I wish I Had learned to type without looking at the keys !

Typing class was only available to girls when I was in school. In my profession, I was spending countless hours per day at a computer and was very fast using 4 fingers. One year I decided that it was really ridiculous that I couldn't touch type and decided to teach myself. The big gotcha was that I owned my own business and if I wasn't writing code I didn't get paid. So I waited until the current contracts were finished and swore that I wouldn't take on another contract until I had taught myself. It was painful. It was all or nothing -- typing something with the comfortable 4 fingers would undo progress teaching myself to touch type. In a few weeks, I was as fast as I had been with 4 fingers and could get back to work. I've never been sorry that I did, although I was surely second guessing myself at the time. :)
 

Toomuchstuff said:
I type using a couple fingers - Plus - I have to look at the keys while I'm typing. They offered typing in high school , but I never took it . Now I wish I had.
For the heck of it, I went to a website to learn typing , but my fingers are so old and stiff now that I can't even spread them out on the keyboard the way you're supposed to .

How do you type ? If you type the correct way , where did you learn it ?
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I initially learned to type on my older brother's portable typewriter. I was 7. :)
 
I blew three golden opportunities to learn how to type. In high school one year my homeroom was in the typing classroom. A huge covered manual typewriter stared at me every morning. But I never took the cover off. Next, in the Marines I found a manual on how to teach yourself how to type. Very useful as military manuals are clear, concise, and handy tools to have around. But I lost interest after a few pages since my duties seldom involved typing.

Later on in my career I took a job selling typewriters and word processors! I had my very own state of the art typewriter yet I seldom looked at it. I knew how to upsell office supply stores in order to earn spiffs on the fancier models. I knew what the word processor feature was for and who needed it. I knew everything about the machine except how to use it. I was tested once for a job and managed to type 35 words per minute.
 

I passed all my exams at school for typing...my keyboard was covered up with a special shield...
I can still touch type...63 words per minute...:eek:nthego:
 
The fact that most boys in the 1960's never learned to type helped pay my college expenses. I got a very good Hermes portable typewriter for a high school graduation present and made good money typing papers for male students. Too many of them had had papers handed back to them by professors because their handwriting was unreadable.
 
I took a year of typing in high school and very glad I did, but I didn't get past 40 wpm or so and always looked at the keys. I do a lot of computer work now so I've had the opportunity to improve, just by sheer practice. I tried an online typing practice site but found it boring and tedious.

I have found a fun way to practice, if anyone is interested. A couple of years ago I joined a free site called Nitro Type. It's an online game where you race in real-time against 4 other people in your speed range using fun cars. You win cars, silly titles, and play $$$ to buy more cars. The races last just a minute or two. It's mostly for kids but plenty of adults are there too. You can even skip over hard words by using "nitros." I have my own team called BreakTime Racing, and you're welcome to join. My username is RandomShifts. I race there nearly every day and have increased my speed up into the 70s. It's lots of fun!

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I bought a keyboard that has the letters on the keys the full size of the key. The keys are yellow and the letters black, very easy to see. The brand is EZ SEE.

I have found that using 10 fingers is the first step to faster typing. In another 17 years I should not have to look at the keyboard, at that time I will be 100 years old.:D
 
A true touch typist uses 8 fingers, and the right thumb for the space bar...
the left thumb is not used at all.
 

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