XXI century - the era of computer technology. Today, the inability to type on a keyboard is comparable to the inability to use a ballpoint pen. In a time when every minute is valuable, typing slowly is an unaffordable luxury that limits a person's capabilities in the modern world.
Why do you need to type quickly?
Quite recently it was a rarity. The ability to type any text, despite the keyboard, was equated to magic. Only a few possessed such skill. Now everything has changed a lot, and high-speed printing is a frequently used, professionally valuable skill. Many employers, when selecting employees whose activities will be related to computers, specify proficiency in touch typing as one of the main requirements for applicants.
Nowadays, not only computer typing operators in publishing houses must type quickly, but also accountants, economists, office clerks - everyone whose work involves creating electronic documents.
Which keyboard is considered optimal?
So, there are many services that help determine how fast you type. You only need to type at speed for a minute, and after that the treasured number appears. But what is it compared to? What print speed is considered good?
For those unfamiliar with touch typing, it's likely that you won't be able to type more than 150 characters in one minute. Looking at the keyboard and using two fingers makes it difficult to achieve great speed. And even if you have already learned how to type using the ten-finger method, do not expect high typing speed right away. At first it will be about 200 characters per minute, which is not bad. A typing speed that “keeps pace” with normal speech is considered comfortable. The more training, the faster it increases. Once you reach 300-400 characters per minute, start to be proud of yourself. Professionals can boast of this speed.
But even if you can do this, it’s too early to relax. The world record for typing speed was set in 2005, and ten years later, no one can beat it. It is 750 characters in one minute.
How can you increase your printing speed?
We have set a goal - to learn how to quickly type text on the keyboard. What will come of this is still unknown. Perhaps you will receive praise from your boss and a promotion, or a miracle may happen and a new name will appear in the Guinness Book of Records. In any case, such a valuable skill will not be superfluous; it will make working at the computer more efficient and help save time.
Often, beginners try to increase their speed by simply entering texts on the keyboard, and spend more than one hour doing such a monotonous task. Let's say right away - it's a waste of time if you don't use the right typing technique.
The touch typing method is what will help. This is the only correct way to type. Only after mastering the principles of this method can you devote time to training. In this case, they will be effective, and the results will not keep you waiting.
Touch typing - how is it?
This method of typing appeared at the end of the 18th century. In those days, computers were out of the question, because mass production of typewriters had just begun. No attention was paid to learning how to type quickly. Everyone was looking for convenient methods of working on keyboards. The most effective method turned out to be typing without looking at the keyboard and with the distribution of keys for each finger.
This method began to be called the ten-finger method because it involves all ten fingers on the hands, and the blind method - because when typing text, you don’t have to look at the buttons. As you learn touch typing, you will memorize the location of every letter and every sign on the keyboard. Does this seem difficult? Nothing like this! After just a few days of training, your fingers themselves will begin to look for the buttons in the right place. Moreover, each of the ten fingers has and accurately remembers its work zone.
Two important principles of the ten-finger method
Users who have been using touch typing for a long time follow two basic rules without thinking about it. Beginners will need to try hard. So, if you decide to master the touch typing method on the keyboard, remember:
1. Each finger presses only certain, “its” buttons. This is clearly shown in the figure below.
The color of the finger corresponds to the color of the keys that it must press.
2. Looking at the keyboard while typing is strictly prohibited. This habit is the main problem for beginners. Getting rid of it is not as easy as it seems. At the beginning of training, there will be many typos that will have to be corrected, but over time, tactile memory will begin to develop, and you will stop thinking about every movement. The fingers will press the correct buttons themselves.
Only by adhering to these principles can you quickly learn to type on the keyboard. If you ignore at least one of them, you will wait a very long time for results.
How long does it take to learn to touch type?
The ten-finger touch typing method can be mastered in a month with daily training. Don't be afraid, you won't have to spend 10-12 hours typing for 30 days. Three-hour classes, but regular ones, are enough.
Often beginners, having a great desire, mastered touch typing in two to three weeks. This does not mean that after three weeks the typing speed will be 300-400 characters per minute. To achieve this speed, further training is necessary. This does not necessarily have to be targeted work on simulator programs, you just need to apply the acquired skills when using a computer.
It may seem at first that you are typing slower with the touch typing method than with the two-finger “sighted” method. In this case, the main thing is not to worry and not to give up further use of touch typing. In a couple of weeks at most, a tendency towards an increase in speed will become noticeable.
Touch Typing Basics
The ten-finger printing method has several variations, similar to each other in the main points.
Before you start typing, your fingers are in a strictly defined place. They return there in pauses between entering words or sentences. We immediately need to find the supporting row of the keyboard. This is the third row of keys from the bottom. The left hand is placed on the letter A, and the right hand is placed on O. The remaining fingers occupy places above the adjacent buttons. To quickly determine the position of the support keys on any keyboard, they are marked with small raised protrusions. As you improve your skills, you will learn to feel the correct position of your hands without touching the keys.
Each finger presses only the letter buttons closest to it, according to the color scheme.
Each one is also pressed only with a certain finger. It is more difficult to get used to pressing special buttons correctly than using an alphabetic keyboard.
The key is used to delete erroneously entered characters and is pressed with the little finger on the right hand.
To press the Key, use the little finger on your left hand.
A frequently used button, we use our right little finger to press it.
There are two keys on the keyboard. If you need to change the case of a letter that is entered using any finger of your right hand, then press with your left little finger, and vice versa.
The keys and [Space] are pressed with the thumb. Individually, everyone can use their left or right hand for this.
Keys are pressed using the right or left little finger.
This type of printing does not create unnecessary stress on the joints of the hands and makes it possible to work productively on typing for a long time.
Literature to help
Recently, in addition to keyboard simulators, printed publications on the topic of speed typing are also available. Books on this topic are published in the form of tutorials and, in addition to theory, also contain practical tasks.
- “Touch typing and hot keys” is a textbook for mastering touch typing by E. G. Avsharyan. It was published in 2008. The textbook will help you quickly master the skill of high-speed typing using the ten-finger method and will additionally introduce you to the “hot” buttons in MS Windows.
- "Tutorial for touch typing." This book was published in 2013. Author - Vladimir Andrianov. The textbook introduces us to the history and types of keyboards, the theory of the touch typing method, offers typical exercises and reviews existing keyboard simulators.
- “Tutorial for fast and correct typing on a computer” - an express course by N. M. Berezin. The book was published in 2006. The author promises, using his own method, to teach touch typing at a speed of 120 characters per minute in 120 hours.
Education software
Theory is certainly important, but only by studying the concepts is it impossible to master the ten-finger touch typing method. The simulator is 80% of success in this matter. Special programs designed for training speed typing are not that uncommon. The principle of training in different keyboard simulators may differ. But they are all aimed at achieving one goal - to teach you to quickly type high-quality texts without looking at the computer keyboard.
The most popular keyboard trainers
What free programs will help you quickly learn to type on the keyboard? There are a lot of such applications. Let's look at the most popular programs that help you master the touch typing method:
This is only a small part of what can help those who want to master touch typing with ten fingers. The choice is huge, and if you don't like training on a certain simulator, don't give up on your goal, but try something else. You will definitely find the method that will be most effective and at the same time interesting for you.
Advantages of the method
In conclusion, let's specify the benefits obtained from mastering the touch typing method:
- Whatever one may say, the first advantage will always be saving time. The typing speed on the keyboard is at least doubled. The time required to work with documents is proportionally reduced.
- Opportunity If your gaze is focused only on the document while typing, it is easier to form thoughts, and at the same time the opportunity to notice an error in the text increases.
- The monotonous process of typing letters on the keyboard becomes more dynamic, which helps avoid fatigue.
- Possibility of additional income. As already mentioned, the ability to type quickly using the ten-finger method is a valuable professional skill. In addition, there are a lot of areas where you can make money from this. For example: paid typing, copywriting, selling articles, etc.
How to quickly learn to touch type with all 10 fingers? Review of programs and online keyboard simulators for teaching touch and fast ten-finger typing (typing).
There are even specialized courses for this purpose, and in the West it is one of the subjects in secondary schools.
The main advantages of the touch typing method:
1. Typing with all fingers reduces the number of errors.
2. All fingers are occupied, and each of them corresponds to a certain number of letters.
3. The work becomes completely mechanical - the desired letter is unmistakably struck by the finger with which one has been taught to strike it.
4. By mastering the blind ten-finger method and applying it in practice, people will save their health. They won’t have to look from the keyboard to the monitor and back dozens of times, their eyes won’t get tired, and their vision won’t deteriorate. Those trained will become less tired during the working day, as a result of which they will begin to do more work.
5. Using the blind ten-finger method, anyone can achieve a typing speed of 300-500 characters per minute. If we take into account a work team where all the people in it have mastered the blind ten-finger method, then they work 10% - 15% more efficiently. All letters, texts, balances, reports, notes, documents are prepared faster, better and more accurately.
6. When typing blindly, attention is not focused on the fact of typing, but only on expressing your thoughts (suggestions, conclusions, recommendations, conclusions) in the best possible way.
How to learn?
There are a lot of resources, including the already mentioned touch typing courses, online classes, and special programs. We will not dwell on the courses, but we will look at programs and online simulators.
Programs
In general, most of these programs are based on a similar methodology. First, the “student” studies the middle row of the keyboard - this is FYVAPROLJE, trying to get used to typing certain letters with the corresponding fingers. Here, as practice shows, the most difficult thing is to “move” the ring finger and, especially, the little finger. After mastering the middle row, the top and bottom rows are added. Learning may be accompanied by irritation because your fingers press the wrong keys, there are a lot of mistakes, etc. – this cannot be avoided. But you don’t need to be too upset - this is a fairly serious skill, and to acquire it, you need to work hard, don’t expect an easy “victory”.
SOLO on keyboard
The most famous program on the Runet for mastering the ten-finger touch typing method is SOLO on the keyboard. I will dwell on this keyboard simulator in more detail, since this is not just a program, but an extended training course. In addition to simply typing certain letters in SOLO, the keyboard contains detailed instructions, tips and many other materials that help you cope with the irritation of mistakes and help you not stop halfway.
The entire course consists of 100 exercises. Having completed all 100, you are guaranteed to type text with all 10 fingers, regardless of the keyboard - checked. Each exercise contains up to 6-7 tasks. In addition, after many exercises you will need to repeat one of the previous ones. At the beginning of each exercise there are anecdotes from the creators of the program, which are sure to cheer you up and help you relax a little. There are also numerous letters from people who have already completed SOLO, in which they describe the problems they encountered and what was the most difficult for them. You will find something of your own in them, and this will help you overcome difficulties. After completing the task, you are given a grade on a 5-point scale.
Stamina (Recommended)
This is a free keyboard trainer with a simple but fun interface. The author of this program is not devoid of a sense of humor and did not hesitate to express it in the program interface. Training is based on step-by-step completion of tasks with increasing complexity. For example, in the first task you will need to type the letters A and O in different combinations, then B and L will be added, etc. The tasks are completed to pleasant music. Also, various events in the program are accompanied by cool sounds, for example, when closing the program, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s phrase “I’ll be back” is heard. The program also has an entertaining toy, which, however, is not related to learning, but you can play with it.
Rapid Typing
A free application from Western developers that supports learning in Russian and English layouts. It has an attractive, user-friendly interface. Class statistics are kept to help you navigate the learning process. Below, as usual, is a diagram of the keyboard.
VerseQ
Not quite a standard keyboard trainer. The authors of the program talk about the extreme effectiveness of their method of mastering touch typing. Their website claims that after 5-15 hours of training you will be able to touch-type at a speed of 200-350 characters per minute. The technique is really different from the standard one. Here you are immediately asked to type text consisting of letters in all rows of the keyboard. In this case, the proposed strings for typing are generated by a special algorithm that generates phonetic related sequences of characters.
However, I think that this approach will be very difficult for beginners. Explanations about how to hold your hands, what fingers to press, etc. are in the program help, and are described quite clearly, but switching from two-finger “poking” at the keyboard to typing with all 10 fingers is not easy. At the same time, it is very difficult to study which finger is responsible for what, looking only at the keyboard model. I think there is a high probability that the student will simply abandon this matter until better times.
Fast Typing School
This keyboard simulator is designed for those who want to learn ten-finger touch typing on the keyboard. The simulator has various interesting sections:
1. step-by-step learning of the keyboard “muscle memory”;
2. the game “falling letters” helps to take your mind off learning the keyboard and develop your reaction;
3. typing - skills development;
4. touch typing - imitation of working on a typewriter, strengthens and consolidates the skill of touch typing;
5. audio dictation - just like in school, a voice dictates a story and you need to type without errors at speed.
There are other programs of this kind, but I don’t think they are fundamentally different or better than those that we reviewed. This is quite enough.
Online keyboard simulators
Here we will look at 2 good online resources that are dedicated to mastering the touch typing method.
Keyboard solo online
Training is provided free of charge. However, if you want, you can transfer money to ErgoSOLO LLC in the amount of 150 rubles (this is the same amount as their “SOLO on the Keyboard” program costs). The learning process and methodology are no different from those presented in the program. Everything is very high quality and with care for the student. Here you can compete in the rankings with other “online soloists”, of which, by the way, there are already quite a few. Users who have paid for the course will have an asterisk next to their name. In general, both the SOLO keyboard program and the online course are what a beginner needs. I think this is the best option.
All 10 (Recommended)
Another new project that promises to free us from the habit of pointing two fingers at the keyboard. At the beginning, you will have to take a test to check your typing speed. Then the exercises begin. Two courses are available – Russian and English. The training section provides detailed instructions and recommendations for completing tasks.
Klavogonki.ru
The basic rules of the game are simple. The game will select a random piece of text that you and your opponents must type exactly. As fast as possible. When you successfully type a text, your typewriter (always at the top of the list) moves forward. If a typo is made, you must correct it, otherwise there will be no promotion. Based on the results of the race, the winners will be determined and some parameters of the passage of the text will be shown - time, typing speed in characters per minute and the percentage of characters in which errors were made. The results of each race are saved in your personal statistics. For each completed text you are awarded a number of points depending on the length of the typed text.
Time Speed Keyboard Trainer
The main goal of the Time Speed Keyboard Trainer project is to provide the widest range of computer users with the opportunity to master typing (touch typing or ten-finger typing). We offer a series of courses for teaching touch typing, as well as developing its speed.
VerseQ online
This is an online version of the famous VerseQ keyboard trainer, but, unlike its offline counterpart, it allows you to study from anywhere in the world, participate in competitions, and share your successes with friends and acquaintances. You need the service if you want to quickly, easily and naturally learn touch typing. And if you are already a typing pro, then show off your skills to others!
More online keyboard trainers
http://urikor.net - the first championship of typewriting in Cyrillic
http://klava.org
http://alfatyping.com
http://typingzone.com
http://etutor.ru
http://keybr.com/
http://online.verseq.ru/
Addition
To all that has been said above, you can add the following. Anyone who works at a computer, and especially if they have to type a lot of text, needs to buy an ergonomic keyboard. It is also called separate because the keys for each hand are separated. In addition, the right and left blocks are at an angle to each other, which allows you to avoid bending your hand at the wrist when placing your hands in the initial position FYVA-OLJ. Working on such a keyboard, you will definitely be less tired, and this will increase the average typing speed and, accordingly, productivity.
I have already said that you should not hope to easily “conquer” the blind typing method. It's quite difficult, especially at the beginning. To complete, for example, SOLO on the keyboard, you will need to put in a lot of effort and patience. In addition, special time will need to be allocated for this. However, you shouldn’t be afraid of this; anyone who wants to will undoubtedly cope with this task. Good luck!
To two pieces of advice:
- waste your nerves on keyboard simulators like the notorious “Keyboard Solo”;
- stick signatures on the keys.
What if I told you that there is an absurdly simple, one-step way to learn touch typing without those stupid restrictions?
Preparation
Print out and place a diagram next to your keyboard showing which finger is supposed to press which key.Way
Stop yourself from pressing keys with the wrong fingers..To you no need bring yourself to a nervous breakdown, again and again trying a hundred times without errors to type letter combinations at speed like “ololo loloo” and phrases like “Vladimir Vladimirovich Shakhidzhanyan is my mentor and teacher.”
To you no need nothing special to learn.
To you Can look at the keyboard as much as you like.
To you no need spend time on exercise.
Just start typing in this way everything that you have to type in everyday life and work - and after a while you will be typing touch-touch.
How and why it works
All you need to learn to touch type is to learn how to press the keys with your corresponding fingers. When this skill has not yet been consolidated, you have a desire to poke with your index fingers - it’s faster and more familiar. As long as you allow yourself to do this, the skill of pressing with the right fingers will never take hold.If you do not make exceptions and press each key with strictly the corresponding finger, the skill will become established by itself in a relatively short time. This consolidation occurs at the level of motor skills, so memorizing the scheme is not required and most likely will not bring much benefit.
At first, your printing speed will drop significantly. There will be a painful desire to poke with your index finger and, possibly, irritation. Fight them and make no exceptions.
Depending on how much you type daily, it will take you anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to get up to your previous typing speed, and then gradually increase from there.
You won’t stop looking at the keyboard right away or all at once, but that’s not the main thing. The main thing is that the skill will be consolidated and the speed of gain will increase. And the need to look at the keyboard will become less and less over time, until it disappears completely.
Choosing a mapping between fingers and keys
All schemes on the Internet offer this correspondence:In this case, oddly enough, it is proposed to place hands normally: 
Obviously, such a scheme (and the asymmetrical keyboard itself with shifting rows of keys) was invented by a man with a broken left wrist.
As I started typing, I quickly realized that putting my left little finger under my ring finger was unnatural and generally humiliating, so I chose the correspondence between fingers and keys in a way that was convenient for me:
Hints
Every time you start typing, use your index fingers to feel the marks on the F/A and J/O keys. These marks are designed to help you place your fingers correctly on the keyboard without looking at it.Position the keyboard so that your hands on it are symmetrical relative to your body, and not offset to the left. The center of the main part of the keyboard is between the G/P and H/P keys.
Success story
It took me several months to be able to type while looking only at the screen. We are, of course, talking about months of everyday life, and not months of hard training.
And a few years later, clusterm gave me a Das Keyboard Ultimate keyboard with Cherry MX mechanics and no signatures on the keys for my birthday. This publication is written on it.
This article is 4200 characters long. If you were touch typing, you would type it in an average of 15 minutes.
1888: court stenographer Frank Edgar McGurrin decided to take part in typing competitions and prove that the blind method he had invented was no worse than the then popular sighted eight-finger method. No sooner said than done. McGurrin won, received a $500 prize and made his method popular.
What it is
Blind printing method(or in other words, typewriting) is a method of entering text in which a person does not look at the keyboard and uses all 10 fingers. This develops muscle memory, not visual memory.
The layout of the keys on modern keyboards is standardized: the so-called QWERTY layout. It was invented by Christopher Scholes in 1868 so that the keys with the most common letter combinations were placed far away and the levers of the typewriter did not cling to each other. It was on a machine with this layout that McGurrin won.
Advantages of touch typing with ten fingers
- Your typing speed will increase and you will be able to be the first to respond to the teacher in the chat and find information on the Internet much faster. Depending on your training, you can type from 200 to 400 characters per minute, which significantly reduces the complexity of any task and reduces the time spent.
- You will make fewer mistakes and typos in texts. Focusing on words rather than keys improves concentration and accuracy. The fewer mistakes, the less irritation.
- You will be able to type even in a dimly lit room and will be less tired from working at the computer. No need to look from the keyboard to the display and back. This protects your eyesight, maintains neck muscle tone and posture, and using all 10 fingers has a beneficial effect on your joints.
In the USA, 95% of people know touch typing, as they begin to teach it in elementary school. In Western Europe, teaching the ten-finger typing method is also included in the educational program.
How to learn touch typing
Step 1: Take the correct posture
You need to sit straight, without bending or tilting your head. The angle between the spine and the thigh and between the thigh and the lower leg should be 90 degrees. Your gaze should be directed forward, to the center of the monitor screen. The distance from the eyes to the monitor screen is from 40 to 70 centimeters.
Step 2: Learn the keyboard
Each finger has its own keys that must be pressed by it.
Starting position of the left hand: little finger on the “F” key, ring finger on “Y”, middle finger on “B”, index finger on “A”.
Starting position of the right hand: little finger on “F”, ring finger on “D”, middle finger on “L”, index finger on “O”.
The thumbs of both hands are placed on the space bar.
“FYVA” and “OLJ” are the so-called home keys. To quickly place your hands in the starting position, small protrusions are made on the “A” and “O” keys.
Step 3. Practice
It is advisable to exercise two to three times a day.
To begin, try closing your eyes and placing your fingers on the home line and typing your last name. Move only your fingers. Your gaze should be directed not at the keyboard, but at the screen. Keep practicing until you have no mistakes.
Then you can retype the text from the book or work out on a special simulator. On the Internet you will find many paid and free programs for training the ten-finger set. Here are just a few of them.
Many of us, even those who work a lot at the computer, still “poke” the keys with two fingers. Moreover, even with this “method” of printing, the typing speed can be quite good. However, this does not mean that you should not learn to touch-type with ten fingers.
There are even specialized courses for this purpose, and in the West it is one of the subjects in secondary schools. What is it for? Firstly, typing with all fingers reduces the number of errors and increases typing speed. Secondly, the time spent typing is significantly reduced, and overall fatigue when working at a computer is reduced. Third, it's good for your eyesight (when working in the dark with a black keyboard), and it's just nice to type while looking at the screen rather than the keyboard.
How to learn? There are a lot of resources, including the already mentioned touch typing courses, online classes, and special programs. We will not dwell on the courses, but we will look at programs and online simulators.
Programs.
In general, most of these programs are based on a similar methodology. First, the “student” studies the middle row of the keyboard - this is FYVAPROLJE, trying to get used to typing certain letters with the corresponding fingers. Here, as practice shows, the most difficult thing is to “move” the ring finger and, especially, the little finger. After mastering the middle row, the top and bottom rows are added. Learning may be accompanied by irritation because your fingers press the wrong keys, there are a lot of mistakes, etc. - this cannot be avoided. But you don’t need to be too upset - this is a fairly serious skill, and to acquire it, you need to work hard, don’t expect an easy “victory”.
The most famous program on the Runet for mastering the ten-finger blind typing method is SOLO on keyboard. I will dwell on this keyboard simulator in more detail, since this is not just a program, but an extended training course. In addition to simply typing certain letters in SOLO on keyboard contains detailed instructions, tips and many other materials to help you cope with irritation from mistakes, and help you not to stop halfway.
The entire course consists of 100 exercises. Having completed all 100, you are guaranteed to type text with all 10 fingers, regardless of the keyboard - checked. Each exercise contains up to 6-7 tasks. In addition, after many exercises you will need to repeat one of the previous ones. At the beginning of each exercise there are anecdotes from the creators of the program, which are sure to cheer you up and help you relax a little. There are also numerous letters from people who have already completed SOLO, in which they describe the problems they encountered and what was the most difficult for them. You will find something of your own in them, and this will help you overcome difficulties. After completing the task, you are given a grade on a 5-point scale.
Another program for teaching touch typing. The authors, apparently, decided not to bother with the name :). Here is the first stage of the training, which is implemented in the form of a small game - balls with certain letters fall, and you need not to miss the ball and have time to press the corresponding key. The training must be completed up to level 6. The second stage is typing practice. The program is paid, and the limitation is the inaccessibility of the last stage of training - dictations. However, I would not pay for such a program.
Another new project that promises to free us from the habit of pointing two fingers at the keyboard. At the beginning, you will have to take a test to check your typing speed. Then the exercises begin. Two courses are available - Russian and English. The training section provides detailed instructions and recommendations for completing tasks.
Addition
To all that has been said above, you can add the following. Anyone who works at a computer, and especially if they have to type a lot of text, needs to buy ergonomic keyboard. It is also called separate because the keys for each hand are separated. In addition, the right and left blocks are at an angle to each other, which allows you to avoid bending your hand at the wrist when placing your hands in the initial position FYVA-OLJ. Working on such a keyboard, you will definitely be less tired, and this will increase the average typing speed and, accordingly, productivity.
I have already said that you should not hope to easily “conquer” the blind typing method. It's quite difficult, especially at the beginning. To pass, for example, SOLO on keyboard It will take a lot of effort and patience. In addition, special time will need to be allocated for this. However, you shouldn’t be afraid of this; anyone who wants to will undoubtedly cope with this task. Good luck!
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