Thread: Poll; Do you look at the keyboard or the screen when typing

I type "blind" with the plain old US-101/102 keyboard layout, on keyboards with a Swedish layout. Sometimes I switch to Swedish, easier for special characters, and that goes pretty smooth. Now I sometimes use the Russian layout, but I still need to wrap my head around that one.

I'm your typical non-typing hunt-and-peck Doofus.Looking half at the keyboard,half at the screen,hitting the wrong keys cause I'm going too fast,backspacing,editing.....Like Olivia,I'm just a mess.

Originally Posted by aroliver59

I'm your typical non-typing hunt-and-peck Doofus.Looking half at the keyboard,half at the screen,hitting the wrong keys cause I'm going too fast,backspacing,editing.....Like Olivia,I'm just a mess.

I began that way 10 years ago when I was first introduced to computers and keyboards. Until a few years ago I was watching a friend typing an email and he was intent on the screen as he typed. That was the seed that germinated for my trying to do the same.

I have no training and no idea how many words per minute. I don't use all my fingers but most. I probably don't hit the same keys with the same fingers every time as a person trained in touch typing would but I found that it didn't take long at all to master typing while watching the screen.

There is a bit of frustration at first but once you get to a certain point you cannot go back because looking at the keyboard becomes even more frustrating. Try it, you'll like it.

I was also thinking of getting one of those kids typing games.We used to have "Mario Teaches Typing" but I didn't use it then.Wish I had it now but it's fallen by the wayside.

Games can be cool, but when I was learning to type, I hated them. That zombie one might have been a little different

My style is similar to Jimmy's. I know I don't type in the "official" way, but it works for me and I achieve higher speeds than most people. After attempting to learn typing from those stupid programs (the first of the Mavis Beacons) and failing, I moved on to a much better teacher: work! I was handed a stack of legal pads from the city manager and told to digitize his terrible handwriting so that it could be searched and read. I hunted and pecked for a few days and made very little headway. Being the impatient person I am, I set my hands down and started typing. After a week, I could type fairly fast compared to hunting and pecking. Two weeks and I was even faster and had solidified my "bad habit typing" as a few people have called it. Once again, I can consistently achieve 75-80 wpm depending on what I'm typing. 40 wpm is respectable for most professions.

Back when I was typing much much more than I do now, I could keep up with my mom when she was one of the fastest medical transcriptionists in her company. I couldn't do it for hours, but dammit, I could do it

i use more than two fingers...maybe 5. I learned my typing here at SRP and no I don't look at the screen.

Originally Posted by jcd

I learned to (almost) touch type from playing The Typing of the Dead. Fun times!

EDIT: found a gameplay vid, I'm itching to play it again now...

YouTube - Typing of the Dead - Chapter 1