Typing

[Joe Woodbury]

Rage wrote:

How fast and how accurate are you at striking your keyboards ?

I type 90 WPM with errors factored in (and full touch typing.)

Rage wrote:

How did you learn typing ?

I learned at home, but had a formal class in high school. It wasn't a mandatory class, but highly suggested. My youngest daughter has been typing over 60 wpm since she was ten or so. She's probably up to 70 or 80 wpm now. Last time we measured, my oldest son typed at 60-70 wpm, though his error rate is higher than his sisters. The other two kids type about 50-60. We all type faster than my wife, which annoys her. (On the other hand, my wife can ten-key like the wind--she worked in a bank clearing house early in our marriage and got very good.)

Rage wrote:

I am an average typist, and would like to improve my skills,

Practice, practice, practice. Mavis Beacon Typing is still around. Don't know if it's any good.

[Rage]

Joe Woodbury wrote:

my wife can ten-key

I presume this means using the num keypad ? I am also quite good at it, having had in multiple occasion to enter a lot of figures in Excel...

[Joe Woodbury]

Rage wrote:

I presume this means using the num keypad ?

Yes.

[SinghUlarity]

:laugh: :laugh: i HAVE to steal this one.

[Lilith C]

I started learning to type on a non-electric Smith-Corona portable typewriter when I was about ten years old. My father was a self-trained fast typist and I learned at his feet and from books checked out of the library on the subject. I had to pound pretty hard on the keys all the way through college. I don't think I ever got beyond 60 WPM. Practice, if you will, is the key. Body memory helps to get to the automated response. I thought it was pointless typing "fff jjj" over and over but it helped to get the neurons firing without conscious thought.

I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office

[Jason Christian]

I've been trying to find a break to learn a Dvorak keyboard (programming). Got the stickers, and built a keyboard layout for Windows (if anyone is interested, I'm willing to share the layout). Now if only I could slow down for a couple of weeks to learn it - only tried it for a couple hours so far. It is easier on the fingers though... Best way to learn to type - type alot. Type whatever comes into your head as fast as you can - looking at a paper or trying to type something specific will only slow you down - and for programming you are rarely re-typing what someone else wrote.

[_Damian S_]

I average about 70-80wpm and peak out at 90wpm... I type using 9 fingers, because when I learned to touch type (back in the 80's) we were taught to hit the space bar with our right thumb only... Not sure why - maybe something to do with the left hand moving off the keys to push the carriage return bar to move the drum back to the right... I was the only bloke in the class, and took it because my mum suggested I do it "because I like computers". We used old manual typewriters, and after 2.5 years of typing, I could type about 23wpm, not even fast enough to qualify for a typing certificate (min was 25wpm). The way my typing increased was to get hooked on IRC back in my uni days (internet relay chat), where if you typed fast you kept up, otherwise you fell behind... Learning to type was one of the best things I ever did as far as overall value goes...

I don't have ADHD, I have ADOS... Attention Deficit oooh SHINY!! If you like cars, check out the Booger Mobile blog | If you feel generous - make a donation to Camp Quality!!

[JohanJvR]

Now you everyone can check there Typing Speed. http://www.powertyping.com/typing_test/typing_test.shtml[^]

[Cristian Adam]

It took me one month (30 minutes every day) to become full touch typist using "Typing Tutor 6" (old, but gold) Nowdays http://app.typrx.com/[^] says I'm doing 70 WPM. And BTW Das Keyboard is worth every cent :)

[dannette]

Back in the old days, we all had to take typing in 8th grade. We learned on a Selectric. I was always peaking at my fingers so the teacher taped a piece of paper over my fingers. Then by the end of the term, we were competing with each other to see who could type fastest. I had gotten to about 75 wpm by the end of the three month class. Once you have the keyboard memorized it's easy to try to get your speed up. When I feel I've slowed down, I go to the games section on yahoo.com and play wordracer - that'll get your speed back up - it's like the game "Boggle". I've also heard Mavis Beacon is good for learning. There are training programs on disk for that.

[Norm Powroz]

As a real old-timer, I learned to type in high school, using an IBM 029 Keypunch. For those who have never programmed using anything but a keyboard and CRT, a Keypunch was a device for putting holes in punched cards. Those cards contained one line of code each, and were subsequently fed to a card reader, which was a necessary peripheral on computers until well into the 1980s. In the 70s, keypunch operators were paid $3.50 an hour, which was way beyond the financial reach of a high school student. Since the computer centre made keypunches available, you learned to do it yourself, or you didn't program. The 029 was a direct-action device, in that when you hit a key, a hole got punched. When IBM invented the Model 129, we were amazed by the technological advance, as the 129 buffered a card until the Release (Enter) key was pressed, then it punched the entire card at once. The 029 had very stiff keys, so you tended to hammer on the keyboard (as I still do). The 129 had a great soft-touch feel to it, which made punching much more comfortable. Even after more than 40 years at a keyboard, I'm still not a touch typist, but I'm generally fast enough for my brain when it comes to coding. Both of my kids are touch typists, and are faster than I am, but then they don't write code, only English and French.

[cgh1977]

I tried Dvorak once. The problem I had was that I often worked on computers other than my own, troubleshooting software, etc. My poor brain never got far enough along in learning Dvorak to successfully switch back and forth. I wound up typing gibberish fheipamd. Whs ohro kws fnsusmf.

[wrocca]

I learned to "touch type" in about two weeks. Before that I was a five finger wonder (forefingers, middle fingers, and right thumb). Not sure of my speed... but it sure is faster than five fingers and looking up and down between keyboard and screen. They actually make Dvorak keyboards. Check it out: http://www.typematrix.com. I have had one for 10 years. I really like the columns and rows of keys instead of the weird angles for "normal" keyboards. These keyboards don't need software and, if you get the one I have, you can switch between Dvorak and Qwerty and the touch of a button with the keys imprinted with both sets of letters. Thats my two cents anyway.

"You can't do today's job with yesterday's methods and be in business tomorrow." -- Anonymous So, "Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done." -- Amelia Earhart

[BrainiacV]

I suppose I use the Columbus Method(tm), You find it and then land on it. Back in the days of high school and ASR-33 teletypes, I could span the entire keyboard with one hand (I have yet to meet anyone with hands larger than mine) and so could type with one hand and point to my handwritten notes with the other. Nowadays I use the sight directed method with both hands. Tried to learn "typing" a few times, but never got to the speed I had already achieved with my self-taught methods.

Psychosis at 10 Film at 11

[patbob]

Made my day. Thanks. :)

patbob

[Chris Trelawny Ross]

Back in the day, I learned to type on a VAX VMS system - where they unlocked the typing tutor app over the lunch hour. I can almost entirely type without having to look at the keyboard, although sometimes I do have to think about what finger to use to get a specific key. Especially the top row. When it comes to striking the keyboard - I generally hit it every time (but am careful not to abuse the poor thing). When it comes to accurately hitting specific keys, however ...

[James Lonero]

When did I learn typing? Back in summer school in Jr High School. It was hell. In that class, the typewriters did not have the letters on the keys. You had to look up a board where the keyboard arrangement was posted in the front of the auditorium. I think I got my first case of hives then. Later on, when as a freshman in college, with some practice, it would take at least four hours to type up a two page English paper (after I had written it out long hand). I guess I just needed more practice. Later in my college life, I got much better. I could whip out a 10 page term paper in one day. Then came computers and text editors. Correcting mistakes was much easier. Then came word processors, like MS Word. Now I can easily add special effects (fonts, etc.). Ah, the trials we have to go through to get to where we are.

[b_dunphy]

I was taught one handed touch typing in 1993. Despite being out of practice I stall use three or four fingers most of the time. The last time I tested myself (around 2000) I could still do about 25 wpm with 92% accuracy. In '93 right after the class I was rated at 34wpm and 97% accuracy The biggest problem is the newer "ergonomic" keyboards are worse than useless for one handed use. We are taught to use "FGHJ" as our home keys. Additionally, the ideal situation is have a trackball just below the space bar and the buttons offset just above the home keys we use although the buttons being either side of the trackball is also doable if not quite as efficient.

[b_dunphy]

typo of "still" was left intentionally. It resulted from a popup causing me to reach for the "shift" key.

[Plamen Dragiyski]

Faster typing is using backspace key faster. It's only one key which you need to know ;)