I’ve recently started trying to improve my typing speed, which has probably been held back by my somewhat unconventional typing style. Formal touch typing was never a part of my education, and while years of computer use eventually led to me being able to type without looking, I’m probably not as efficient as I could be.
Can you touch type - and with proper form? QWERTY, DVORAK or other layout?
Yes. You have no other choice when you’re blind. I prefer unlabeled keyboards.
No. I have become very fast at the two-finger hunt and peck method after years of use.
Yes. Custom layout so I was forced to learn touch typing. I’m way faster now than I was with with qwerty after years of programming because I would always find myself looking at the keyboard. So, I guess with qwerty, the same could be accomplished by talking the characters off.
The ONE class from High School that taught me something I literally use every single day.
Typing.
I graduated High School in 1988 and have used a keyboard almost every single day and can touch type with alacrity. As far as what layout, QWERTY.
While Dvorak is supposed to be faster and more efficient, I’m an old IT guy and not a typist. While some of my work does include writing presentations and reports, I’m doing more punching commands and using short cuts. It’s just not worth the effort to learn another layout.
Yes qwerty. I’m just a nerd. Lots of angry instant messaging arguments with iamsosmart boys growing up. Probably the best form of practice if you really want to get better (active instant messaging). It also helps to have a real keyboard, and not a laptop. They can get kinda spendy if you go mechanical. But, once you find an ergonomic layout that you like and the keys that you like with the features that you like, and you’ve improved a lot, it’s hard to not, in the same way it’s good to invest in good shoes and mattress.
I can touch type, but not with proper form. I use a really fast “hunt and peck” method with my two index fingers and my other fingers for specific keys such as backspace, shift, space, ctrl, etc. I can typically type between 70 - 80 wpm with high accuracy.
No. And I’ve been programming for the past 20 years.
Yes, but not in a standard way. I do things my own self taught way and didn’t care to adopt anything my schools taught. They did teach how to type all through grade school where I grew up. It’s just that I was usually the fastest in the class doing my own weird thing already and that never changed even in high school where I got bonus credits for typing above 80WPM.
I’m probably not as efficient as I could be.
Same here, my average WPM definitely suffers harshly or strangely thrives in weird ways depending on what repetitive keys I need to press I noticed in the Final Sentence typing battle royale demo on Steam that would be solved by typing properly.
Yes. QWERTY, I learned from both Type Attack and Mavis beacon. Tried Dvorak for the heck of it but that one didn’t stick. I (could) think essays straight onto the screen so long as not too many numbers were involved.
No. I depress the keys with telekinesis.
I was like, wait, what’s “touch typing”? Oh writing without looking?
Yeah, been doing that a couple of decades prolly. I even do it on my phone most of the time. That’s why I typo quite a lot unless I proofread. I do usually use the suggestions and glimpse at the kb from time to time and you can half see it anyway but yeah.
With a computer I don’t really ever look at the keyboard. My speed has been measured a couple of times I think but can’t recall anything except getting the highest grade. And I think those tests limit my speed as I don’t copy things as fast as when I’m heatedly constructing and argument myself. Feels like I’ve got much better flow then than when reading a word and then having to output it at the same time.
I need to see whether I can measure my own speed sometime when I get into a nice argument and have good flow again.
I thought myself to touch type a few years ago. It was also never part of my formal education even though it would have helped a lot ! I was using a mix of AZERTY, QWERTZ ans QWERTY and now I exclusively use International QWERTY, it’s a standard layout with accents and special characters with ALT modifier.
I landed on EurKey, it’s niche but gives me a standard QWERTY layout for programming and German on AltGr and Greek letters on compose
I can to a basic level, but I type much faster without it.
I learned with a game.
I use touch typing when I’m in the dark and the keyboard has no backlight, then I can type at 10wpm.
Yeah, I took a class in highschool where they just had us play a typing game until we got good enough at it. It really helps to learn the correct form and be using the right fingers for the right keys, once you get it in your muscle memory you don’t have to really think about the individual letters anymore and the words just appear when you intend them to.
I was never able to touch type up through middle of high school despite typing papers and taking formal typing courses. Once I got into online PC gaming and also programming I got good at touch typing very fast. Is typing a skill you use daily? Natural practice beats forced if you already have the fundamentals down. QWERTY for me.
Same. I tried really hard to learn it but gave up in frustration. 5ish years with plenty of computer use later I suddenly found myself typing without looking.













