this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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Some people like vim the way it is. That's why they haven't re-invented it. If you want to use a more intuitive text editor, there are plenty available (such as nano or micro).They don't need to turn vim into a clone of something that already exists.
As for why it's still the default... It's the same reason why everybody uses QWERTY keyboards when Dvorak is clearly superior. People already know how to type with QWERTY and they don't want to take the time to re-learn with a new layout, change their workflows, etc.
It isn't universal, though. Garuda Linux defaults to micro. The web dev boot camp I was in didn't bring vim up at all! We only used nano! I think that was a disservice to the students, but the instructors must've thought that it would be too confusing.
One word: ergonomics.
With Dvorak, the most commonly-used letters are on the home row. In fact, all of the vowels are on the home row.
The most common letter in English is E, and QWERTY makes you reach for it. You know what IS on the home row? Fuckin' semicolon! Can you even remember the last time you used a semicolon?
I spend a lot of time at work sitting, so I'd rather have a comfortable chair than an uncomfortable chair. Same with my keyboard: I'd rather have a comfortable layout than an uncomfortable one. Less risk of repetitive strain injury, too.
Database Administrators have entered the chat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=188fipF-i5I
This video goes over a lot of metrics about how far you have to move your fingers to type certain things, and how we wound up at qwerty in the first place. The truth of it is though: different layouts are better for different things. He shows in the video a bunch of keyboard layouts optimized for things like youtube comments, the script of the Bee movie, wikipedia, etc.
At 7:12 in the video, he cites Dvorak as 26.2% more efficient than qwerty for how much your fingers need to travel to type. This covers letter frequency, but also sequencing (ie, typing the letters "un" on qwerty means i have go from top row U to bottom row N with the same finger).
I don't use dvorak, because if I want to use someone else's computer, I don't want to have to fight with muscle memory, but it is "superior" in many ways.
The main downside of Dvorak and why I will never use it is that virtually all programs designed their keyboard shortcuts around the positions of QWERTY keys and remapping literally everything makes no sense.