I’ve recently started trying to improve my typing speed, which has probably been held back by my somewhat unconventional typing style. Formal touch typing was never a part of my education, and while years of computer use eventually led to me being able to type without looking, I’m probably not as efficient as I could be.
Can you touch type - and with proper form? QWERTY, DVORAK or other layout?
I was never able to touch type up through middle of high school despite typing papers and taking formal typing courses. Once I got into online PC gaming and also programming I got good at touch typing very fast. Is typing a skill you use daily? Natural practice beats forced if you already have the fundamentals down. QWERTY for me.
Same. I tried really hard to learn it but gave up in frustration. 5ish years with plenty of computer use later I suddenly found myself typing without looking.
Been touch typing Dvorak for about 25 years, qwerty for about 10 years before that. My hands used to feel tired at the end of the day, when I broke my wrist the occupational nurse suggested Dvorak, so when it healed I taught myself to type Dvorak. Probably a few weeks to learn, six months to get speed. (The advantage of a cushy government job). I can type all day now without problems. If you’re going to spend any significant time at a keyboard, I personally think it’s worth investing the time to learn to type properly, whatever layout you choose to use.
Try typing my username in Dvorak :)
Now I’m trying to figure out what you name spells with the same keys on qwerty vs dvorak
Would you recommend switching to Dvorak for someone who already touch types very fast (80-90 wpm)?
Can you switch between the two easily?
my speed never recovered from switching, but for long sessions, it’s more comfortable.
I can’t NOT touch type. I need to see what I’m typing to know if I’m typing without mistakes. When I look at the keyboard, I make so many mistakes.
Ironically, with touch typing I know when I make mistakes even if I’m looking elsewhere. It’s just obvious when a finger does a wrong thing.
Yep.
Went to an all-boys Catholic High School and there were no technical programs (shop, auto, woodworking) bc they couldn’t afford the programs, nor the space. Barely had a gym.
Anyhoo, ‘options’ were typing, bookkeeping, and Latin.
Took typing for 2 years, buddy and I would race-type song lyrics out of our heads (lyrics often weren’t included in the liner notes).Elton John - Razor Face - GO!
I learned to touch-type QWERTY in late 90s chat rooms. By 2006, I was bragging about my 100 WPM speed in my online dating profile. I met one girl who challenged me to a typing contest. She won, then I won, and then we called it a draw. We’ve been married for 13 years and had our third child last month.
When I was learning to touch type, I found it helpful to practice in my head even when I was away from the keyboard. Like whatever I’m thinking about, I’m picturing a keyboard in my head and where each letter of each word is. It slows my thoughts down a little, but that’s not always a bad thing.
I guess you’ve got a type, eh?
Yup, I can type about 90-100 wpm on a QWERTY keyboard if it’s normal conversational English. Probably half that if it’s something that contains a lot of long technical words. The thing that got me over the hump with getting good at typing was a game called QWERTY Warriors. It was a Flash-based web game that I was playing like 20 years ago, so I don’t know if it’s around anymore, but it was a tower defense game where you had to defeat enemies by typing the word underneath them. It was a pretty painless way to practice touch-typing.
The people responsible for archiving the gold mine that is old flash games are really doing gods work out there!
This is incredible and I thank you for bringing this to my attention
Yes, QWERTY. My dad made my brother and I use Mavis Beacon as kids (SHOUT OUT TO MAVIS BEACON!!!) and I had keyboarding class in middle school. WPM is 70 to 80 depending on what I’m typing.
I learned to touch type on QWERTY in middle school. I do it mostly conventionally except for some reason I never really used the right shift key. That locked in, amd I still don’t. I just spread my fingers wide to capitalize letters on the left side.
For a data entry job I was taught to 10-key as well. It doesn’t take long to learn, but it can save a ton of time.
I learned to touch type on QWERTY in middle school. I do it mostly conventionally except for some reason I never really used the right shift key.
Same! Not sure how that came to be? Perhaps because right shift is too far away compared to left?
Maybe we were taught the left side first. And it worked well enough we never engaged the right.
A data entry job made me abandon 10-key.
I hated not having access to a backspace, and I was already close to being able to touch type on the number line.
I have no idea if it was actually faster, but it was close enough.
I can touch type most keys, though probably not with proper form. I have to look at some of the less common keys to find them with my fingers.
My schools did have formal typing classes but I wasn’t exactly a star student. I think my typing speed at it’s fastest was around 60 wpm, though I more commonly float around 40 wpm
No. And I’ve been programming for the past 20 years.
To be fair, programming is basically the art of making the computer do as much as possible with as little typing as possible.
I zan tough ty[e thos well.
Yes. My kids would laugh at me when I worked from home because I would not stop typing when I looked up to answer something they were asking me. I suck on the phone keyboard but good with QUERTY big keyboard. My fingers can talk on those
I do the same with my colleagues. Then again, I’m using the Moergo Glove80 tilted at 50° (3D printed stand), so I can’t see what I’m clicking lol.
Yes, but definitely not proper form, as my left hand rests on WASD+CTRL/Shift+Space.
I’m around 100 wpm, so maybe it doesn’t matter.
While I completely understand people who can’t get to 100 wpm (much like people at 110+ completely understand me), I cannot fathom young adults who cannot touch-type (barring disability, obviously).
I do touch type, but I don’t use the standard finger placement. I had typing class in school, which I’m grateful for, but what really got my typing speed up were ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger.
Yes. You have no other choice when you’re blind. I prefer unlabeled keyboards.
