From e79101d84189430195ac06aa9a0a9bd11cc1d63d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julien Calixte Date: Sun, 17 May 2026 13:01:44 +0200 Subject: [PATCH] docs(notes): add setup context before the Ctrl-G concern --- docs/notes/ctrl-g-perceived-latency.md | 8 ++++++-- 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/notes/ctrl-g-perceived-latency.md b/docs/notes/ctrl-g-perceived-latency.md index 3fcad84..7f855b7 100644 --- a/docs/notes/ctrl-g-perceived-latency.md +++ b/docs/notes/ctrl-g-perceived-latency.md @@ -2,12 +2,16 @@ > Why a 10-second keystroke on a typewriter I'm building doesn't have to feel slow. -I'm building a small device called **Typoena**: an e-ink panel, a mechanical keyboard, an ESP32-S3. You open the lid, you write Markdown, you press a key to publish it to GitHub. The whole product surface is two user-facing actions: +I'm building a small device called **Typoena**: an e-ink panel, a mechanical keyboard, an ESP32-S3, and a single purpose. You open the lid, you write Markdown, you press a key to publish it to GitHub. There is no browser, no notification tray, no second app — the hardware enforces focus the way software can't. + +The whole product surface is two user-facing actions: - **Save** (`Ctrl-S`) — write the buffer to the SD card. ~200 ms. - **Publish** (`Ctrl-G`) — ship the working copy to the git remote. **5–10 seconds.** -The same kind of keystroke, but one takes 50× longer than the other. Sitting with that, here's the concern I couldn't shake: +The same kind of keystroke, but one takes 50× longer than the other. The physical keypress is ~150 ms either way — key down, debounce, USB report, key up. On `Ctrl-S` that's _most_ of the perceived time; on `Ctrl-G` it's barely the first sliver of a long process. And the human perception threshold for "instant" is around 100 ms, so the gap isn't just a number on paper. + +Sitting with that, here's the concern I couldn't shake: > "I'm concerned about the fact that Ctrl-G is a 150ms action to do, but what it triggers can take >5-10s. Compared to the same quick action Ctrl-S for instance that will have a order of magnitude even lower than the pressing key action."