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

When I began fooling with computers and the web ten years ago I would look at the keyboard and 'hunt and peck' to type. I did this for probably six or seven years until one fine day I decided to try and use more fingers and look at the screen instead of the keyboard.

It was a fairly short time before I found it easier to type while watching the screen and watching the keyboard became more of a hassle. Now I am a confirmed screen watcher when typing.

My latest exercise is to look at the wall while typing. and see if I have made any mistakes. I am getting to the point where I don't need to watch anything and I can still get the words on the page sans mistakes. So the question is, do you look at the keyboard, the screen or nothing in particular ? BTW, I didn't use any method to learn to type and though I don't do it 'correctly' I get by pretty well. :)

EDIT; You can pick more than one option in the poll.:beer1:

I watch TV when I type or look at the screen. The letters aren't going anywhere.

I know my company has fooled around with new keyboards that you can pull on buttons and push on buttons and move buttons left, right, up, down. and they moved all the letters to different places so you can type, with practice, around 100 words a minute.

For me though, 40-50 is fast enough . . .

I'm pretty ok at touch typing...but I want to learn Dvorak so I can type better, faster...

I think right now I can type about 60WPM, but when I was in College typing papers every day I was up near 100.

In high school, my girlfriend's mom was a career medical transcriptionist--she could touch type at ridiculous speeds. She listened to the tapes at double speed and never had to stop while she caught up. Just ridiculous...

I touch type mostly. Sometimes I'll look at the keyboard, but it's not for any real reason. My official speed is somewhere around 80 wpm, but if I need to, I can go faster. It all really depends on what I'm typing.

When I first started typing, I was entirely a look at the keyboard person. However, I started playing FPS games online and usually in the dark. Being a naturally chatty person, I learned quickly how to touch type (both so I wouldn't die and because I couldn't see).

I'm bad at typing. Ever was, although I've learned ten finger system.
I look everywhere. At the keyboard, on the screen to check and edit, its just a mess, LOL

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...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuxlPhks2UY

I hate people who can type well and fast while never looking at their fingers. :rant:

:bow

I'm slow and I peek; I peek and I'm slow. :aargh:

I didn't take typing in high school, didn't think I would need it lol. When, as an adult (early 30's), I took computer classes, I had to learn.My instructor was retired from the military and he was strict about practicing with typing tutor every morning and taking/printing out the test every week. Heaven help you if you looked at your fingers rofl. We also learned DOS and how to navigate using the keyboard only before we used the mouse. Every once in awhile we had "mouse exercises", basically playing solitaire or whatever games was on the old win95. So, yes, I type while looking at the monitor.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruce

I hate people who can type well and fast while never looking at their fingers. :rant:

:bow

I'm slow and I peek; I peek and I'm slow. :aargh:

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Get one of those keyboards without the letters printed on the keys. You'll learn really fast.

Weird isn't it. I can play a piano without looking at the keys but I can't touch type. Go figure.

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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

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i want.

lol there was one word of the guy out the window that i read as "sploodge" but it was splodge...i choked on my food.

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.

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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.

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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 :D

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 :D

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

Quote:

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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

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playing this right now. :medvl:

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Originally Posted by Ichinichi

playing this right now. :medvl:

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So am I! I just HAD to re-install.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jcd

So am I! I just HAD to re-install.

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my c's and e's! one thing that's odd for me is that i don't transcribe much; that is, i think what i type and know what i'm trying to say a moment before i need to type it. right now, i'm lagging b/c i need time to recognize the word, register it, then think "geisha girl" and type it. sucks.

I look at the screen, or at the TV if I'm watching something interesting while I work.

Gentlemen,

When composing at the typewriter, I always looked into the air as if I were in a daze. With the computer, I look at the screen, yes, but I miss the tapping sound of the typewriter keyboard.

Obie

Too funny, I have to look at the keyboard and then look up at the screen to look for typo's.

Just never learned how to type correctly...

I'm also a key banger...says the wife.

:)

O aleuywas loajd at thsx screwwn whsn Y yhdk!

Jaujses.

Sometimes at the screen, sometimes at whatever document I am quoting from. I only look at the keyboard when I'm doing numbers or those symbols on the top row of keys (never got these down by touch).