Since this is a forum where we communicate by typing, and some of the posts are truly voluminous, I was wondering who touch-types and who hunts-and-pecks. If you touch type, how did you learn?
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Since this is a forum where we communicate by typing, and some of the posts are truly voluminous, I was wondering who touch-types and who hunts-and-pecks. If you touch type, how did you learn?
Hunt and peck here.
Typing was a required class for me..think around 1993-1995. Very happy i took that class.
My typing has gone downhill since then, we were not allowed to make spelling mistakes.
I learned to touch type back in elementary school. We used to use Mavis Beacon (or however it's spelled). I also used to type homework assignments, because for me typing real words made things much easier (since that's how I learned common patterns).
In college (I don't remember exactly when), I decided I wanted to switch from QWERTY to Dvorak. I re-learned in pretty much the same way; I found a program that was decent (and free) and used that a bit. The program also had the option to use an external text file, so I used that a fair bit. I'd say I did the bulk of my re-learning in a week (a boring vacation). Talking on AIM and writing papers for school helped too.
Wow, a brave man! I've heard that the Dvorak keyboard is much more efficient. What do you think? I never tried because I was afraid that I would run into problems if I had to work on a computer that didn't have the Dvorak keyboard layout.Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
I forgot to answer my own question. I touch type. I didn't learn in school because back then (the dark ages) it was a girls' thing. Anyway, when I graduated from college I wanted to work as an editor in a publishing house. It didn't work out, but I was offered a job as a typesetter. They said it was a lot of typing and asked me "Did I mind?" I said "no". They didn't ask me if I could type. I asked when did they want me to start and they said two weeks. I went out and bought a book and borrowed a manual typewriter and worked at it eight hours a day for two weeks. When I showed up for work I was typing well enough to pass unnoticed (about 30 wpm) and then I got faster.
Please answer select an answer on the poll page.Quote:
Originally Posted by JMS
I hunt and peck but my hunting is really good.
Still mostly need to look at the keyboard but that is because I am not very accurate at hitting the keys even though I know where they are. I use both hands but finger selection is focused on first two or three fingers of each hand and thumb for space bar -- usually.
I'm a pecker....er, rather, I hunt and peck. Drives nmy wife nuts, but I'm actually remarkably fast with my method.
Done, done, done!Quote:
Originally Posted by Chimensch
I would say that it is much more efficient. Not that I ever had repetitive motion injuries from typing, but you definitely don't need to move your hands as much on a dvorak board. I also find the layout to be much faster, my WPM's are higher now than they ever were on a QWERTY board. If you google the Dvorak layout, you'll see that QWERTY was reverse engineered to slow down typists and Dvorak was engineered to make typing faster.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chimensch
As for having to use a QWERTY board, yes, that can be annoying. I can no longer touch type on a QWERTY board, but I do think that I could re-learn and maintain my abilities on both if I wanted to (I've read that it's not all that hard to do both). I'm pretty sure the only reason I can't do both is that I completely dropped QWERTY. This is really an issue when the computer you're going to be using is not one that you regularly use.
If you have a computer you use regularly, such as "your" work computer, you can set it up in Dvorak. (The specifics vary by operating system, but in Windows you do this through the language bar.) Pretty much what this option does is software re-map your keyboard. So, you would press "qwerty" on your board, and the computer would receive "qwerty", but the computer would switch that to "',.pyf". (I know I didn't use the " correctly, but that was to avoid confusion). That was actually what I used to do in my desktop computers, and that is still what I do on my laptop. (On my laptop, a Dell Inspiron 6000, I've actually popped off the key caps. I had no use for them since they were QWERTY, it looks very cool without them, and it's silent while typing. Having smaller keys also made me a more accurate typer, though it causes some issues when switching back and forth with my TypeMatrix, which I will describe below).
Once I decided I wanted to stick with Dvorak (I tried and failed a few times because I got frustrated), I set out looking for a keyboard that could do hardware Dvorak (meaning the keyboard has a different physical arrangement and the computer, on "normal" settings, would not have to reinterpret anything). I ended up with a TypeMatrix 2020 keyboard (Product Overview of the TypeMatrix keyboard), which can do hardware Dvorak and hardware QWERTY. It also has a different layout and scissor keys (laptop style) that I've come to love.
Sorry, that's a bit of a long answer.
You forgot voice input! Some people swear by it. I have a decent microphone on order so I might try it out sometime.
...not to mention the hand-write-with-stylus-and-convert-to-text option. I have heard that the voice input is getting a lot better and stylus conversion is hit or miss (depending on your handwriting).Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajagra
I touch-type..though not in the fashion of the computer-nerds:p
I just learnt it succesively when as I used the computer more and more to write..at first by chatting and MSN etc. but nowdays more through writing papers,essays and thesises (what's the plural of thesis anyway?:thinking:) and what ever..
Touch-type - I learned on a manual in HS way back when. I took the class because it was full of girls! :w
At one time I had a Palm Pilot. It had its own "alphabet" which was surprisingly easy to learn -- simplified versions of the regular letters. Overall I found a simple little notebook and planner (pocket sized from Day-Timer) to be much more convenient. But the Palm Pilot's text input was remarkably effective.Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
Taught myself
hunt and peck my bigest problem is spelling i never had to spell or wright for 40 years then all of a sudden bam i have to start over again.
I was a hunt & peck typist for a few years and than gradually taught myself. I only look at the screen when I type. At first it was difficult and frustrating but once I got the hang of it I would find it harder to look at the keyboard and type.
Same here though I've been a keyboard jockey for most of my life so it is more touch typing with fingers that don's sit on the home keys. My fingers go where they need to and I hardly ever look at the keyboard. It is a bit tough when I use a different size or style keyboard but as much as I bounce between computers (consultant/IT manager) I've gotten used to most all styles of keyboard.
I actually type pretty damn fast, faster than most everyone I meet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TexasBob
i toch typ
LOL.
Touch type. I knew I wanted to be a writer, and writers had to type their manuscripts (this was late '50s/early '60s), so I decided to learn to type. Like Chimensch, I was in a time and place where typing class was strictly for girls, so I borrowed a couple of the school's typing books for the summer, I had a typewriter of my own by then, and I taught myself. It's been a very useful skill.
Rich
Touch type. I took a class in high school in the late eighties. Although, my fingers move quicker than my mind sometimes; so although I'm fairly fast at typing, my right pinky finger has worn a hole in the backspace button of any keyboard I've had!!
Chris L
I touch type at about 70 wpm, though it varies depending on what I'm typing. I learned it by myself over the course of about a week when I was all of about 9 or 10 volunteering at City Hall for the City Manager. He gave me several legal pads of notes with people's names and their phone numbers (in horrible handwriting I might add) and asked me to put it all into Word. After hunting and pecking for about 2 days and several hours straight, I forced myself to learn how to touch type. It's not exactly the way they teach you in the classes, as I tend to reach over and push buttons with either hand depending on what I'm typing.
i touch type. (where i live it's generally called "keyboarding" to type without looking). as a software engineer i am typing about 85% of any given day. as such i'm picky about the keyboard i use, i like these:
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...81_2041_475317
as they tend to suit my keyboarding style well. depending on how much coffee i've had i can type up to 125wpm with few enough mistakes that Intellisense can keep up with me.
That's way faster than me. I can burst up to 95 wpm for a little bit. Intellisense ... so that makes you a programmer?Quote:
Originally Posted by jockeys
I was thinking about getting a DAS, but I liked the feel of scissor keys so much. How is that one, Jockeys?Quote:
Originally Posted by jockeys
Ditto.Quote:
Originally Posted by clrobert60
Jordan
yep. software engineer in particular, but i try to spend as much time actually coding as possible, because it's so much fun.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chimensch
i'll preface by saying i absolutely hate membrane keyboards, they are too mushy. i like the DAS because you can actually tell when you hit a key a lot better than with most other keyboards. that way i don't have to look at the keyboard OR the screen. for instance, i didn't look at this paragraph of my post at all while typing it, despite typing at full speed.Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
TT here. Used a Mac program to learn.
I have fooled with Dvorak but I have several people that share the same computer at home so I switch to an ergo board at work. Which makes me a little faster that a regular keyboard.
Also I do a lot of brief typing so there is most of it.
Do any of you find that USB keyboards are a bit rubbish for touch typing? I never used to get typos like "teh" until I changed to USB keyboards. Now it happens all the time, and the more it happens the more I'm convinced I'm not the cause of the problem.
usb2.0 samples the keyboard buffer at 15hz, most people don't type any faster than that...Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajagra
Touch type, took a course when I was 18. Still using qwerty.
I touch-type mostly, but not in any organized way.
I developed my own way of typing, and it sort of developed automatically out of the most efficient way to touch a given key from where my hands are located at that moment.
By efficient I don't mean least distance, but I mean least muscle tension.
I tried to use the 'offical' way of typing, but holding up my hands and distorting my fingers intp uncomfortable, just for the sake of using my pinkie for certain keys always felt unnatural.
I can get a decent word rate, but most importanly, I can spend 14 consecutive hours at a keyboard and not get wrist problems.
"teh" is a common error due to the layout of your keyboard. Your hands naturally want to roll/drum the fingers, so you end up hitting the two keys on your left hand before you can get in the h from your right hand. This is one of the beauties of Dvorak; imagine this is your keyboard and tap out "the."Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajagra
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Dvorak.svg.png
Yeah when I was working a death march for a space project, I worked 14 hour days behind the keyboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by jockeys
And on the plane home, I was programming on a hobby project.
She didn't understand that I considered them 2 different things :)
My best keyboard ever was an old IBM clicky keyboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by jockeys
After the nuclear holocaust there will be 2 things left: ****roaches and IBM clickies :)
If I'm not mistaken, the DAS Keyboard is based off the same design as the clickies.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
it uses the same microswitches as an old IBM model M, which most of use keyboard cowboys regard as the pinnacle of keyboard evolution.Quote:
Originally Posted by holli4pirating
I learned first on a typewriter summer of after the 7th grade. I am kinda slow usually just because I have lots of bad habits now and don't really worry about it. usually run about 55, 85 when I'm really rocking and the fingers are cooperating. I wouldn't say my hands are "delicate" by any means and have always been pretty satisfied with what I could do. but man, 125 would be awesome.
I don't know about the ibm clicky, but my favorite were these fujitsu (I think) we used to get, they were cheap, but they had solid feedback man. I type heavy, I've had people tell me it sounded like I was beating the keyboard. I have to be careful that the side of my tray doesn't hit the desk or everything starts shaking. so I like a sturdy keyboard.
Red
Took a typing class in highschool. My parents told me that it would and is a very good skill to have. I thought it was dumb but 4 decades later, it was some of the best advice I was ever given. Now all I need to do is to learn how to spell correctly but with touch typing I misspell quite rapidly. :)
Take Care,
Richard