Interview 3 Years of Monkeytype

 

Interview 3 Years of Monkeytype

The Monkeytype's chief creator Jack is nice enough to address my questions regarding the occasion of the popular app for typing turning three..

From 150,000 visitors Only 54 contribute to making it possible for this site. Are you one of the 54?

The most loved testing of typing, Monkeytype is now been turning 3 since. The simple typing test that comes with an array of options for customization started as a quarantine test and took the world with a flurry of days after its launch in 2020. I contacted the chief designer Jack known as Miodec asking him a few questions about his experiences and thoughts about this story of success.

Could you provide us with something about your background?

I'm from the UK and the majority hours working with Monkeytype because it's my main "job". I'm involved in a few smaller projects in the past however nothing that is public or larger than MT. When I have time off,, I play a bit of PC gaming and racing sims. Outside I play soccer and ultimate frisbee as often as I have the time.

What made you start your journey into the keyboarding game?

I believe I first started playing with mechanical keyboards in 2014-2015, when they were slowly being made available as the new "gamer thing". The first keyboard I tried was a Coolermaster TK, then gradually began becoming more involved in the hobby after purchasing the Pok3r that had MX Clears and then re-purchasing it out for one that had MX Blues (my father was adamant about that keyboard due to the loudness).

Then I did into the hobby head-first. I constructed an Nyquist in the meantime, designed an individual 3D printed case for it. I handwired an macro pad, designed an ortholinear PCB that I designed and constructed a different board using it (around the time that I began using lubricants on my builds) and then returned to the standard staggered layout, by making an Tofu68. You could claim that I'm very invested in the hobby. My current gaming board was one of the AVA (Alice style) and I'm thinking of sticking to it for a while But you never know when the final game doesn't exist.

What made you start using typing applications?

A few times, I used mechanical keyboards (sound or testing switches) and partly due to the fact that I needed to get faster typing speed even though I can't claim to be completely committed. There was the occasion 10-Fastfingers tests and Typeracer races every now and then Nothing special. (Probably the reason my speed is still 140.)

Do you remember how the monkey-like phenomenon first came out? The very first steps, and the very beginning of the process?

I was browsing the R/mk forum the other day and coming across an article about a brand new website for typing that was named typings.gg. A clean and minimalist UI. It's possible that I was in the spirit of building my own typing website. I did make one unsuccessful attempt prior to Monkeytype was created, and it was dubbed MMTT (miodec's simple tests of typing). It's a terrible name, I know. It is possible to see the look of the site click here (I believe that at some point, I made the decision to change the name to NBTTT - no BS testing your typing). It was not without its problems, for instance the WPM calculation wasn't working access, browser support, accessibility as well as the nature and generality of words moving, which made it not an ideal experience. In any case the project failed to achieve any traction, which is why I had to abandon the project.

First time First attempt: MMTT/NBTT

The idea of creating my own website was always in my head. I wasn't a fan of any other websites that were out there as they were either old visually, had odd keyboard mechanics, or didn't provide a the best user experience. Nine months later, I decided to give it another go. The second time, I took an extra time creating an initial prototype. I started with a familiar layout that shows only a couple of stationary words - similar to the main websites 10FF, TR and MT - instead of the sluggish scrolling feature found in the MMTT (which amusingly enough, I added to MT, and is known as the tape mode).

As I said before I was inspired by typings.gg The UI was extremely simple. All that was written was text, there were with no images and only the colors. I chose to create it using Codepen rather than launching it with its own website because I was concerned that it could not be able to survive the initial launch similar to my previous attempts. Then I uploaded it to Reddit.

Test prototype for typing to be completed by 2020

The post ended up in the top spot of R/mk but for only a small amount. The post only received around 400 votes, which is not a huge amount, but keep in mind that this was after my first failure and getting the engagement was a huge confidence booster. Although this occurred at a time when I was in the middle of my final year at the university I was determined to make it happen. I did make a few tweaks to the codepen when the feedback poured in (you can see the current version of the codepen in this article) however afterward, the time came to construct it in real time. On May 15th, 2020 I officially launched it. I posted a short reddit message about it's live and waited.

Six days after that, Taeha used it on her stream. My heart was racing. Could something break. He might find an issue. Will he be happy with it. Could this be actually popular? When I look at my statistics I'm seeing 120 people on the website. I'm sitting here smiling and talking to equity as well as Vastus (my two best friends, and Monkeytype's current Discord moderators) I'm just looking at Nathan's stream.

And here's the exclusive, never-before-seen before image of our reaction to him by using monkeytype:

One of my most joyful and most proud moments. It's crazy to think back in the day, having 120 users for just a few minutes were absurd, but today Monkeytype has around 120k users per day. The world can change drastically in just 3 years.

Monkeytype is hosted on github, and has contributors from all over the globe, but how do people envision what is happening behind the scenes? Are there teams or is it more of just a single-person operation?

That's right, Monkeytype is officially a one-man operation - I do not employ anyone. Open contributors to the source code come and leave (and you can find the complete list here and the number of modifications they've implemented) However, there were some key contributors who have made major changes that contributed to the project in various ways (lukew3 seerlite, typerqeo as well as ferotiq and bruception). Monkeytype isn't Monkeytype without these people, nor without of the others contributing.

Monkeytype is most likely the top typing application currently. What was the most important factor to achieve this position according to you? Are there any notable accomplishments along the way that you'd like to mention?

The fact that I got a huge increase by Nathan as I mentioned earlier certainly was helpful haha. It's difficult to determine the exact nature of what happened. It was my first project that was this large which means that it's not as if I had any idea the exact nature of what I did (I am still a bit unsure). I'm able to only guess this was some mix of:

• The pandemic (people are spending long periods of time at home)
• the minimalist design and clean lines
• the possibility of customizing, the ability to type in any manner you'd like
• it being open source
• regular updates and improvements

I don't recall any particular successes to be truthful. I suppose seeing the website begin appearing in the background across the web (tiktoks and reddit threads keyboard streams, YouTube videos). It's hilarious how I could be watching something totally unrelated to typing or keyboards (like the computer review that I watched in Youtube) and then you can see my website appear in the video. The only thing I'm able to say"Hey" is "Hey, I made that".

Any difficulties, lessons learned?

Oh my God, there are so many. It's still a process of learning. How to create communities as well as how to manage business relationships, and write code that is good This project continues to throw new problems at me and all I can do is to learn and conquer these issues.

Are there any statistics about the number of users you could be able to share?

Quick statistics include:

• Two million people registered as users
• about 120k users on a daily basis
• 819 million result started, and 278 million of them actually completed
• 443 years of typing total

Stats as of 2023-05-17

You accumulate a lot information, I'm guessing. Are there any interesting trends or facts you can glean from them?

Sure, I gather lots of data, however I don't actually study it too much. I can say that the typical test that I save is 76.3wpm, 93.8% accuracy, 30.5s in duration. 5.5 percent of the results are personal records that are not yet achieved and there is 5.84 results saved every second.

You were awarded recognition for your role in being among the most rapidly growing websites of 2022. What was the prize precisely?

The award was given for the overall growth in traffic. Semrush monitors websites in a variety of categories, determining which ones are the fastest growing, with the highest number of domains referred by others with the largest growth in social media and then sends the awards each year. The exact award title is Semrush Awards 2022 - Gold, Omnichannel Growth Education Category 1M-10M traffic

What is it that you're working on currently? Are there any future plans you'd like to discuss?

From day to day, I reply to emails, assist users, participate in the community, deal with quotes (typos or inappropriate content, etc.) as well as review and integrate pull requests. The primary project currently is multiplayer, also known as Tribe. It's been a challenge because I've not created a real-time multiplayer game online (another new experience for me). I believe that because of the attention and traffic Monkeytype is getting, I have many expectations on myself. I don't want my game to disappoint anyone, and I'm not going to build something that could be faulty. It's weighing on my mental well-being, and sometimes I'm afraid to think about it and believe it's because "I will fail so what's the point". I'm slowly improving but it's a slow process. But still, I'm slowly chipping away at it, and you can try it at: https://dev.monkeytype.com/tribe (can break, obviously)

Which keyboard(s) used for typing the answers? What are your switches, form factor or keycap preference?

As previously mentioned, AVA with Lubed Durock linears (Alice style board). For keycap profile, I've have tried SA, DSA, OEM and am currently using Cherry (I am still looking to give MT3 a go at some time). What is your preferred switch? Linears the whole way however I do like clicking BOX switches at times.

AVA by Sneakbox

What could a common person using monkeytype do to support you in your work?

There's nothing special about it really. Simply hang out on Discord. Keep hanging out on the Discord channel Keep getting better in typing and reporting bugs and recommending new features. If you really want to help financially, they can do so via Patreon, Ko-Fi and by purchasing merchandise or making ads available. It is also possible to follow the various social networks via Twitter as well as TikTok.

I've always believed that these options aren't mandatory and the best option for everyone is to simply share the site with their friends and have fun using the experience. While the project has exceeded my expectations in the past the user experience is the main goal and I'm excited to find out what Monkeytype is in the next three years.