A couple of years ago, I read this cool article about how humans tend to solve problems by adding things. Training wheels are a perfect example - we add these extra wheels to help kids learn how to ride bikes. But there's actually a less obvious approach that involves taking things away, and the article explored this concept across different areas.

I'm from Uruguay, and here we have something really cool called a "Chivita" - it's basically a wooden bike without pedals that toddlers use. Kids learn to balance on two wheels before they ever touch a regular bicycle. When my 5-year-old moved from the Chivita to a real bike, it only took just a couple of tries. Its amazing! If you're curious, just Google "Chivitas bikes Uruguay" to see what they look like! (Chivito is our traditional sandwich so you might get false hits ;))

Sometimes someone caring about details is what makes everything better.

Nobody is going to choose their product just because their API Keys.

But they are generating a halo effect. Is like going to a restaurant with outstanding bathrooms. If they put a lot of care in that, you immediately assume they do the same in all the other aspects of their product/service.

IMO formatting an API key string is not equal to an outstanding bathroom. Its more akin to a valve you put under the floor of the bathroom. You put it there once to make things work and you will never see it again.

Will it make you feel better to know that you have the shinier valve which looks prettier? Maybe, but nobody else will ever know and it will work just the same as the valve everyone else has in their bathroom which cost 10% of the price.