Products · Pattern or everyday thing
QWERTY keyboard layout
Raised as a usability problem by 26 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 24 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Custom layout makes typing on other computers much slowerUnreviewed
20082026- Key placement makes typing slower, with frequent letters like E off the home row2026-04-03
- Switching to a custom layout makes typing on other computers much slower2023-11-02
- Switching layouts on shared computers and vintage or phone keyboards is a hassle2022-01-22
QWERTY typing causes wrist aches and finger strainUnreviewed
20082026- Typing on QWERTY with one finger or thumbs causes frequent typos2025-04-06
- Typing on QWERTY hurts the user's hands after a while2022-03-18
- Touch-typing the proper way on a staggered keyboard hurts the wrists2018-07-30
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 26 complaints
- Key placement makes typing slower, with frequent letters like E off the home row2026-04-03
- Too many small keys reduce touch accuracy on mobile2026-04-02
- Pinky is overloaded with Shift, making typing harder2025-09-03
- Typing on QWERTY with one finger or thumbs causes frequent typos2025-04-06
- Suboptimal layout that is hard to replace, so people keep using it2024-09-30
- Switching to a custom layout makes typing on other computers much slower2023-11-02
- Switching back to QWERTY after Dvorak hurt typing accuracy and never fully recovered2023-06-07
- Row-staggered layout is horrible for hand ergonomics and causes strain2023-02-26
- Makes the commenter type slower and make more mistakes when using them2022-12-13
- Forgetting QWERTY after learning Dvorak, so searching for keys on other computers2022-03-18
- Typing on QWERTY hurts the user's hands after a while2022-03-18
- Switching layouts on shared computers and vintage or phone keyboards is a hassle2022-01-22
- Typos from mistimed key presses, like 'teh' or 'THe' from Shift held wrong2021-11-01
- Having two keyboard standards causes slow, frustrating use of booking systems expecting A-Z2021-02-12
- Keeping fingers on home row forces uncomfortable outward wrist twisting2020-10-21
- Muscle memory for their own layout makes shared keyboards hard to type on2019-12-19
- Small hands travel far from home row to special keys and get lost2019-10-12
- Layout is terrible and caused typing strain and pain for the commenter2019-08-10
- Touch-typing the proper way on a staggered keyboard hurts the wrists2018-07-30
- Young people hunt-and-peck, so typing slows down learning and coding exercises2018-07-22
- Fixed keyboard layouts force confusing many-to-one key mapping and non-discrete hand movement, causing bodily stress2016-03-04
- Keyboard layout differs from familiar AZERTY, so typing is slow and requires thinking about key positions2015-07-01
- Typing on QWERTY is painful and uncomfortable, causing wrist aches and finger strain2014-07-17
- Switching layouts caused a long period of very slow typing and frustration2012-11-10
- Switching layouts repeatedly took months and caused speed loss and RSI flare-ups2010-08-23
- Semicolon key on the home row makes the layout awkward and uncomfortable2008-03-01