. It is literally — familiarity and popularity.

So next time you're dipping into frameworks, and other coding languages, keep in mind the importance of 'qwerty.'