Typing Superhumans: The Mystery Unveiled

[wolram]

Who are you people that can type fast, where the heck did you learn this skill, it seems that there are people out there that can type with more than one finger, what the hey are you people mutants?

 

[chaoseverlasting]

No. I learned how to touch type back in sixth grade. We had something called typing tutor which taught us touch typing. I didnt get fast till about 10th grade, and then suddenly I realized that I could type almost as fast as I could speak and DEFINITELY faster than I could write.

 

[cristo]

I guess I just picked up how to type by typing lots! I was never taught by anyone.

 

[robertm]

Mandatory typing class 8th and 9th grades. We actually had speed typing competitions. I also imagine that a lot of the younger typers learned their skills on IM.

 

[symbolipoint]

Who are you people that can type fast, where the heck did you learn this skill, it seems that there are people out there that can type with more than one finger, what the hey are you people mutants?

TYPING COURSE! Students learn to keep their fingers arranged in a standard position; and learn a progression of lessons to train themselves to reach different letters and characters. The lessons involve much repetition dedicated on a narrow choice of new characters, and then including review for use of all learned characters. The students practice and train usually by NOT looking at the keyboard, although they may occasionally look when they forget locations of characters. One becomes faster with practice.

The arrangement of the particular keys on the keyboard was designed so that typists using the older mechanical machines tangle the rods holding the characters when typists might type too fast. (too many rods moving up and down all at once would mechanically interfere with each other and would become jammed.)

 

[jostpuur]

Typing courses are for the weak.

 

[wolram]

Typing courses are for the weak.

Then i am fragile, i so envy you fast type rs, i am sure this is a type of mutation or evolution.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I never had a typing course in school. I tried some typing software when I was a kid, but I was bored and never got very far.

So, I type wrong. I use three fingers on each hand, and I occasionally cross the middle line. However, chatrooms taught me to do this at a moderately decent speed (certainly not fast by touch-typing standards), and now, I mostly don't have to look at the keyboard.

I really ought to learn to type properly...while writing this sentence, I just discovered that I can force myself to do it (albeit slowly), so maybe I'll try.

 

[Ben1232]

just spend a good amount of time playing online games, in chat rooms, and ect. you should then pick up a good typing ability, or just type a dictionary or something.

 

[WarPhalange]

In 8th grade I took a class called "Keyboarding" for a year. Probably the most useful class I ever took in public school.

At least half the class were morons who thought they were going to be taught how to play the keyboard, though.

 

[B. Elliott]

I only average about 40WPM if I'm aiming for accuracy... can't type very fast without looking at my hands.

 

[tiny-tim]

… ping!

Who are you people that can type fast, where the heck did you learn this skill, it seems that there are people out there that can type with more than one finger, what the hey are you people mutants?

Hi wolram!

You need to know the correct finger positions, and then practise with them.

See diagram at http://www.tactuskeyboard.com/schools/school_kids_fingering_guide.htm

 

[jtbell]

In 8th grade I took a class called "Keyboarding" for a year.

That's what I did. Maybe it was in 7th grade, or in summer school about that time. This was a long time ago (before 1970), when it was called "Typing," not "Keyboarding." Later, in high school, when I was a photographer on the yearbook staff, I spent my spare time in the yearbook office practicing my touch-typing skills. It really came in handy when I started programming, first on card-punching machines in college (early 1970s), then on video terminals in graduate school (late 1970s).

 

[TeTeC]

Ah! I have also learned that at school (I was 13). It has taken me about 20/30 hours to know my keyboard (including special characters and numbers), and about 50/60 hours to type really fast. That's a bit difficult when you begin, you must avoid to watch the keyboard. When we where typing, there was always a large poster at the front of the classroom in case we didn't remember the position of a key.

It certainly is one of the most useful skills I've learned at school.

I'm sure you can find a good software that will help you learn, but you have to stick to it.

 

[Santa1]

Being a kid playing computer games where you are vulnerable whilst typing. I'm also left handed, qwerty+english is perfect for me.

 

[moose]

We had typing classes in 6th and 7th grade. That combined with IM and forums...

 

[lisab]

I took typing in 7th or 8th grade - very useful class! The typewriter keys had no letters on them - they were all blank. It was to get you to memorize the order of the letters, and to keep you from looking at the keys.

 

[~christina~]

Ever heard of the program, Mavis Beacon? I use it to practice my typing skills. They have fun games like and they also tell you you're typing per min speed.

 

[gravenewworld]

Took a typing class in 10th grade. Probably one of the most useful classes I have ever taken in my life. I am up to 73 wpm.

 

[wolram]

I took typing in 7th or 8th grade - very useful class! The typewriter keys had no letters on them - they were all blank. It was to get you to memorize the order of the letters, and to keep you from looking at the keys.

Thats it, If you can do that you must be some kind of modern day mutant, i guess i am an old dog.

 

[Oneiromancy]

I switched to the Dvorak layout about a year ago and my wpm is around 120 or so right now. You won't get that with Qwerty.

http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/LatinExtended/graphics/Dvorak.jpg

 

[moose]

I switched to the Dvorak layout about a year ago and my wpm is around 120 or so right now. You won't get that with Qwerty.

How fast did you type with qwerty?

I want to try dvorak. I type around 110wpm.

 

[Oneiromancy]

About 75 wpm with Qwerty. Also WOW if you're typing at 110 with Qwerty. With lot of chatting and foruming with Dvorak, you could get up to 160 easily.

Fastest typist on the world was clocked at around 215 wpm on Dvorak I think.

 

[LightbulbSun]

Who are you people that can type fast, where the heck did you learn this skill, it seems that there are people out there that can type with more than one finger, what the hey are you people mutants?

I can type just as fast as the mutants with only two fingers. I believe it was something around 120-130 words per minute.

 

[turbo]

I took typing in HS because I had bought an inexpensive Royal Electric for college - didn't want to have to pay people to type papers for me. (Also, the teacher was a FOX! Petite and cute as all get-out.) Anyway, two of my buddies agreed to take the course with me - probably the first 3 guys to ever take typing in that school. She had enough electrics for all the females and assigned us guys to some heavy old manual Royals. After a week or two, the daily speed-and-accuracy drills took on a character that she had not expected. The three of us were all guitarists with good finger strength and dexterity, and we almost always took the top 3 places out of a class of 20 or so. The teacher would use our performance to flog the ladies, and she would point out that we had the crappiest, oldest typewriters, too, while they had the nice ones.

The most amazing typist I knew was a lady in the Tech department that I worked in. She was always dressed like a model in a fashion catalog, and had very long perfectly manicured nails. Even with those talons, she could stay over 120 WPM consistently, when typing normal, everyday words. Give her a report to transcribe with words like methyl mercaptan or dimethyl disulfide (I often did odorous vapors studies) and you could slow her down a bit, but not too much, considering the we chemists were using the names of VOCs all day and she had to transcribe them on the fly without knowing what they were.

 

[moose]

About 75 wpm with Qwerty. Also WOW if you're typing at 110 with Qwerty. With lot of chatting and foruming with Dvorak, you could get up to 160 easily.

Fastest typist on the world was clocked at around 215 wpm on Dvorak I think.

If I do learn Dvorak, will that mess up my qwerty typing? Is it easy to go back and forth or do you have to think a lot more now when you use qwerty again?

 

[Moonbear]

Like others, I learned to type by taking a typing class in 7th or 8th grade. At first, I was faster with two fingers than with all of them (especially on the old typewriter my parents had...my pinky just wasn't strong enough to push the keys down). I got reasonably good at touch typing through high school and college from writing papers, and then discovered chat rooms, and WHOOOOOOOO BOY! that sped up my typing. I used to get so lost when a whole page of text would have shown up by the time I typed a sentence of reply.

 

[wolram]

Well i can match the numbers 120 LPM, and of course i check for spelling.

 

[Math Jeans]

I learned almost all of my typing from IM and gaming (however, now its mostly gaming).

Though it may seem weird, I often find my typing to be much faster and accurate when my eyes are closed or if I'm looking in a completely different direction.

I average about 110 WPM.

 

[GeorginaS]

Yeah, they didn't teach typing in grade school when I attended. (Much less "keyboarding". I was reviewing resumes last week to find a new employee to hire, and a person had "keyboarding" listed as one of their skills. I had to stare at that one for a few seconds to process the information.) They didn't teach typing until high school when I went and that was in conjunction with other office-related skills such as shorthand. (Really, only secretaries knew how to type back then. Gads.)

So, but, yes, we had manual typewriters with nothing printed on the keys. My baby finger was never quite strong enough to mash those outside keys.

I can't quite figure out my typing speed, because every time I attempt a typing test, I freeze up for some reason. Plus, the majority of my typing is compositional, not copy-typing text. I'm really fast when I'm just typing my thoughts; when I'm trying to copy something else, I slow way, way down.

 

[spideyunlimit]

I type fast because of having played so many computer games, plus I play the Tabla, so I've had a lot of practice moving my fingers fast :) lol

 

[whitay]

Those terrible games where horrible for people who by the 7th grade could already touch-type. In high school we had a choice between typing letters from a book or doing this pathetic learning to type games. I choose typing out letters and when It came to doing this computer automated tests I would typically obtain fastest in the class. These classes were compulsory from 7th till 10th for me. 7th was the whole class went to the computer room and were instructed etc.

 

[wolram]

In years to come the hand will be evolved into the perfect button pushing appendage, people will have skinny little legs weedy arms, and hands that have ultra mobile fingers, or even mayhaps we will have embedded computers ,then we can become blobs and our life style will be virtual. Mr and Mrs Blobies.

 

[redargon]

I also tried mavis beacon teaches typing, but I gave up because it was boring (I was about 15 at the time). I don't know my speed, but I can't keep up with the IMers of today, but can type an email an a small report in reasonable time. I also recently moved and have an azerty keyboard at work (dutch) and a qwerty at home (english) and I often find q's creeping in where a's should be. The most difficult for me, so far, was when I was working in Germany as they had all the umlauts and special chars on the keyboard too, ä ö ü ß etc. It's fine once you get used to it, but reverting back to a qwerty later takes a little getting used to again.

 

[BobG]

I can't quite figure out my typing speed, because every time I attempt a typing test, I freeze up for some reason. Plus, the majority of my typing is compositional, not copy-typing text. I'm really fast when I'm just typing my thoughts; when I'm trying to copy something else, I slow way, way down.

Just the opposite, if I can get myself to quit reading the material I'm typing.

There's just not much call to type faster than you can think up words.

 

[mcknia07]

Mavis Beacon is where I learned the most about typing. It's a good program and it's fun too. Though, I have kinda strayed from the proper form, but I know the keyboard without looking so I can type pretty good. We started proper typing back in like 3rd and 4th grade. Our school got us started early and clear up until college even we have had to take typing courses.

 

[GeorginaS]

Mavis Beacon is an excellent typing teaching software. I purchased it for my ex who, prior to our purchasing a computer, had never even stared at a keyboard in his life. And he was in his late 30s at the time.

He had no clue what the "shift" key was for, or the space bar or the "enter" key. Nothing. We began from ground zero. First I taught him not to type with all caps just because it was easier than switching back and forth. Once he figured out his basic way around a keyboard, I got Mavis Beacon for him. It worked like a charm, especially the games He's really competitive and they got his speed up quickly. I was really impressed.

 

[psyklon]

I have to second Mavis Beacon. My mother whipped up a tough typing curriculum the summer before I entered middle school so I sat through an hour of lessons each day for about two months. Good way to learn how to type.

 

[Art]

A PC computer program 'Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing' taught me touch typing within a few weeks. Speed then comes with practice.

 

[SticksandStones]

Years of playing Starcraft got me to the point where I can type a paper @ >100wpm while holding a conversation with someone on a different topic and looking away from the screen.

 

[mcknia07]

Years of playing Starcraft got me to the point where I can type a paper @ >100wpm while holding a conversation with someone on a different topic and looking away from the screen.

Mighty impressive...

 

[Math Jeans]

Years of playing Starcraft got me to the point where I can type a paper @ >100wpm while holding a conversation with someone on a different topic and looking away from the screen.

Gaming+Dedication=Fast Typing

I can relate .

 

[Lisa!]

I lost this skill since I don't type much these days!

 

[Oerg]

you know, I think most gamers like me have their index finger of their left hand on the d key instead of the f key which is taught in touch typing classes.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

you know, I think most gamers like me have their index finger of their left hand on the d key instead of the f key which is taught in touch typing classes.

Thats so true!

 

[Oerg]

Thats so true!

haha yeh, and very much so for fps players cos of the wsad controls.

 

[cristo]

haha yeh, and very much so for fps players cos of the wsad controls.

Regardless of how fast you can type, the problem then arises that the rest of the world have no idea what you're talking about!

 

[Danger]

Regardless of how fast you can type, the problem then arises that the rest of the world have no idea what you're talking about!

I took typing in grades 9 & 10. First year was on manual Underwoods, and we felt pretty special when we got to use IBM Selectrics the second year. The keys were blank, and there were no charts available to sneak a peak at. We were taught to type to music, usually marching tunes. That meant firing off a blast of 5 or 6 characters, pausing for a quarter second or so, and hitting the keys again. What might be even more important is that we never saw 'words'. We were taught to take each letter individually. That is, we would spell each word as we typed it, as opposed to thinking of the whole word and trying to get it straight on the fly. I still do that now.
On the IBM, or my Facit 1850C that I bought for personal use, I could usually manage about 120 wpm. I'm much slower on a computer. Right now, I'm doing about 80 wpm. That's partially due to arthritis, but more to the fact that computer keys are too sensitive for me. My training was to keep my fingers on 'home row' (asdf jkl;) and my wrists on the bottom rest. This Mac book isn't too bad key-wise, but any other machine that I've used actually fired the keys that I was trying to rest my fingers on. And even this one doesn't have either a wrist-rest or stepped row system. I see the practicality of it for a lap-top, but it's tough to reach straight forward when you're used to having the rows set up like stadium bleachers where you go up and forward.

 

[Oerg]

Regardless of how fast you can type, the problem then arises that the rest of the world have no idea what you're talking about!

oh, fps stands for first player shooters and wsad refers to movement controls that are standardized for most fps games. So fps players usually have their left fingers on the w,s,a and d keys.