How to type faster?

[AlmostGodess]

I have seen programs that teach how to read faster. Do you know of any that teach how to type faster? I think faster than I can type and my frustration comes from the fact that I loose information by typing slower than I should.

[Federer]

Imagine and act. I think you can go this way and if not other way, you have seen me. Your good friend of here who is fast.

[Mounds]

I'm sure there is oodles of them for free. I've seen my brother using them.

Check out this site:

Learn How to Type Faster With These 8 Sites

One of the sites listed is Learn to Type | Free Typing Tutor | Typing Lessons, which has games that look quite fun.

-Tim

[jasmineY]

Do you look at the keyboard (a lot) while typing?

[Bliss Sage]

Originally Posted by AlmostGodess

I have seen programs that teach how to read faster. Do you know of any that teach how to type faster? I think faster than I can type and my frustration comes from the fact that I loose information by typing slower than I should.

Use all 10 fingers and then practice, practice, practice.

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by jasmineY

Do you look at the keyboard (a lot) while typing?

Yes, is there any other way to type?

[Mounds]

What Bliss Sage said works too. On North American keyboards, we put our fingers on ASDF and JKL; . I use my thumbs for the space bar and never look at the keyboard while I type. I still make a few mistakes but it's easy to backspace and take care of them.

[Bliss Sage]

Originally Posted by AlmostGodess

Yes, is there any other way to type?

Of course there is. About a hundred years ago, when I was in high school, they had typing classes. They teach you how to hold your hands over the keys and use all of your fingers to reach the respective keys. You don't look at the keyboard, you don't look at your fingers and you can type very fast. I think I can type 50-60 words a minute. I think that's average (or was average for a secretary when I learned to type). Once you learn the fundamentals of it, you practice and practice, and you become faster and faster at typing.

I can't fathom how people stopped teaching typing in school with the rise of the absolute necessity of typing skills...

[Elrond]

Do you know touch? It's more than just being able to type without looking at the screen. It's about using certain fingers for certain buttons, to achieve economy of motion. Some people will for example use some of their fingers more than the others, like almost only use their middle and index finger.

There are softwares for this that will guide you on how to properly write like that. Sure, you can just write whatever and don't care about technique, but your results might cap at an earlier point than if you learn how to write more economically.

When I learn myself basslines, I sometimes practice them ridicolously slow, to really be sure that I make zero mistakes. Then after a while when I try to do it faster, I realize I can do it 3 times as fast as the pace I was practicing at. In the same way, it can probably help your speed if you just practice really slow to be sure you do everything right, and to be sure that you don't tense up (which can often happen if someone tries to do something really fast).

It doesn't seem like my writing speed has improved so much lately though, it seems to have capped. Right now I don't make any effort to deliberately type faster, but it would be nice if I got some more speed just by doing it casually.

Originally Posted by AlmostGodess

Yes, is there any other way to type?

How are guitarists able to play the guitar without looking at it? Muscle memory. Before I learned touch, I was also able to type while not looking at the keyboard, but when I learned touch it was actually easier to type without looking at the keyboard, because the hands and therefor the fingers are more in one position, whereas before they would sometimes dart all over the keyboard.

[jasmineY]

Originally Posted by AlmostGodess

Yes, is there any other way to type?

Well, I don't look at the keyboard at all while typing.

I typed the above sentence while looking at the keyboard and I think I made a couple of typos and it took a lot more time than usual to type.

Don't worry, you just need to practice. Your index fingers should mostly stay on F and J buttons and like what Mounds said use your thumbs for the space button. And just try typing simple words without looking at the keyboard. Eventually you'll memorize the location of every button.

And I'm sure in every single book or website about typing you can find a lot of good info.

[CoolBee]

Yes - learn to touch type! Best investment I ever made was paying some woman £100 in 1984 to sit in her backroom for a week forcing myself to learn to type without looking at the keyboard! I had done classes before but they were either free or low cost so I kept cheating and looking.

That said, there is no easy way - you have to put in the time. Try Mavis Beacon - a lot of people rate her teaching methods!

As the above say, you learn 'home keys' and then the muscle movements necessary to move your fingers to the rows above and below. It's much faster than 'hunt and peck'! It's a great skill - when I was working as a secretary my typing speed was around 95wpm. Now, as I am not typing all day, I test myself from time to time on an online site and it's around 80-85wpm depending on how tired I am and which keyboard I use (obviously some keyboards eg on netbook have keys closer together than on others and some peripheral keys are differently lettered).

Also, if I had numerical work to type then I would be sure to double check it after typing it! A numerical error often has much worse consequences than a spelling mistake!

PS I type faster than I hand write and get a lot less 'hand cramp'!

[SatvikBeri]

Pretty much any typing program will teach you how to touch type. When you're done you should be able to type with your eyes closed at 50-60 WPM. Just repeating the programs a few times will help you increase your typing speed beyond that.

When using the programs, make sure not to rely on any crutches such as looking at the keyboard or moving your fingers in different ways than the program tells you. It may be difficult at first but these skills are the foundation of being able to type at a reasonable rate.

[moonrambler]

Originally Posted by Elrond

How are guitarists able to play the guitar without looking at it? Muscle memory. Before I learned touch, I was also able to type while not looking at the keyboard, but when I learned touch it was actually easier to type without looking at the keyboard, because the hands and therefor the fingers are more in one position, whereas before they would sometimes dart all over the keyboard.

I like the guitarist analogy. I type very fast and did so nearly as soon as I learned to type, and I always figured one reason for that was I'd been playing piano since I was 7. It's a similar principle, not looking at the keyboard.

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by moonrambler

I like the guitarist analogy. I type very fast and did so nearly as soon as I learned to type, and I always figured one reason for that was I'd been playing piano since I was 7. It's a similar principle, not looking at the keyboard.

ME TOO! I absolutely love guitars and people who can play them!

[AlmostGodess]

Thank you very much for your inputs, I appreciate it. I am sure I can learn this now

[faithsdaddy]

Well, I'm not brilliantly fast, but I worked on improving my typing speed about 6 months ago. Went from about 40WPM to about 60/ 70. My wife is over twice as fast as me. Here's what she does;

- Minimise finger movement
- Practice linking letters of words together
- Learn to do it subconsciously, so you're not thinking about what you're doing
- Don't check your work until after (I don't do this)
- Overspeed your typing from time to time.
- I learnt to do numbers as well (am still learning this- it's not sinking in)

I don't think I'm going to get much faster without a lot of effort.

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by faithsdaddy

Well, I'm not brilliantly fast, but I worked on improving my typing speed about 6 months ago. Went from about 40WPM to about 60/ 70. My wife is over twice as fast as me. Here's what she does;

- Minimise finger movement
- Practice linking letters of words together
- Learn to do it subconsciously, so you're not thinking about what you're doing
- Don't check your work until after (I don't do this)
- Overspeed your typing from time to time.
- I learnt to do numbers as well (am still learning this- it's not sinking in)

I don't think I'm going to get much faster without a lot of effort.

Nick, do you know if she used any particular program or if she learned it herself?

Thanks a lot

[ssandra]

I have an Azerty keyboard, but my computer is set on Querty. So looking at my keyboard would be completely pointless

I thought myself when I was 13 or so on a computer program that we had on a old computer (it still had MS DOS, was VERY old!!). But... I am so happy that I did. It really makes all types of work so much easier!!

I could type pretty fast typing things from a paper or something, but not anymore.

Right now I can only type without mistakes if I am looking at what I'm typing, on the screen.

I can also touch type on an Azerty keyboard btw. Just took me a week or so to get used to it If I'd switch now it'll take me another week or so to get used again...

[Broderick]

I used a program called Typing Tutor 5. It's an old program, but it works. If you can't find that one, they probably have some programs similar to it that are updated, but that's the only one I've ever used consistently.

Here's a video of it. At the end of that clip there's a game called Letter Invaders and I used to play that ALOT.

It's kinda funny. I wasn't even trying to improve my typing. I just wanted to beat my moms high score on that game, and before I knew it I was at around 50 wpm at age 9 or 10 I think.

[faithsdaddy]

Originally Posted by AlmostGodess

Nick, do you know if she used any particular program or if she learned it herself?

Thanks a lot

She did a secretary course when she left school. Doesn't mean much though. Most people who do the course aren't as fast as her, but some are much faster. 200 WPM is possible apparently. FWIW, she does most things very fast, so a lot of it's just how she is. Myself, nothing comes easy to me, but I find I can excel at anything if I'm motivated.

Think I went a bit off track there. Soz

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by faithsdaddy

She did a secretary course when she left school. Doesn't mean much though. Most people who do the course aren't as fast as her, but some are much faster. 200 WPM is possible apparently. FWIW, she does most things very fast, so a lot of it's just how she is. Myself, nothing comes easy to me, but I find I can excel at anything if I'm motivated.

Think I went a bit off track there. Soz

Uh, I am fast at most of the things, except of typing. I type ok, but not fast and since I write a lot, I need to improve this

Part of my problem might be that I change languages very often. I have days when I write in 4 different languages, it is just difficult to switch from one language to another.

I really liked the idea about revising at the end, I will try this for a while.

[relaXman]

Hey A.G.

I think, all of the above posts are kinda benefitical.
I can add that, as far as I see there are many fast-typers in this forum, their recommandations would be usefull.
for example james ,james is the master of the fast-typers . No kidding,

hey james where are you , You have many questions to answer , do not leave us alone

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by relaXman

Hey A.G.

I think, all of the above posts are kinda benefitical.
I can add that, as far as I see there are many fast-typers in this forum, their recommandations would be usefull.
for example james ,james is the master of the fast-typers . No kidding,

hey james where are you , You have many questions to answer , do not leave us alone

I would ask James, but he still did not answer my other questions

[relaXman]

Originally Posted by AlmostGodess

I would ask James, but he still did not answer my other questions

mee to,
I think James doesn't like us

[jasmineY]

Originally Posted by relaXman

mee to,
I think James don't like us

WHAT? He doesn't like you?

*Tries to find her gun*

[CoolBee]

I just got me a dual English / Arabic keyboard so this thread has prompted me to try and find an Arabic touch typing course online
I think it will improve my arabic no end - I just spent forever typing into translate google to try and understand the passage I'm reading in the text book (words not in dictionary or glossary) using the screen thingy.

[AlmostGodess]

Originally Posted by CoolBee

I just got me a dual English / Arabic keyboard so this thread has prompted me to try and find an Arabic touch typing course online
I think it will improve my arabic no end - I just spent forever typing into translate google to try and understand the passage I'm reading in the text book (words not in dictionary or glossary) using the screen thingy.

Uh, I wish you good luck with it! I know how difficult it is, but I also know how gratifying it feels to master a complicated language

[Ceoarob]

Hey there AlmostGoddess,

let me give you my 2 cents on typing.

------------------

I used to be a QWERTY typist, meaning that I used the traditional keyboard that everyone else used.

I used this for approximately 1st grade to my Freshman year in college. (Over a Decade on computers)

Then, in April of 2010, I decided to make a switch to DVORAK.



I made this switch mainly because I was having major issues with my fingers and wrists. I was afraid of getting RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) and not being able to type for a long period of time.

Fortunately, I didn't have any term papers due at the time, so I was able to sacrifice some typing speed in order to become a faster typist. I had heard that Barbara Blackburn (the World Fastest Typist) had achieved a speed of 212 WPM using this DVORAK layout.

In addition, some of the fastest typist that I had heard of also used this layout.

-----------------

I bought TypingMaster.com and used it to get my speed up. It taught me the basics.

TypingMaster - Typing Tutor and Typing Test Programs

In order to type in the DVORAK format, you just have to switch your keyboard using Control Panel>>>Keyboard/Input Languages.

It's really simple to switch. You don't necessarily have to switch all your keys on your keyboard. Personally, I just took my laptop, borrowed some of my sister's nail polish, and ended up writing the DVORAK letters on my keys.

However, I made a FIRM commitment to myself that I was going to learn how to type this way.

--------------

How was the process?

Freaking killer. My WPM with QWERTY was approximately 45-65 WPM and going from that to 3-10 WPM was EXTREMELY difficult for me mentally. I got frustrated a little bit, but I kept the process fun and enjoyable for myself. I stayed EXTREMELY optimistic and noticed improvements coming time after time.

It was essentially like learning a new language with my fingers. I was so used to the "old language" and I made many mistakes, but it took about 30 days that I could type fluently in DVORAK with 45 WPM on basic material.

--------------

I just kept typing and typing and one day, I realized that I was typing 60 WPM at a MINIMUM. This was EXTREMELY surprising for me since I would be typing 60 WPM at the HIGH maximum with QWERTY.

I thought this was as good as it got...I was wrong.

---------------

I was plateauing somewhere around 60-80 WPM on basic material (which isn't that much of a problem for most people who type 35-45 WPM; but I was in a quest for mastery).

I found three games on Facebook which really pushed me to the edge and help me hone in my typing skills.

1) Typing Maniac
2) Typing Test
3) Fast Tyist

These increased both my speed AND my accuracy just by doing them alot during the day. I finally broke the 90 WPM threshold (which had been so elusive up to that point) and I'm finally breaking into the 100 WPM as an AVERAGE typing speed.

Now, I type anywhere from 80-110 WPM.

80 for extremely technical material and new words and somewhere around 100 WPM for normal writing (something like this post).

I type anywhere from 110+ when I'm having conversations with my friends over AIM or Facebook or if I'm typing extremely easy material.

-----------------

Other people have talked about DVORAK in this thread:

Steve, do you use dvorak?

----------------

Will most people need to type in this way?

No. They don't use computers as much as I do and don't type as much stuff as I do. But since I really care about journaling and keeping accurate records of my life, then I decided that this would be a worthwhile investment for my life. This would essentially be a "life-skill".

It's extremely efficient when typing certain words and takes much lesser of a toll on my fingers and wrists (meaning that I can type for much longer periods of time).

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask and/or PM.

-AR

[Manipulator]

Type more. Fast typists never wanted to type faster, they simply engaged in activities that required them to type efficiently, i.e. fast paced typographical communication.

[Ceoarob]

And the faster that I get, the more I realize how important it is to have the "fundamentals" down.

In DVORAK, since I'm learning this from the bottom up, the ONLY thing that holds me back from getting a consistent 120 WPM is the fact that I have MINOR problems on the home keys.

My most messed up keys: oent

Whenever I'm typing, sometimes these slow me down. I would say make sure that you put accuracy as high as possible as you can on your list. You can always fix speed, but accuracy will bite you in the ass if you don't have it 100% down.

The faster you go, the more your "bad keys" come out.