Touch-typing
When I type I don't think about what I'm doing. I either look at the keyboard for the first letter, or perhaps I just know where it is, and then I continue typing without looking down. I can invariable copy reasonably long lengths of text from a paper source onto the computer with ease. Sometimes I get the alignment wrong, or see an incorrect letter appear on the screen, but I soon correct that.
I have no visual map of the keys. I seem to use my kinetic memory for that. I couldn't tell you where the R key is on the keyboard, but when I'm in the middle of word with R in it I reach the key without a problem. That is, I've been using that approach until recently. Because I have a masochistic desire to use baroque Unix programs that use a stupid amount of keyboard short-cuts for pretty-much everything I now need to know where the R key is, amongst others, from nowhere. Therefore, I've been learning to touch-type. I can touch-type now, but quite slowly. If I'm typing in a few things in I'll touch-type. But If I've a large amount of text I need to enter I fall back onto my older, faster kinetic approach out of frustration. Who out of you touch-type? Have you been in a similar situation where you've had to relearn how to type? It's a cocking joke to be honest. |
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If you actually touch type you should know where the letters are instinctively.
To me it seems od you have problems finding the keyboard shortcuts if you manage to type olly olly oxen free without watching them elusive keys. |
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Well, now I can, I do.
It is odd. That's why I posted this thread. I explained the difference. I like how I'm reiterating the thread for you. |
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I use two fingers at great speed. Its difficult to explain how stupid or insane i look until you actually see it happening.
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I type with the index and little fingers of my left hand, and the middle and ring fingers of my right hand. My left hand is in a normal typing position, but my right hand sits with the index finger on B and my little finger on P, at a bit of an angle. It's very odd, but I don't look at the keys and can type pretty fast.
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Introvert dialog? :|
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I touch-type but I have no idea how or when I learnt to, I think it was just a natural progression. Makes typing and watching the tv easier though.
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Touchtyping is using all fingers on your hands and if any of you do do that it's quite impressive, as you have to learn how to do it.
Personally, I only use the middle fingers of both hands (like Deffeh) and occasionally my index finger for things like backspace or enter. I don't have to look at the keys - that isn't touchtyping though. It's just not looking at the keys :P My school's recently given/lent me a laptop and the / and \ keys are next to each other on the far right of the keyboard. It really messes me up :( |
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I just instinctively reach for the keys, I know where each key is on the keyboard though if I ever need to remember or something (yes I'm sad enough to think about where the keys are on the keyboard whilst on long journeys.)
I use all my fingers to type although my little fingers aren't used very much at all, I guess I use them to hit enter, shift, tab and \ and / |
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If youre spending all that time at the computer, you might as well learn how to type properly. Mavis Beacon isnt that expensive, and its something you should have learned at school anyway. The idea of typing up a 1000+ word essay using 2 fingers horrifies me - I had no idea that practice still went on in the civilised world. |
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i have no idea how i type, while i am typing this i think i use a combination of my index, middle and ring finger.
my pink is barely used and my thumb only for the space ...the pink is only used for the occasional enter. My hands are fairly big to what a normal keyboard is designed for, so using my pinky on the Q or something would be 'uncool' and unneeded... |
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I touch type with all my fingers except for my little fingers, and am reasonably quick.
Im not sure how i learnt, but i had a computer in the house all my life, so i guess it was just lots and lots of practice :) edit: after reading Dante's post i realise i do use my little finger for shift/ctrl/etc :o |
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I remember only ever using one finger per hand to type when I was about 10, but as I got older, like Pabs said, it just evolved to the point where I can almost touch-type. I've tried to "re-learn" to type using the formal methods, but I find it incredibly frustrating (just as Weeks said) and give up.
I have two possible theroes/excuses. 1. I simply have learnt too many bad habits and don't have the motivation to unlearn them (this is true with a lot of programming stuff but much less so than a few years ago). 2. My hands are the wrong shape/size. They don't seem to fit where your fingers should sit according to the diagrams I've seen. Since most typists (originally) were women (possibly, I've no evidence at all for that statement), is there a optimal range for certain styles of typing which is likely to be quite low? edit : Most "one finger" typists I've seen to tend to use their little finger occassionally, even if only for occassional use of the shift key. |
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Like hebdomad i can basically touch type as long as i don't think about it - which is more than a little ****ing diffucult attis moment as im having to think about it - im typing with all fingers on both hands except for my little fingers that seem to be balancing my palms tail like. I vaguely remember only typing with both index fingers but that was soon overcome with AOL chatrooms.
edit here you go deffeh |
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www.typingtest.com It's just a case of knowing where the keys are and being able to move your fingers very quickly. I'd love to type 'properly', since I'm probably near the maximum speed for this style of typing, but as Dante said it's very difficult to do. |
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I got 91 WPM on the Fishing one. I only really use my middle fingers. On Wizard of Oz I got 93 WPM with 2 fingers and made 15 mistakes. Most of those mistakes were from misplacing my fingers for the shift keys for the capital letters. |
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that's pretty terrible accuracy, try again and see how you do when you're down to 1 mistake per minute.
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Yeah I guess it is. The main reason for my inaccuracy is because I'm very fast at typing in lowercase (from using IRC) but not for writing reports/essays etc (where capital letters are needed). Also because your middle finger isn't the right position to find the shift keys quickly.
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hey guys at least this thread didnt turn into a pissing contest
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I use all my fingers (including my little fingers for shift, enter, del and the arrow keys and my thumbs for pressing the space-bar), yet I don't touch type (using the formal method). I'm fast enough - I can generally type as fast as the touch-typers, but I just don't know where the keys are if asked.
I quite like the fact I'm using my kinetic memory for it, but I still think I'd be better if I touch-typed properly. But it requires motivation and the usage of my visual memory which I always find taxing. |
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I can type pretty well.
It used to be my party trick to sit in a packed library and chat up a girl while I was looking at her and chatting and at the same time typing away. I know from what I am writing when I make a mistake without looking at it and automatically undo my damage. All without looking. |
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(I just realised that my right little finger operates the shift key, how cool is that) |
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Left little finger here.
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I learned to touch type when I was in the 9th grade taking a typing class in school. Oddly enough it was on a thing called a typewriter rather than a keyboard. Quaint.
(Congratualations for no one up to this point saying they touch type with their male member.) |
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I'm not sure what I do. I think I use all my fingers when typing, but I might not be using them on the "correct" buttons according to touch-typing. Typing and finding the correct letters has become some kind of a reflex to me; I know how to do it without thinking about what to do next. Kinda like learning how to drive a car or ride a bicycle I guess.
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It appears at the moment that i only use my index and middle fingers on each hand to type, with left little finger operating shift and ctrl etc. Currently I'm alternating between using my left thumb and right index finger on the space bar.
My mum on the other hand does touch type, but then she was a typist in the Home Office before having my sister and I |
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Are you the result of an illicit affair with Michael Howard?
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I managed to get 74wpm with six errors on the Oz test. I use pretty much every finger on both of my hands but i think the reason i do this i because since year 7 i have been taught to do so.
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I use two fingers on each hand. lus my left thumb for the spacebar.
I can't do any tping tests on this computer as one of the letters doesn't work. |
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I've been able to type alpha numeric + caps pretty much blindfold for the last 6 or 7 years now, due to the amount of time I spent in IRC chat rooms when I was 13/14/15. I definitely have bad habits and don't type properly (my right hand is too far over and I never use my right little finger to type enter, I think), but I use most of my fingers and when not thinking about it can type pretty quickly. I cba with wpm tests at the moment, but the wpm drastically drops when I need to include things like !£$%^&*. I can usually get () and . , : ; because I use them more often :D.
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85 wpm with two errors on whatever the **** nonsense about business I was typing, but that was on a laptop keyboard and I'm pretty sure I'd be more proficient on a proper one.
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Surely neural-links are less than a decade away in terms of text input, maybe with another year to have filter stuff so you don't get output like:
"And as we see in Figure 2.1, the economic... oh my god look at that girl out there, I wonder what whipping her until she bled would be like...no hang on, she's about 13....no way, 18 easy....so why the school uniform then...shit, it's all so wrong...maybe you should go back into therapy.... ...system of Chile suffered a massive decline between..." and so on, which would get tedious to go back and edit. |
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Likewise it'd be fairly easy to correct - it'd only take a single thought to erase a portion of text and (theoretically) visualise how the section of text should look. |
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I use all of my fingers to type when I'm on a proper keyboard, on a laptop keyboard because it's so much smaller I almost never use the last two fingers on my right hand or the small finger on my left hand. Actually just from typing there I realised on a laptop keyboard I use my little finger on my left hand for the shift/caps lock shit and the third finger (index?) on right hand for backspace and return. I guess I know how to touch-type but I never really learned it formally so I assume there'd be a bunch of errors I was making (in terms of speed and proficiency, not actual typing errors).
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you must spread some reputation arond before giving it to dante again! that is the single funniest thing i have read all month |
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I had a job interview today and as we were gonig through my CV the interviewer sounded incredably surprised by the the fact that I could touch-type 70wpm
Until this thread I wasn't 100% sure what touch-typing was. I can't touch-type, though I can type rather quickly though I do tend to look down at the keyboard at time but I think this is more of a force of habit rather than any real need to see what I am doing. Whilst saying that I'm not looking at what I'm typing and I seem to be making more mistakes than usual and my typing is slower. |
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Being a reasonable typist and generally quick to navigate around Windows (i.e. knowing a few keyboard short-cuts) has probably impressed more people during my working life than any other single thing I've done.
This speaks volumes about the qualities I possess as a human being. :( |
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I learned touch-typing in high school but that was back in the pre-PC days when typewriters roamed the earth. ;)
Given my eventual profession as a computer programmer it turned out to be far more useful than I ever would have imagined. :) |
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