Typing Superhumans: The Mystery Unveiled

[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.