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| Thread ID: 34357 | 2003-06-10 13:20:00 | How to learn to touch type? | nomad (3693) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 151619 | 2003-06-10 13:20:00 | Hiya guys i wanna learn to touch type. I am a hunt and peck typer whom knows like a fraction where the keys are without looking. I have a oldie dos proggie called "typing tutor IV" I now am 40-45 wpm using the 8 home keys, i o e r t n i am using a laptop so any suggestions here?? its a ultraportable. the hardest keys are p c , i have not yet adv onto the other keys yet... :) |
nomad (3693) | ||
| 151620 | 2003-06-10 21:11:00 | I find Typing Tutor 2002 (I think) very good to use. Last time I tryed any others they were rather similar as well. | -=JM=- (16) | ||
| 151621 | 2003-06-10 22:04:00 | Most typing tutors are pretty good. The problem is that you need to practice a lot. It doesn't stop after the first half an hour of use. However, that being said I don't touch type, I don't have the patience. However, I seem to be able to type pretty well, usually get 45wpm on tests I have done. I use about seven or eight fingers (and that only increased when I broke my left index finger about ten years ago), was closer to four or three before that happened. I don't look at the keyboard, I can type fine in the dark, but the fingers I use depends a lot on the word I am typing. Very strange, I think. In fact I just noticed that I use my left little finger for the Shift key, never realised that before. I must load a typing service on startup. I do notice that I mistype certain words very consistently, even though I know how they are spelt. It's like my hands are programmed in a routine for each word (Barbara drives me nuts, I always type barabara). I strongly recommend lots of practice with a proper tutor program so that you can type considerably faster than sad arses like myself. But it really does take serious practice in a tutor, then you have to make sure you type that same way in other places, otherwise you only use the techniques in the typing program. Sermon over. robo. |
robo (205) | ||
| 151622 | 2003-06-11 02:04:00 | That's like knowing how to spell banananana but not knowing when to stop. I'm like robo ... learned past 2 finger (+ thumbs) typing on an Imperial 66 many years ago, and now use however many fingers happen to be near the keys I want. My fingers have trained themselves to mistype some words ... to the extent that I even made some .bat files to run the right programme (like "trubo" to start Turbo Pascal :D). I suspect any typing tutor would be helpful, but no programme can make you touch type. Only a lot of practice will do that. (That's the problem with any "computer aided learning" : it won't do the work for you.) |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 151623 | 2003-06-11 02:56:00 | I have mavis beacon typing i cd and its very useful in speeding up your typiung but practise is essential also try to avoid looking at your fingers and verbalize the letters as you hit them contact me if you want more help | kiwibeat (304) | ||
| 151624 | 2003-06-11 06:33:00 | My wife taught me in no time, and she used to train ladies for office work at night school. She drew a picture of all the letters from the keyboard on a sheet of paper, fifteen keys for the left hand, a gap and then fifteen keys including the ; , . and ' buttons for the right hand. Thats fifteen buttons for each hand with a gap in the middle drawn acureatly as to how they are on the keyboard minus the gap. The first two keys on either side of the gap she coloured red, so the red keys are typed with the index finger, thats r t f g v b for the left hand and y u h j n m used for the right hand. The keys struck with the big finger are e d c and i k , and these are coloured blue. For the ring finger coloured white are w s x and o l . and then finaly coloured green are q a z and p ; / then you start with your index fingers on the "braile keys" f and j and use them for reference points. Start typing simple sentences like "The quick brown Fox" etc over and over or just combinations to get used to where the keys are but instead of looking at the keyboard look at the coloured keys on the paper. Use your thumbs on the spacebar and the rest of the keys soon become obvious which finger you should use. Hope thats of some help. Might sound complicated but once you draw up the keypad (don't forget to put a gap down the middle for each hand to avoid confusion) it becomes very simple and quick to pick up the skills. |
Danger (287) | ||
| 151625 | 2003-06-11 08:14:00 | I help tutor touch typing as part of Weltec's Computing Made Easy course and we're using Typing Master. Overall it seems pretty good. I've seen students go from two finger typing to typing almost as fast as me... as a reference, on a flat dell keyboard I get 76-80wpm 98% accuracy, and on my MS Natural Pro I get 30wpm faster than that (I was trained on a classic ergo you see, so I'm more inclined towards them) www.typingmaster.com if i'm not mistaken |
whetu (237) | ||
| 151626 | 2003-06-11 08:42:00 | IMHO - Tutor's are great, but you MUST have real-life use as well, just typing what comes to mind like when you post on PressF1 has a lot of effect on your abilities, rather than reading what's on-screen first! If you can get up to 'dictator' speed, where your wife/friend etc. can talk to you and you can type it all out at the same time is probably a good goal. I learned in the end by throwing a Tea towel over my hands, otherwise I found myself looking at the screen and then at the keyboard for re-assurance ;-) Any mix of tutors should help, and the free ones are good too! Practise is the biggest thing.. I only used a tutor for a month.. and tried to touch type for a while, but found myself constantly looking... so I tried the Tea Towel trick and realised how much I knew when I was forced to put it into practise! Hope this helps Chill. |
Chilling_Silently (228) | ||
| 151627 | 2003-06-11 09:15:00 | Covering up the keyboard to prevent quick peeps is the faster (but harder) way of learning to touch type. Another option instead of using tea towels which may interfer with the fingers, is to put on a full lenght apron :D. If you tuck the end of it under the monitor stand, it will form a sail and you will not be able to see the keyboard. Just hope no one comes to the door whilst decked out in the apron :D |
Jen C (20) | ||
| 151628 | 2003-06-11 13:35:00 | thank you for all the help!! currently typing under a hands towel right now. slow thou.. how long did it take some of u to get the hang of it - course u still needed practice? jus curious. the diagram did wonders.... fingers not behaving :D |
nomad (3693) | ||
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