I'll be honest. Until about two months ago, I typed almost entirely two-fingered. Maybe a thumb on the SHIFT sometimes, but otherwise, my non-index fingers basically napped. I got through Nanowrimo two-fingered, so strong was my belief that I would never touch type.
Then I decided to give it a try. I got a touch typing program and even colour-coded my keyboard (green for index finger, yellow for middle, orange for ring finger and, fittingly, pink for pinkey). At first it was so hard and confusing, I sometimes felt headachey or physically sick after a few minutes.
I'm still learning, but the speed and error rate is not unbearable anymore, and I can do it for a while. I think it helped that I could already type without looking; I knew where the keys were -- the issue was simply hitting them with the right fingers.
Here are some tips based on my experience so far...
Advantages of touch typing
1. It's faster. I'm not sure I've quite reached my pre-attempt speeds yet, but I can see how this will make it much easier to type at high speed. Beneficial for note-taking, bursts of inspiration, and of course, Nanowrimo!
2. It feels cool. Your wrists don't move as much, and somehow using the whole hand (actually, both hands) feels very engaging.
3. If you're going for a career in journalism or other writing, touch typing ability will probably be required.
Disadvantages of touch typing
1. Learning can be hard or even painful. See above... I've actually heard of someone getting Repetitive Strain Injury from learning to touch type.
2. It slows you down while you're learning. I still haven't reached pre-touch-typing speeds.
3. Thinking about your typing can impact on your ability to think about the content of what you're writing.
4. People might think it's weird that your keyboard is colour-coded.
Kibble's Tips for Touch Typing
1. Find a free online program with those lessons. Admittedly I don't do the individual lessons much, but they have good instructions on how to touch type (specifics like which keys to hit with which fingers, etc). You can also test your speed and accuracy to ensure you're improving over time.
2. Don't give up. I mean, try not to have to do any two-fingered typing. You may have to resort to your old method in a pinch (if you need something written up fast when your touch typing is still slow). But try to use touch-typing for as much general stuff as possible, including web URLs, typing into search engines, posting on YWS... Just be careful putting in passwords -- if you make a mistake when typing it in, it's not visible and you might be locked out of accounts if you make too many failed password attempts.
3. Going with point 2, choose a time to learn to touch type when there aren't likely to be large amounts of things requiring fast typing, so you can slowly touch type as much of your writing as possible.
4. Check everything for mistakes. You might not notice them when you're focussing on typing, so check afterwards.
5. Colour code your keyboard. The point of touch typing (other than the ten finger thing) is that you don't look at the keyboard, but if you forget which finger you're supposed to be pressing "U" with, it's easier to glance down than refer to a touch typing chart.
So, has anyone else overcome the touch-typing hurdle, or trying? Has anyone here always touch-typed (with ten fingers)? Is it more important always hit the right keys with the right fingers, or do what feels natural?
Feel free to add tips, stories and advantages/disadvantages you've discovered!
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