What Is Your Typing Speed on a Standard QWERTY Keyboard?

[chroot]

although I totally aggree with everything you say Chroot.. BUT Are you serious:

Honestly, I pretty much am serious. I've seen people typing on a Unix commandline so poorly that you almost want to scream in agony when watching them. They have to backspace through every word they type, hunt and peck for any 'unusual' keys like / or *, and generally take two minutes to compose a single command. This same coworker has become extremely adept and copying and pasting things with the mouse (on Unix, copying and pasting involves only highlighting and clicking the middle mouse button). Oddly enough, I type well enough that I rarely ever bother to copy-and-paste, because I usually type a command faster than I can reach for the mouse.

- Warren

 

[Anttech]

hehe... that's funny :)

 

[BobG]

I see. Do you think I could switch to one? I'm 17, and i plan to perhaps get a typing job. What do you think the odds are of me being one of the worlds fastest typers? I don't think I'm that far off, I can do 130 WPM on a normal slow down keyboard QWERTY, with over 90 percent accuracy now.
I just don't want to switch to one because intially my speed will be slow right? As I get used to it? How am I supposed to learn to type on it anyway?

You probably already have a Dvorak keyboard layout loaded in your computer.

If you have Windows XP, go to Control Panel and select "Language, and Regional Options". Then choose "Regional and Langauge Options". Under the "Language" tab, select "Details". Highlight "Keyboard" and select "Add". Click the Keyboard Layout box - the "United States - Dvorak" should already be in the box. Otherwise, click the arrow key and you have many, many choices of keyboard layout. You even have the option of a right-handed Dvorak keyboard or a left-handed Dvorak keyboard (you want to type the most common letters with your strongest hand). Click OK when you've added the keyboard layout you want.

This doesn't change the keyboard layout. It just adds a new icon in your system tray or a new shortcut on your desktop. You click on the icon in the system tray and you should have the option of using either the standard keyboard or the Dvorak keyboard (or any other layouts you added). You can switch back and forth between the layouts as desired by clicking on the icon and selecting the desired layout.

It's fun to try it out, but you need a period of time where you have no real typing to do in order to learn the new keyboard layout if you really want to use a Dvorak keyboard. Switching back and forth between layouts is a really hard way to learn a new keyboard.

I've never found a big enough block of time. Plus, as others have said, typing fast doesn't mean a whole lot in today's world. The main reason to learn it is to reduce fatigue. Your fingers rarely venture off of the home row on a Dvorak keyboard.

I've have heard this, and it is fairly commonly accepted, but sometimes I wonder...

Perhaps they weren't rearranging them to deliberately slow down typing so much as they were rearranging them directly so that the swing arms of commonly used key combinations collided less. While it would still slow the typists down, it would do so only as a side effect, rather than the intended effect.

Seems more plausible (and less urban legend-like) to me.

The five most common letters are E, A, T, O, N, (I think). The only possible configuration they could find to reduce collisions left only one of those letters on the home row? And the only letter on the home row had to use the little finger of the left hand?

Besides, the keys on typewriters all hit the same spot - it's the paper that moves. All of the collisions occur in the space every single key has to pass through.

 

[Kakarot]

88 Miles Per Hour 88 Miles Per Hour!

 

[Moonbear]

Bleck, what a horrid test! I typed 60 wpm, 100% accuracy, but that's because I had to slow down enough to copy their grammatical errors accurately (if you insert a comma automatically where there should be a comma but they don't have one, you lose points for accuracy). Having briefly relied on secretaries to do my typing, it doesn't mean anything if they can type rapidly if it isn't 100% accurate (it used to drive me nuts that I'd have to give them the same letter to type 4 times because they kept making mistakes in the middle), and it doesn't mean anything if they don't have excellent grammatical skills to either catch your mistakes, punctuate correctly from dictation (this is still something secretaries are used for when typing up minutes from meetings or writing up a transcript of a phone conversation), or know to NOT change things you wrote correctly. Those are the important skills in a secretary/typist, not speed. I actually don't think accurate typists are a dime a dozen, I think fast typists are. It shouldn't be difficult to find accurate typists, because as was said, anyone who takes a care can type with 100% accuracy, but the problem is finding people who take that level of care. This is rampant through all sorts of jobs, not just typing, that require attention to details.

For the most part, with everyone using computers to do their own typing as they think, the need for typists is decreasing. QT, it's really not a job to aspire to. If you can improve your accuracy, it's always a good skill in case you ever find yourself unemployed and NEED to take a typing job, but you'll find more satisfaction getting the education needed to do a job that requires thinking rather than just copying words. Of course, it's always the sort of job you could do to help pay your way through school, in which case it's certainly better than flipping burgers.

 

[Joma Frand]

But the fastest typer in the world could do 212 on a special keyboard. (DAMN! Is it that good? I heard stories that some guy who could only do 50 WPM on a qwerty keyboard could do over a 100 on this different one..i got to try it out)

This is not true, she is not the worlds fastest typest.
The record books may say so, but I know for a fact this is not true.
Also, on another webpage, it says the worlds fastest typest on a standard QWERTY keyboard only types 158 WPM, also no true.

I as a court stenographer had to type at a minimum of 225 WPM shorthand to obtain the position. As proof that "The Worlds Fastest Typest" does not only type 212, I have attached proof. If further proof is needed I will do a demostration on cam, to prove I am not using a Macro program. I can also maintain a speed of 190 WPM, constantly, 99% accuracy, asides from my damn spelling errors.

 

[Rach3]

Um, shorthand?

 

[Gelsamel Epsilon]

About 60wpm at 100% accuracy with an online test, I have to say though I type a lot faster when typing what I want to type and not reciting some story off the net.

 

[JamesU]

z am typing this really fast ebcsuse I am agood tyer

^that took about 7 seconds

 

[rhuthwaite]

I type as fast as you can looking down at the keyboard and using a max of 4 fingers

 

[JasonRox]

I type as fast as you can looking down at the keyboard and using a max of 4 fingers

Start using 5.

I remember in elementary school that our goal was only to reach 20 words per minute and those who got 30 was like...

 

[JamesU]

Start using 5.

I remember in elementary school that our goal was only to reach 20 words per minute and those who got 30 was like...

 

[Danger]

I took typing in grades 9 & 10 only. First year was with Olympia manual machines, and we moved to Selectric II's next year. Of course, the keys were blank, so we had to know where everything was. I bought myself a Facit 1850 and used that until I got my Atari 800 with Atariwriter software.
What irritates me is that computers have slowed me down. While I could routinely do 120wpm on the typewriter, I'm down to about 80 on a regular keyboard. I was taught to rest my fingers on home row when not using them, and the computer sensitivity keeps setting off the home row keys when I don't want them. It's even worse now on this iBook. (yes! I finally got it.) The flat keyboard and honking wide wrist shelf keep me from holding my hands in the correct position. I think that I'm doing about 50wpm on it.

 

[Moonbear]

My wireless keyboard has slowed my typing speed. If I type too fast, it gets confused and sends weird strings of characters to the computer (I'm being serious, not joking about bad typing). I need to replace it with a corded keyboard, but I'm still fighting with the cat over mouse ownership, so I'm not going to introduce another tempting cord just yet.

 

[Moonbear]

The flat keyboard and honking wide wrist shelf keep me from holding my hands in the correct position. I think that I'm doing about 50wpm on it.

I think this is why folks have started noticing so much carpal tunnel syndrome associated with typing. I mean, I'm sure typists got it in the past, but it was never a prevalent complaint. Keyboards are so much flatter than typewriters, and if anything, wrist rests seem to encourage more problems. On a typewriter, you never rested your wrists anywhere, but that was possible because your fingertips were instead resting on the keys, which you can't do with a keyboard.

 

[NoTime]

This is not true, she is not the worlds fastest typest.
The record books may say so, but I know for a fact this is not true.
Also, on another webpage, it says the worlds fastest typest on a standard QWERTY keyboard only types 158 WPM, also no true.

I as a court stenographer had to type at a minimum of 225 WPM shorthand to obtain the position. As proof that "The Worlds Fastest Typest" does not only type 212, I have attached proof. If further proof is needed I will do a demostration on cam, to prove I am not using a Macro program. I can also maintain a speed of 190 WPM, constantly, 99% accuracy, asides from my damn spelling errors.

IIRC typing WPM is based on a standard average word length of 5 characters.
So multiplying WPM by 6 (counting the space) gives characters per minute.

If you're doing shorthand the word length is shorter, so you should be able to type more words.

I don't know what the standard shorthand word length is.
Without that information a comparison is meaningless.

edit to add quote

 

[NoTime]

I think this is why folks have started noticing so much carpal tunnel syndrome associated with typing. I mean, I'm sure typists got it in the past, but it was never a prevalent complaint. Keyboards are so much flatter than typewriters, and if anything, wrist rests seem to encourage more problems. On a typewriter, you never rested your wrists anywhere, but that was possible because your fingertips were instead resting on the keys, which you can't do with a keyboard.

I think part of the problem is that keyboards usually end up on desks.
Not at the right height like the old typewriter tables.

I think the one I have is like the one the OP was upset about because his broke.
It feels much more like the typewriter keyboards than most.
I hate laptop keyboards

I type pretty slow.
But then I think slower

 

[Pythagorean]

first time: 77/70 wpm, 90% accuracy

second time: 88/80 wpm, 93% accuracy

 

[moose]

Last time I did a typing test I got
(When trying to type as fast as I possibly could)
122 - 98% accurate
(When typing at a normal steady rate that I can sustain for really long)
105 - 100% accuracy

 

[Danger]

Just out of curiosity, was anyone else taught to type staccato, to music? My teacher played marching tunes such a Sousa. He taught us to work like a 3-round-burst Baretta. (Type about 5-8 characters per second, pause for 1/4 or 1/2 second, then take another blast at it.) We were also taught to treat each character individually, rather than a whole word at a time. To this day, I spell out the words as I type them.

 

[rhuthwaite]

Thats strange I might try that! The only time I learned to do things stacatto was on the piano... you must be musical

 

[Danger]

I am, in fact, just learning to play the radio.

(You don't want to know what I learned to do on a piano, but it's not nearly as hard to clean up as a pool table.)

 

[rhuthwaite]

ahh that's a difficult one haven't mastered that yet

 

[Danger]

Hmmm... your post in the other thread would tend to contradict that.

 

[rhuthwaite]

Haha Shhh keep that on the low down!

 

[Danger]

No worries there; I am the lowest of the low. In fact, I'm constantly entreated to get my mind out of the gutter and back into the sewer where it belongs.

 

[rhuthwaite]

Aww you can't be that bad. Maybe not good but surely no one is that low

 

[Danger]

Well... I have to stand on a ladder to tickle a dust mite's belly...

 

[rhuthwaite]

Do you like it down there?

 

[Danger]

As long as I'm wearing nose plugs...

Looks like a taco, smells like fish, tastes like chicken, and they say that you're not supposed to eat it...?