Can You Type?

[rusty bumper]

This is an odd ball question, but how many of you can type without looking at the keyboard?

I typed most of this post without looking at it (keyboard) myself.

Been trying to learn how to type properly for a while now. I've almost learned all of the letter keys so far.

It's slow going though.

[furball]

Hmm, I guess I'm one. There's a typing course when I was still in high school. Didn't understand why I should learn that back then - and now I make a living typing most of my work.

[Tom Weed]

Rusty,
I got a chuckle out of this, but I know unless you do it quite a bit then the "hunt and peck" typing method prevails. My job requires me to sit in front of this thing quite a bit, so I've gotten used to typing without looking. Good thing there's a Backspace key! What's funny, not sure I could tell you where each letter is without looking, but my fingers sure do...

Tom

[Jeff Smith]

I bought a program called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It helped me out quite a bit. My spped is up around 40-45 WPM which is not bad for someone who is not required to use the PC at work.

Now if I could just get my accuracy down a bit better I'll have it made

[rusty bumper]

Originally posted by Jeff Smith
I bought a program called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It helped me out quite a bit. My spped is up around 40-45 WPM which is not bad for someone who is not required to use the PC at work.

Now if I could just get my accuracy down a bit better I'll have it made

Hey, that's pretty good!

I have the same program, but I haven't been practicing like I should have.

[Jeff Smith]

I have not used mine in a couple of years. I got up to my present speed which serves me well enough for the time being.

I have since loaded it on the kids computers and of course they fiddled with it pretty good for a day or two. Now I doubt they even remember it is there.

[SiriusRIMZ]

I have pretty much taught myself how to type. I started using computers with my old compaq presario 133 MHZ powerhouse, I'm 16 so I'm sure someone else can top my first computer.

I've gone from only using MS paint when I was little, to now I've built over 10 computers and run a couple websites.

[Bence]

I saw an 18 year old guy yesterday on a German TV. He types up to five times quicker than the test-secretaries put against him - with two fingers!!! And ZERO errors!!! In a macro mode, I couldn't follow his fingers.

Ah and the school doesn't want to allow him to take his exams because he does not type in the proper way, with 10 fingers...

[Shiny Lil Detlr]

Originally posted by Bence
Ah and the school doesn't want to allow him to take his exams because he does not type in the proper way, with 10 fingers...

Do they hold the same double standard against slower "hunters and peckers"??

I've not measured my typing speed in quite some time, but I think I'm somewhere right around 60 WPM, with maybe 85-90% accuracy. I do way too much writing in Word or on these forums, it gives me a ton of exercise... which is good, but I guarantee I'll have carpal tunnel by the time I hit 30.

[Jeff Smith]

Originally posted by Shiny Lil Detlr
Do they hold the same double standard against slower "hunters and peckers"??

I've not measured my typing speed in quite some time, but I think I'm somewhere right around 60 WPM, with maybe 85-90% accuracy. I do way too much writing in Word or on these forums, it gives me a ton of exercise... which is good, but I guarantee I'll have carpal tunnel by the time I hit 30.

I am 39 and have CT. You would be wise to avoid this and learn a little abut taking steps to avoid the possibility of getting CT now. I have never had anything effect my CT worse than using a DA. If I got though an all day detailing session, by the time I go to bed that night my Carpel Tunnel is acting up so bad I can't sleep. I need to go get the surgery and get it fixed. But that only seems to be temporary. I know several folks who have to get the surgery every 4-5 years or so.

[thejazzguy]

I don't look at my hands when I am typing. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is what I used to learn how to type over ten years ago. It is a great program. I used to be a "point-and-peck" typist, but quickly moved to the proper technique using this software.

Mavis Beacon website

[zsoap]

I'm not bad but I still look down at times. I make more mistakes if I don't peek every once and a while.

[Shiny Lil Detlr]

Originally posted by Jeff Smith
I am 39 and have CT. You would be wise to avoid this and learn a little abut taking steps to avoid the possibility of getting CT now. I have never had anything effect my CT worse than using a DA. If I got though an all day detailing session, by the time I go to bed that night my Carpel Tunnel is acting up so bad I can't sleep. I need to go get the surgery and get it fixed. But that only seems to be temporary. I know several folks who have to get the surgery every 4-5 years or so.

Whoa.... that's good advice, Jeff. I know I'm at risk, between detailing, working with computers constantly/consistently (info systems major, looking to go into networking), and also being a musician. All kinds of RSI-causing activities.

What would you say is the best way to avoid/prevent problems with CT, as someone who has gone through it? I just recently turned 20, so I still have time at this point to correct my behavior and activities; though I already have issues from time to time. I've even had to have cortizone shots into my wrists once; it helped, but it wasn't fun.

[SprintKing]

Mrs Mavis is old school

you guys need Typing Of The Dead
thats right ... now you can blow things up whilst you type

[Mike Phillips]

Originally posted by furball
Hmm, I guess I'm one. There's a typing course when I was still in high school. Didn't understand why I should learn that back then - and now I make a living typing most of my work.

I did the same thing, I took typing in High School, wondering if I would ever use this skill, then again in College because I never put into practice what I learned in High School.

If find there's a difference between typing what your reading and typing what you're thinking. I can type around 90 to 100 word a minute if I'm reading something and typing it up, but when typing what I'm thinking, I can only type as fast as I can think out the words in the form I want them to convey the thoughts. This speed varies probably between 30 and 70 words a minute.

Either way, I tend to type pretty fast, my keyboard is a Ergo Keyboard and it clicks kind of noisy, so you can hear fairly easy when I'm typing fast...

I also have these things that hold my arms up to prevent Carpal Tunnel, I don't know what I would do with out them...

For the last couple of months I typed so much my fingertips hurt... have to learn time balance... as well as conscience focus on soft typing, that is typing softly instead with gorilla fingers...

This is also one of the reasons I posted this...

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums...&threadid=7270

Now when people e-mail me questions I kindly refer them to this link and cross my fingers they'll register with the forum and post their question here... either way I get to type/reply to an e-mail, but typing answers on the forum is a much better use of typing time than typing answers in an e-mail.



Typing all day can really make you appreciate the opportunity to work with your hands polishing the paint on a car...