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Posted: 1/24/2006 4:49:03 PM EDT
Maybe a poll is coming....
I learned to touch type in jr. high school, about 25 years ago. With computers being part of my daily life these days, I find that it's the one distinctive skill I learned in school that I truly do apply every single day. I haven't checked my speed, but I know I'm good for over 60 WPM as long as I don't have the yips from too much or too little caffeine.  My current computer keyboard is an absolute work of art. Fully thirteen keys have all or part of their lettering worn clean off. I'm by far the one most responsible.  I'm wondering, for those of you who use computers on a daily basis, did you ever learn to touch type or do you hunt and peck? What about your kids, whom I presume either are computer literate or will be? Are they touch typists, or do they hunt and peck? And if you or they are touch typists, have you learned by means of a disciplined standardized method or have you figured it out on your own? Personally, I believe that touch typing, these days, is as important a skill as learning how to read. I couldn't imagine raising kids without teaching them touch typing as soon as they were able to understand it. CJ |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 4:50:23 PM EDT
[#1]
Touch type, but then again I'm only 22. We had keyboarding as a requirement in middle school.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 4:51:23 PM EDT
[#2]
My kids are learning. My little boy in Kindergarden types faster than my husband. I was once clocked at 126 WPM on a keyboard. I have no idea though how fast I type. Generally faster than the monitor can respond.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 4:51:57 PM EDT
[#3]
2 finger typer.....I cant touch type except 10-key....
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Posted: 1/24/2006 4:52:53 PM EDT
[#4]
I don't hunt and peck, but I don't really "touch type" in the sense that I keep my fingers planted on the "correct" keys. I just sorta know the layout of my keyboard. I manage about 95wpm.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 4:54:12 PM EDT
[#5]
I just go with it. I always say that ARFCOM learned me how to type.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:00:28 PM EDT
[#6]
I remember the drill lessons so well....the teacher of the typing class (over a hundred students) on
the PA system..."J U J space....K U K space.... L O L space..... D E D space...." Yeah, it was boring but before long everyone was cruising along at 40 WPM or better. My class was cutting edge, man! We had a mix of Olivetti and Hermes MANUAL typewriters, and we sure were happy when a few pallet loads of new Olivetti ELECTRIC typewriters were brought in and put on our desks! That was heaven! Do typing classes even USE typewriters anymore?  Probably not...so the students getto not only type but also get to learn how to recover from a Windows crash, too!  CJ |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:02:56 PM EDT
[#7]
Touch typist. I once tested at 100 WPM with either hand, one-handed. Two hands was over 150 WPM.
My oldest daughter went from 0 to more than 100 WPM in less than 90 days when she was seven. There is a simple technique for learning. |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:04:11 PM EDT
[#8]
Got a Vic-20 in 1984. Took typing in jr. high and high school. I don't think i've looked at the keyboard in 15 years when i type.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:06:50 PM EDT
[#9]
I hunt and peck but I can do it at a no-shit 50 words per minute.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:11:16 PM EDT
[#10]
I type with about four fingers, and I just know where the keys are. Kind of a hunt & peck on steroids. I think I manage about 35 words a minute.
I write programs and use Crystal Reports all day. Not much need for "touch typing". Too many symbols and not much in the way of sentences. However, I can type numbers on the keypad very fast and without looking at the keyboard. Learned that doing data entry. |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:14:44 PM EDT
[#11]
Hunt and peck... and I can do it without looking at the monitor.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:17:00 PM EDT
[#12]
kinda a mix of both.. I think i use two fingers on my left and four on the right to type very "unconventional"
eta no hunting though, still look at the screen |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:20:02 PM EDT
[#13]
I've always been able to type at around 80wpm. Natural talent I guess.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:28:28 PM EDT
[#14]
Self-taught. You type enough and one day you realize that you are not looking at the keyboard anymore.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:30:28 PM EDT
[#15]
By "touch typist" I'll assume you mean there is no need to look at the key board... In that case, I am.
I didn't like the way I was being taught how to do it - I always had to break my fingers to get them into place on the proper keys. I ended up being able to type fast by simply using the keyboard often enough and I know where the keys are, I just don't keep my fingers on the specified keys. I have no idea how many WPM I can type but I'd say it's around 60-70 depending on how long I've been away from the PC. |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:30:58 PM EDT
[#16]
When I grew up, any self repecting man would hire a woman to do
such work. I now have adult children that thankfully, didn't learn from their father the art of communicating through their typed words. They amaze me with their skill. The sad thing is, I can't really engage anybody in a good conversasion on this forum because my lack of typing skills. GM |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:31:59 PM EDT
[#17]
My parents sent me to typing class one summer during elementary school, back in like 91-93 timeframe. I've blazed along at ~80wpm ever since, my coworkers know when I get really into writing an email since all they'll hear is the clatter of my keyboard.
Kharn |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 5:35:36 PM EDT
[#18]
basicly self taught hunt and peck
I can do about 35-40 WPM hunt and peck I type really loud and hard so my coworkers laugh at me |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 7:01:32 PM EDT
[#19]
I took a semester of keyboarding in jr high, but I didn't like it, and by the end, I was only doing 60wpm or so. I'm about about 80wpm now, I use kind of a modified touch-type system. I use all my fingers, and my fingers start in the right position, but I tend to move my whole hand around on the keyboard. They both move to the right pretty quickly, and they only go back to the left when i need keys on the far left of the keyboard. I also type MUCH more accurately on my own keyboard - an original 1984 IBM Model M. The keys travel farther and have the old audible "click".
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Posted: 1/24/2006 7:09:20 PM EDT
[#20]
Learned typing in highschool on an IBM selectric typewritter.
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Posted: 1/24/2006 11:02:55 PM EDT
[#21]
Touch type... gotta keep up if you're going to argue on the intarweb.
 I usually type about 65-70 wpm, and knew 10-key fluently when I worked at the bank.. not so much anymore. |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 11:10:04 PM EDT
[#22]
Bahhh..... This is ARFCOM ! You don't gotta have spelling or grammar here !Your post was probably more elloquent and grammatically correct than 80%+ of all posts here, hahaha |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 11:15:17 PM EDT
[#23]
You can be comfortably cruising at more than 100 words per minute, in 90 days, with only fifteen minutes of practice every day. Here is how. First, put your fingers on the home keys. Your right index finger goes on J and your left index finger goes on F. The other fingers rest on the remaining keys in that row. ASDF for the left hand JKL; for the right hand Then, make sure that you use the correct fingers for the correct keys. Left little finger -- QAZ Left ring finger -- SWX Left middle finger - EDC Left index finger = RFVTGB Right Index finger - YHNUJM Right middle finger - IK, Right ring finger - OL. Right Little finger - P;/ Use your right thumb to work the space bar. Use the little finger on each hand to hit the shift key. If you are hitting a key with your left hand, use the right hand to hit the shift key, and vice versa. The easiest way is to just rock your hand to the side a little bit as you hit the shift key with your pinky. Make sure you stick to this pattern of fingers and keys, even if it is painfully slow at first. It will be painfully slow for up to a week. At the end of that time, you will be able to touch type faster than you can write by hand. The next step is to practice one particular sentence: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs back. This sentence contains every letter in the alphabet. If you can learn to type it, you will know where every key is. Just type it for about fifteen minutes every day, and make sure that you can do it at least one word per minute faster than the previous day. You will be typing 100 WPM in less than 90 days. Because it is a psychomotor skill, once you get the skill you will never lose it. |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 11:51:07 PM EDT
[#24]
I am not good at it, but I touch type... backspace, correct, etc.
I can't see well enough to hunt and peck, or I probably would. |
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Posted: 1/24/2006 11:55:08 PM EDT
[#25]
Im a very fast pecker.
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Posted: 1/25/2006 12:04:25 AM EDT
[#26]
I used to type a lot faster when I was writing alot. When I stated code editing and scripting I got into some bad habits. I am down from about 75wpm to around 45wpm.
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Posted: 1/25/2006 12:18:19 AM EDT
[#27]
I regard 'Touch Typing' as an unmanly trait..
ANdy |
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Posted: 1/25/2006 12:27:43 AM EDT
[#28]
I learned by myself and still have the bad habits to show for it. I still have to look at the keys, I type with only my two middle fingers, but i can put down 90+ WPM. Knowing i only use my middle fingers, Noone believes i can type that fast till they see it. I just did what came naturally trying to keep up in chat rooms, back in the day. I was real slow for a long time.
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Posted: 1/25/2006 1:13:19 AM EDT
[#29]
I took 'keyboard word processing' in the '88/'89 school year of high school. It was a first semester class, half a year. I learned to type and some other basic skills. I know I was over 70 words per minute because we used to race.
That is the first and last time I had anything to do with computers until about 1999 or 2000 when my wife bought a computer. That's a good 10 years to forget everything I learned. It sucks. I use both hands and do pretty good but I have to look at the keyboard. I want to start from scratch and learn again but I don't know where to start. Funny thing about back in school. Computers were nothing like they are now. There was no mouse. The printer used that green striped paper with the holes on both sides that was perforated into sections like toilet paper. The screen was like black with green letters if I remember correct. The program or what ever I used everyday to do my typing was on a floppy type disc that was like a vinyl record about 4" square. My Grandpa told me to stick with computers, they were the way of the future, he was right. Maybe if I would have listened to him I would be better off in life than I am now. I just couldn't see at that time what a black screen with some flashing numbers on it was worth other than to type someone a letter on funny paper. He was smart. |
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Posted: 1/25/2006 6:56:21 AM EDT
[#30]
Lots of the people I know who touch type take home $100K+ to soothe their battered manly ego. |
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:01:21 AM EDT
[#31]
I learned to type extremely fast (although with a larger number of typos) by playing coutner strike before the voice comms were introduced. You have to learn to type VERY fast when your life is on the line! Like "LOOKOUT BEHIND YUO!"
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:03:14 AM EDT
[#32]
Touch typist. Learned in Jr. High (took a class in it at my mom's insistence), didn't use it for years but it all came back to me when I got to college.
No kids. |
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:05:09 AM EDT
[#33]
High-Speed hunt-n-peck.
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:07:30 AM EDT
[#34]
I type pretty fast, use all 10 fingers, but the way I type drove my typing teacher nuts. My hands move all over the keyboard and I don't use the 'right' finger to access each key.
But it works for me and I don't have to look down when I type. |
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:17:10 AM EDT
[#35]
What's touch typing?
I use both hands and all my fingers like I was taught in typing class in high school. Don't have a clue at my speed though. That as a sophmore, so it should have been the 1975/76 school year. I didn't type on a regular basis until I got this computer in Dec. 00. But I've really improved since then.
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:35:31 AM EDT
[#36]
I touch type correctly except I use my left index for "C", my right middle for "." and I always use the left shift key.
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Posted: 1/25/2006 8:42:48 AM EDT
[#37]
Nobody really knows how fast I can type. Most people that have seen me type claim that I have a superhuman ability though. *shrug* I need to get me one of those typing test things to see how fast I can really type. I'm betting 200+
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Posted: 1/25/2006 2:31:45 PM EDT
[#38]
If you're not sure if you are a true "touch typer" or not, the answer is yes if you know the answers to these questions:
The home row is which keys? In the home position, which keys have fingers over them? State any four basic keystroke exercises you used to learn touch typing? What is the significance of the little bumps found on the F and J keys? If you know the answers, you're a touch typist in the "educated" sense. CJ |
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Posted: 1/25/2006 3:43:33 PM EDT
[#39]
I dont know the answers. I can only tell the general vacinity of each key without looking at the keys, meaning I don't know which keys are next to U or D or anything, yet I can type 80+ wpm without looking at the keys. Strange, I know. |
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