Current Events > How did you learn to touch type, if you did?

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I took a course in middle school, although even now I don't adhere to proper touch typing technique (my touch typing style is derived from how my hunt-and-peck style evolved, which really screws me over on ergonomic keyboards because they assign the 'B' key to the left hand when I use my right index finger to press it).

It was part of my elementary and middle school curriculum.

typing class in highschool. really if you've got a way to block sight of the keyboard and a few months to practice its something you can learn at home.

yunalenne10 posted...

It was part of my elementary and middle school curriculum.

when was this? i'm wondering if i'm just too old for this to have been a thing or if its because my public schools where shit.

i was a baller in those middle school typing classes.

I also took an advanced typing course in high school as an elective, but really didn't need it at that point. I basically just spaced out the entire time and still got an A. And I didn't try at all in high school so most my grades were like D's.

i didnt

i mastered the hunt and peck. i use my left middle finger and my right pointer and can type faster than almost anybody else i know and dont need to look at a keyboard even though im lifting my hands and fingers off the keys entirely . although touch typers are still faster

is it worth learning to touch type

Countless hours of practice through engaging heated conversation on Current Events on gamefaqs.gamespot.com

monkmith posted...

when was this? i'm wondering if i'm just too old for this to have been a thing or if its because my public schools where shit.

1997 onwards for me in Hawaii. I still remember my computer teachers having DBZ print outs taped on the walls in the computer classroom.

Kloe_Rinz posted...

i didnt

i mastered the hunt and peck. i use my left middle finger and my right pointer and can type faster than almost anybody else i know and dont need to look at a keyboard even though im lifting my hands and fingers off the keys entirely . although touch typers are still faster

is it worth learning to touch type

well it sounds like you're pretty much there, just use more fingers. i dont think anyone really sticks to "keeping a finger on home base" that they teach in a typing course once they really get the hang of it. personally my fingers float over the keyboard and i only touch home base when i'm thinking about what to type.

https://www.typing.com/

https://www.keybr.com/

That first teaches you the foundations of touch typing and the second one gives you a lot of practice by giving you made up words to type so you have to get used to knowing where all the letters are without thinking about it

monkmith posted...

well it sounds like you're pretty much there, just use more fingers. i dont think anyone really sticks to "keeping a finger on home base" that they teach in a typing course once they really get the hang of it. personally my fingers float over the keyboard and i only touch home base when i'm thinking about what to type.

i did try to learn back in grade school, but i had trouble typing well with my ring fingers and pinkies

What's touch typing? And what's the opposite of touch typing? I've never heard that term before. It's always been just "typing"

Anyways, classes in school. Homerow keys. All of that jazz. . I've also been typing on computers since all there was was DOS.

We had typing classes in my elementary school. Don't remember what grade, but probably 4th or 5th grade. That'd be 96 or 97. 98 at the latest.

WrkHrdPlayHrdr posted...

What's touch typing? And what's the opposite of touch typing? I've never heard that term before. It's always been just "typing"

Anyways, classes in school. Homerow keys. All of that jazz. . I've also been typing on computers since all there was was DOS.

its just a name for typing without looking and by keeping track of homerow by touch alone.

Yeah definitely had these classes in like third grade.

We had typing classes, but I never learned touch typing, even though it was taught. I preferred my own way of typing, touch typing makes you put your fingers in awkward positions, and use ones you never use. I just type with whichever finger feels best to type with. I do have to orient myself with the keyboard every so often.

monkmith posted...

its just a name for typing without looking and by keeping track of homerow by touch alone.

Oohhhhh okay. Thank you. That kind of makes sense. I usually type decently fast and never have to look and people would sometimes ask me if I have to look at the keys and they were surprised when I would say not usually.

yunalenne10 posted...

1997 onwards for me in Hawaii. I still remember my computer teachers having DBZ print outs taped on the walls in the computer classroom.

yeah my elementry school had computers but they were pretty much old throw away apple computers and there was maybe one in every classroom. only thing i remember being taught on those was very basic searching techniques for a library book catalogue.

in middle school there was a "computer lab", but i sure as hell never saw the inside of it. i dont know what you had to do to get in but it wasn't something the general student population had access to.

monkmith posted...

yeah my elementry school had computers but they were pretty much old throw away apple computers and there was maybe one in every classroom. only thing i remember being taught on those was very basic searching techniques for a library book catalogue.

in middle school there was a "computer lab", but i sure as hell never saw the inside of it. i dont know what you had to do to get in but it wasn't something the general student population had access to.

Haha, library catalogue? Last I learned about that was still manual with paper cards. Computer class was about typing, Sim City, and basic Internet Explorer browsing.

I was taught it in school. I can type pretty fast without looking, but I don't type like you're supposed to with the index fingers on the F and J keys and all that shit. I use my index, middle, and ring fingers for most of the keys and I only really use my pinkies for the shift, ctrl, backspace, and enter keys.

Had a Computer Discovery class in 8th grade I think. I can type extremely fast, but one thing I never learned completely is the number keys lol. I still have to look for some of them sometimes.Or actually I think I don't even look, I just attempt the number and 90% of the time I get it right, and the other 10, I'm like 1 number off. And hmmm. Just type all of those numbers right on the first try.

Basically I memorized the order of where each of the keys are and got to a point where I could do like 60+ WPM just by hunt-and-peck. I remember once during a typing class the teacher caught me typing the "wrong" way and I thought she'd get mad but she was one of those cool teachers who understands some people learn differently and if I was getting the speeds I was getting with 100% accuracy it didn't particularly matter how I was doing it.

Also, Mavis Beacon

Classes starting in elementary school, then middle school. I still sucked so I took a dedicated typing class as an elective in high school.

But really it didn't click until I really started message boarding.

Learned in high school. We had a computer class where we practiced typing. The programs we used actually made it pretty fun lol.

High school course

Just developed it naturally through using the computer as a kid tbh.

NoxObscuras posted...

Learned in high school. We had a computer class where we practiced typing. The programs we used actually made it pretty fun lol.

This. I'm relatively old but we had computer classes like typing and word processing/spreadsheets all through high school. They gamified the typing programs pretty early on.

"A girl runs through a green grass region," was my favorite sentence to type.

Middle school

Middle school

Online video games mostly, had typing classes in middle school, but already was typing pretty well by then.