Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 415

Hunt and peck typist looking for a change

Ivebeen a computer nerd since i was six, but i never really learned how t properly touch type. I can hunt and peck with all of my fingers at incredible speed, and I pretty much know where all the keys are, but i still look at the keyboard and don't keep my fingers on the right keys. I really want to change and become a proper touch typist but the process is frustrating. What brought this to a head was that half keyboard thingy. It would be pretty much impossible to use if you couldn't touch type, and I think I'd like one (of the half keyboards.)


Can anyone feel my pain? I need some sympathy and maybe advice, perhaps some encouraging storys of overcoming such addictions, a la Alc. anon.

"Hi my name is **** and I'm a hunt-and-peck-aholic, but i havn't used my index fingers on the backspace key in 4 years!"

<clap clap clap clap....>

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-thorin

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

I can feel your pain. I type faster than anyone I know (60+ wpm), except maybe my mom, simply because I learned touch-typing. However most of the time I still only use a couple of fingers to hit the keys.
I was lucky enough that one of the first programs my parents picked up for our ol' 8-bit Atari was a typing tutor game (you had to hit the right keys to zap letters that were falling to decimate your cities, a variation on a then-popular video game), and a few years later I took typing in high school. (I needed an elective.) I also learned typing on a typewriter which likely helped. You can go faster on a computer keyboard than on a typewriter because you don't have to hit the keys as hard.

That "home row" is the hardest.

Probably the best way to go about it is to be FORCED to learn it. If you can have someone on your case -- "did you spend an hour on the typing tutor today?" -- or spend some money to take a class, it may go a long way.

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Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 708

I was pretty much hunt and peck as well. Then I got out of High School and went on to take some classes at a Technical school. Once of the ones I had to take was Typing. The first half of the quarter was spent learning to type on a typewriter. Man, was that ever miserable. Once we switched to typing on a PC, I was a speed freak (at least compared to me on a typewriter).

If you know someone with a typewriter you can borrow, get it and practice on that.

Another good trick is this. I have my Keyboard on a Rolling tray, so it rolls under the desk when I am finished. A lot of times I will leave it under there and type so there is no way I can look at the keys. You can also do this by covering up your hands with something like a TShirt.

You just have to make yourself do it, but it can be done.

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Registered: Mar 2000
Location: NC, Indiana
Posts: 465

In 4th grade (I'm going into my junior year this fall) typing was a required course and I thank them for that. I don't know how to type anyway but touch-typing. Trust me! It's the way to be! My freshman year when I had to take a compulsory basic computer skill/typing course I had a 1/2 period study hour. You will thank yourself for pushing yourself to learn touchtyping--you can learn to type much faster and become more efficient in the long run.

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-Vincent

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: McLean, VA USA
Posts: 216

One of the best things that I did in high school was to take a typing class (I know, I'm showing my age, now it is called "keyboarding"). I took the class just so I could learn to touch type. Got a "D", but that was OK, because my parents didn't care and I wasn't worried about speed and formatting of letters, memos and such. In fact my only claim to fame in that class was that I beat the other guy (there were only two of us in the class) in the speed test on the final. We learned on Royal-Underwood MANUAL!! typewriters!!!!! To this day, I don't regret taking that class.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

thorin -- if you have a Macintosh, here's an app to help you learn touch typing. I stumbled across it a short while ago (the same site has the Phrase editor for Uli's Moose*, which is what I was looking for)
http://www.macinmind.com/MasterKey/index.html

If on a Windows system, this link leads to a set of mini-reviews of various software (free and shareware):
http://www.staminapro.com/tutors/typing.htm


* for the uninitiated: Uli's Moose is a little program that speaks to you using the Mac's speech synthesizer.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 347

Believe it or not, I was a terrible typist until I started getting into chat rooms (this was about 4 years ago when I first got AOL). Then I started using ICQ and just got better. I can ALMOST type all the time without looking at my hands.

I'm also a web developer, so coding by hand brought my typing skills up tremendously.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Enumclaw, Wa
Posts: 268

I've honestly found that unless you're extremly disciplined it is difficult to teach touch typing to yourself.

The best way by far is to dish out some dough and take a class. Most community colleges offer these at a good price.

If you insist on doing it yourself buy a program (the Mavis Beacon series is the best typing program i've seen) and then once you get some solid practice in cover up your hand and the keyboard with a cloth so that you couldn't possibly cheat.

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Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 1883

quote:

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Originally posted by D ev R ay 4Real
I've honestly found that unless you're extremly disciplined it is difficult to teach touch typing to yourself.

The best way by far is to dish out some dough and take a class. Most community colleges offer these at a good price.

If you insist on doing it yourself buy a program (the Mavis Beacon series is the best typing program i've seen) and then once you get some solid practice in cover up your hand and the keyboard with a cloth so that you couldn't possibly cheat.

---

I totally agree.
Also I like the t-shirt tip, when I did my typing training they had some typewriters that did not have the letters printed on the keys.. it forces you to memorize the keyboard layout...

Now I always type with both hands (expect when I only have to type 1 word... than moving your mousehand to the keyboard is slower than using 1 hand...
Still the <backspace> is probably the most used key..

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

I just thought I'd point out that Mavis Beacon teaches typing.

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-Joshua
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Registered: Jan 2001
Location:
Posts: 278

In 4th and 5th grade my teacher spent the 1st month of the year teaching everyone to type. Now I can touch type pretty well but always look at my fingers. I don't see why people don't like it when you look at your fingers since for me I don't need the screen to see I made a mistake and to go back but see it in the keys when I am typing.

--David

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

I took a typing class in high school (my guidance councilor was all but threatening me to do so.. said I would need it because computers were going to be big (this was the mid 80's), he was right.. was kind of odd being the only guy in the class at the time, but in the end fun ) , all it did was teach me how to type faster with 8 fingers (not 10 , I tend not to use my pinky fingers now when I type) I type much faster with 6 or 8 fingers than with all 10.. I use a hybrid between hunt n peck & touch type.. I work a great deal with computers now for a living and all the time spent over the years at the keyboard really helps!
If you really are having issues, there is always "typing" by voice software! Kind neat but you get hypnotized watching it type what you say!!

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Registered: May 2000
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Posts: 163

Try This Site

This site offers free typing tutorial "games". But of course it's free because you have to give them information about yourself ... .
www.easytype.com

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

Re: Try This Site

quote:

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Originally posted by jazzlover
This site offers free typing tutorial "games". But of course it's free because you have to give them information about yourself ... .
www.easytype.com

---

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 268

sheesh i feel like a geek ... i took typing classes in high school and i got the 85 wpm pin (5 minute test; had to do it 3 times) ... in college, i got up to 105 wpm ... now i type around 100 wpm.