Qwerty keyboards have a separate button for each letter and number. The layout was devised for mechanical typewriting machines by Christopher Sholes in the nineteenth century and has been used for full sized keyboards ever since.
Learning to use a Qwerty keyboard without looking (touch typing) requires training and practice and is a recognised skill, allowing expert users to enter text at high speeds. However, only a small minority of users can do this and the rest of us will struggle to name the keys beyond the well-known first six that give the layout its name. For most users, typing involves finding the correct key by sight and typing with only two fingers.
For work at a desk, having a large key for each letter number and other characters makes a lot of sense. Even though the layout takes some getting used to and most users never manage to learn it completely, a Qwerty keyboard is still generally the quickest, most reliable and certainly most popular method of entering text at a desk.
On small devices it's a different story.
Computer keyboards often have more than 100 keys and are a substantial size. For small devices the overall keyboard size becomes problematic.
Mini Qwerty keyboards attempt to solve the size problem by using fewer keys and making them smaller. Often letters and numbers share keys, but still at least around 30 are needed.
The result is a Mini Qwerty keyobard with such small keys, and so little separation between them, that their operation requires precise dexterity.
The main problem with Qwerty keyboards is one of size. The individual keys are too small or the overall keyboard too big. Another problem with Qwerty keyboards is that most users cannot operate by touch alone and need to look to locate the correct key.
Textra has less keys and so the overall keypad is smaller and each key can be bigger.
Textra still offers the main benefit of Qwerty keyboards, with each letter and number available at a single stroke.
The four Textra buttons act as home keys for the fingers or thumbs, allowing experienced users to locate letter positions by touch alone.
