Products · Pattern or everyday thing
Colemak keyboard layout
Raised as a usability problem by 22 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2011–2025), in 17 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
QWERTY muscle memory makes typing slow on other computersUnreviewed
20112026- Muscle memory of QWERTY makes typing on other computers slow and inaccurate2022-03-18
- Typing errors and random pauses when fingers forget key locations slow them down2020-06-15
- Switching back to QWERTY on others' machines makes the typist slow and clumsy2020-06-04
Too many awkward key combos make typing uncomfortableUnreviewed
20112026- Too many awkward key combos made the Colemak layout uncomfortable to use2025-09-27
- Hjkl keys are scattered on the Colemak layout, so vim navigation is hard2025-09-02
- Positional and mnemonic Vim shortcuts conflict under the Colemak layout2023-05-19
Hard to switch back to QWERTY on Colemak-configured computersUnreviewed
20112026- Switching between Colemak and QWERTY causes error-prone hybrid typing that is hard to recover from2018-09-20
- Games ignore the Colemak layout, so the user must switch back to QWERTY before playing2013-09-12
- Hard to switch back to QWERTY on computers where Colemak is set2012-11-10
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 23 complaints
- Too many awkward key combos made the Colemak layout uncomfortable to use2025-09-27
- Learning the alternative layout is arduous and can make qwerty hard to use2025-09-03
- Hjkl keys are scattered on the Colemak layout, so vim navigation is hard2025-09-02
- Layout doesn't carry over to other machines, games, or one-handed use, causing friction2023-05-20
- Positional and mnemonic Vim shortcuts conflict under the Colemak layout2023-05-19
- Muscle memory of QWERTY makes typing on other computers slow and inaccurate2022-03-18
- Colemak layout is a hassle on other machines and remote desktop2022-01-06
- Typing errors and random pauses when fingers forget key locations slow them down2020-06-15
- Shared computers force constant layout switching, causing friction and awkward explanations2020-06-04
- Switching back to QWERTY on others' machines makes the typist slow and clumsy2020-06-04
- Keeps mistyping S because it moved one key right, for almost a year2019-02-18
- Switching to the layout is painful and BIOS screens and VMs revert to QWERTY unexpectedly2019-02-17
- Switching between Colemak and QWERTY causes error-prone hybrid typing that is hard to recover from2018-09-20
- Swipe typing predictions become nearly unusable with the Colemak layout2017-12-31
- Windows machines need a manual layout switch, so typing on them is occasionally annoying2017-02-01
- Swiping on Colemak gives many more ambiguous and erroneous word recognitions2015-04-13
- Shortcuts move to different keys, confusing when looking at the keyboard2014-07-17
- Typing on others' computers drops to about 30 WPM because they default to QWERTY2013-09-12
- Games ignore the Colemak layout, so the user must switch back to QWERTY before playing2013-09-12
- P and F keys are close enough that the commenter makes many confused misses2013-07-07
- Keeps accidentally hitting Caps Lock, which is remapped to backspace2013-07-07
- Hard to switch back to QWERTY on computers where Colemak is set2012-11-10
- Vim's H,J,K,L keys are scattered, disrupting productivity2011-12-28