Touch typing...

[User]

 

[4F]

...how quickly can I pick it up?

Are online courses a good way of learning?

My mates on my pod at work are giving me grief about my banging on the keyboards with two fingers all day long. My banging is very industrial, apparently. My wife has even banned me from using the two laptops we have at home as "the keyboard on the laptops cannot be replaced, unlike the one on the prehistoric PC in the spare room that you can only use from now on..."

It will be much easier to train yourself not to hit the keys as hard

 

[fossyant]

Oh no chance here.....about 4 fingers and they are dyslexic.....they keep missing buttons...........

 

[Aperitif]

Mavis Beacon, Crock. She was on the last FNRttC - ooops you had to miss it...pity!

 

[BrumJim]

I learnt using a program on a computer. Achieved the required level, and then got a certificate to print out.

Takes a bit of getting used to, and quite a bit of self discipline, but games and challenges help a lot.

One of those skills that you will learn, and not forget. Also easier to type less aggressively, since you get used to just hovering your fingers above the keys, rather than looking down and thumping them with your strongest fingers.

 

[WindyRob]

+1 for Mavis. totally rubbish program really but it only took about 6 hours to learn the placing of the keys. the difficult bit is getting slower at work before you speed up. i found that i had to spell each word to start with but this reduces once you learn patterns for the really common words.

best thing i did to help me save time in the office when i used to get buried by emails.

Windy

 

[Campfire]

I learnt on a typewriter with blank keys. We used to do typing exercises to music! How weird was that? The advantage is though, I can sit at my laptop and forget to turn the light on when it gets dusk as mostly I don't need to look. There are always some keys you have to look for but the main letters are ok. I always used to numbers at the top of the keyboard and had to consciously learn the numeric keypad. It was quite slow and a bit difficult then one day I realized I knew it.

 

[gaz]

I learnt when i was at school. pretty easy then, i could type 125+ wpm back then, but would be more likley to hit 110 today.

 

[Greedo]

...how quickly can I pick it up?

Are online courses a good way of learning?

My mates on my pod at work are giving me grief about my banging on the keyboards with two fingers all day long. My banging is very industrial, apparently. My wife has even banned me from using the two laptops we have at home as "the keyboard on the laptops cannot be replaced, unlike the one on the prehistoric PC in the spare room that you can only use from now on..."

Touch typing is for girls

 

[Over The Hill]

After 10 years of two finger typing I had a really bad neck all the time and found it was down to how you have to hold your arms when typing with two fingers.

I could not stop typing as job required it so had to learn to touch type. I used Mavis but all systems seem about the same. Mavis is a bit annoying as it is american but it does the job.

Time wise you really need to do about 30 mins per day. You cannot do it by say 3 hours solid once a week. You actually learn a range of movements associated with each letter. Little and often is the only way. Give it three or four weeks and you have it cracked up to a point where you can get away with it at work. As soon as you use it in work you are up and running.
I cannot do numbers or fill forms in by touch typing so work is really only a benefit if you are writing long passages.
I think they should teach it in schools it really is brill. I really would recommend it to anyone.

 

[threefingerjoe]

Don't they teach typing in schools, anymore? I took typing in high school, 35 years ago. I thought, with the advent of computers, it would be required in primary school by now.

 

[Gromit]

I did typing in school, I hated it. Have a computer exam in the second week of January, its going to come in very useful because I can read the text and not have to look at the keyboard at all to find the keys.

I like being able to type things and not have to look anywhere else other than the screen. I can also look somewhere else and still type a reasonable sentence.

 

[snapper_37]

Touch typing is for girls

That is correct Greedo - it has to be, since it's so difficult for blokes to master.

My grammar school didn't believe in us gaallls doing such things as typing (not when one was expected to go straight to Oxford!!). Luckily, my mom realised I wasn't one of the most academic and sent me to night classes. Got RSA and Pitman qualifications and TT has come in very handy in my career as well as other courses I've done.

 

[jonny jeez]

Interesting, lets give it a go.

"hello mu n|ke is jonny jeeda I likse to eode muy bikwe to work in the montiongs."

Never had one lesson!!!

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

That is correct Greedo - it has to be, since it's so difficult for blokes to master.

My grammar school didn't believe in us gaallls doing such things as typing (not when one was expected to go straight to Oxford!!). Luckily, my mom realised I wasn't one of the most academic and sent me to night classes. Got RSA and Pitman qualifications and TT has come in very handy in my career as well as other courses I've done.

Snapper is a giiirl, Snapper is a giiiiirl... oh, hang on.... as crap insults go, that's a good one..

Seriously though, I'd love to be able to touch type but suspect that it wouldn't actually be much good for what I do (programming) as the syntax is short and usually involves lots of "non-alphabetic" characters (brackets, semicolons etc.).

My Wife can touch type, although not anywhere near as fast as she used to when she was a PA, and it's fascinating to watch!