Do you know how to type?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

asdf jkl (the homekeys)
I'm just learning the correct way to type after years and years of college papers and writing. My left-hand pinky and ring finger are getting quite the workout.
Do you type in the proper way? Do you have any tips?

― 57 7th (calstars), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:05 (twenty-two years ago)

the proper way? pffff

(i.e. no. but many so-called "one finger" typists i've encountered are faster than many touch-typists these days)

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes I do. Put a gun to someone's head or a knife around someone's throat. Tell them to type what you say. Then run away and head for Canada or Mexico because the Feds will be knocking down your door if you stick around.

― Fuckedup, Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I do, but I learned so long ago that while I can and do type pretty damn fast I couldn't tell you what steps I learned to build up the speed and accuracy. I'd say it's really a matter of constant practice daily -- I learned via a typing course for a half year at my high school, and I think I can say without hesitation it's actually turned out to be the most important class I took, looking at everything over the years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm generally a good typist for someone self-taught but sometimes I get sloppy and hit the backslash when I'm reaching for the enter key, or do a [@] when I mean to do a [!]. I just can't type with my ring fingers for whatever reason. Often when I'm sending IMs I'll fuck up the very last word of the thing I'm typing because I'm so anxious to finish my thought.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd agree that practice is the important thing. (AIM in being actually useful for something shockah!) I don't type correctly -- I rarely use my ring fingers and my pinkies hardly at all -- but I type fairly quickly and accruately.

― Prude (Prude), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I learned typing the same way Ned learned how to type, except when I was going to HS it was called "keyboarding" and you learned how to operate a word processing program (oddly enough, our school was big on WordPerfect) as well as the usual typing lessons. I'm rather good at typing -- not really one of the fastest typers around, but I can watch TV and type at the same time, which can be useful if staring straight ahead just isn't working for me or there's an interesting program on TV and I want to watch what's going on at the same time as I'm typing out something.

― Many Coloured Halo (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, I learned how to type by hacking into my teacher's computer databases when I was in second grade to get higher grades.

― Fuckedup, Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:17 (twenty-two years ago)

i learned to type on a real typewriter in high school. one of the most valuable classes i've ever had.

I can do about 120 wpm.

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I can say without hesitation it's actually turned out to be the most important class I took, looking at everything over the years.

For me too. I was surprised to hear this high school class isn't offered anymore where I learned it because it's useless, apparently I was from the last generation that needed it since kids nowadays are learning to type on their own, growing up with it.

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:25 (twenty-two years ago)

i still think it's valuable.

everyone, especially now, should know how to type correctly. No better way than to have a piece of paper covering your hands on the keyboard and a teacher shouting: "G,F,G,F,H,J,H,G,G,H,F,C,J,M. . ."

― Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I like people being anrgy at me. It's fun.

― Fuckedup, Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:48 (twenty-two years ago)

you and every other troll

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 15 April 2004 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

>but many so-called "one finger" typists i've encountered are
>faster than many touch-typists these days

This is laughable, apologetic BS.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:49 (twenty-two years ago)

If you really want to learn how to type fast, learn how to
play a MUD. That's a Multi User Dungeon, a really old type
of internet adventure game, all text.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:49 (twenty-two years ago)

The original MMORP.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm not apologising to you, idiot.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 15 April 2004 05:50 (twenty-two years ago)

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Thursday, 15 April 2004 07:57 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

i'm finally learning to do this, about 10 years too later, via mavis beacon. however, what i think would be useful to me, especially when typing maths stuff, is a chart showing which fingers you're supposed to use for which keys, especially the non-alphabetic ones. i assumed i could easily find such a thing on google, but i failed. anyone?

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

i'm on a QWERTY keyboard with ASDF and JKL; as home keys, btw.

― toby (tsg20), Wednesday, 16 August 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

twelve years pass...

100+ wpm, probably the sole reason my productivity is as good as it is

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 22:49 (seven years ago)

I took typing in 7th trade, circa 1981. Used mostly manual typewriters until late high school (1986 or 87).

Nowadays I can do 60 wpm easily, 80 in a pinch. I am not sure I ever got past 100.

Interestingly, I was the last editor of my high school newspaper to use a typewriter. As I was graduating (1989) they were wheeling in an Apple IIe.

Almost everyone who started journalism school when I did (89-90) brought a typewriter. By the time I graduated (1993), many incoming freshmen had computers.

― I was working as a waitress in an oxygen bar (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 1 January 2019 23:02 (seven years ago)

just tested it for the first time since high school.

I got 124 wpm with 100% accuracy. had no idea I'd gotten it up that high but it's one of the few things in life I do well.

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 2 January 2019 23:53 (seven years ago)

Just took a free online test. 86 wpm, no errors. And I was a little slow off the mark at the beginning - could probably get to 90 or so if I wanted to.

― grawlix (unperson), Wednesday, 2 January 2019 23:55 (seven years ago)

probably going to get mega rusty now that my job no longer entails writing hundreds of pages of provisional documents.

― fuck the NRA (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 2 January 2019 23:57 (seven years ago)

If I had to type reports and stuff like that all day, I'd be much faster, I'm sure. But since I stay home and write/edit all day, my speed is slow but my accuracy is 100%.

― grawlix (unperson), Thursday, 3 January 2019 00:05 (seven years ago)

Geez--I thought I was really special at 60-70 wpm. In any event--something I tell my students again and again as I try to get them away from one-finger texting--learning how to type from the home position in a high school course was one of the most useful skills I've acquired in my life. Are they better, in this world, to stick with one finger flying all over the iPad? Probably--I don't know.

― clemenza, Thursday, 3 January 2019 00:40 (seven years ago)

I did the first five or six issues of my yearly fanzine in the '90s on a electric typewriter; the last two or three were done on a Mac. Very good documentary if you're interested in the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgJ3kSOHMiU

― clemenza, Thursday, 3 January 2019 00:44 (seven years ago)

I can hit around 115wpm on typeracer, I consider a very fast typing speed an indispensable skill for a programmer. It's the primary brain-computer interface after all, and you want it to be fast and accurate.

― I have measured out my life in coffee shop loyalty cards (silby), Thursday, 3 January 2019 00:45 (seven years ago)

115wpm on the PB/CI can we get a benchmark on that pls

― topical mlady (darraghmac), Thursday, 3 January 2019 00:51 (seven years ago)

i don't want to test my typing speed because having gotten up to 100 wpm i'd be sad if my total went below that :(

― errang (rushomancy), Thursday, 3 January 2019 01:10 (seven years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.