I have survived decades of hunt-and-peck typing, and am now ready to graduate to touch-typing. Can anyone recommend a cheap typing program that won't make me pull my hair out?
Sorry, Chris, I learned to type on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I have seen some computer tutorials, but I really don't know how good they are.
Mavis Beacon is probably the best one out there.
*runs off to check*
There are a couple other ones for *nix systems, what operating system do you use?
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Mavis Beacon would probably work well for you, Chris. There are several Mavis Beacon versions, so you might be able to pick up a slightly older version at Best Buy or Circuit City or even Wal-Mart for $9 or so. I learned touch-typing long before high school, but my wife didn't learn until recently. She like Mavis.
I also learned on an electric typewriter, but have heard good things about Mavis.
Don't they teach typing in school? Or was my school just weird?
- Ashavan
My friends made fun of me for taking typing in high school, but of all the classes I took there, those typing classes were the most useful. As far as I know, typing is still offered in our local high schools, Ashavan, although many call it "keyboarding" now....(okay, keyboarding, whatever....)
Several of those friends now wish they had swallowed their masculine egos back then and taken the class back then, for their fingers are still doing the chicken peck 25 years later.
One of my chief detractors back then joined the PD at the same time I did and I enjoyed rubbing in the fact that I could finish a report in half the time. I usually stood behind him with a cup of coffee while he "typed" and made chicken noises. Payback's a b!###, LOL!
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I took typing in high school, as well... I was already pretty decent, but it definitely helped bolster the skill. I've always been happy that I did. With as many reports as I've typed through college and grad school it's more a matter of survival. I shudder to think about how long it would have taken me to finish my thesis hunt-and-peck...it's a bit over 300 pages with the data in the appendices.
I took typing in high school, as well... I was already pretty decent, but it definitely helped bolster the skill. I've always been happy that I did.
Yep, me too - the benefit of always having a computer around growing up. Oddly enough, good typing does help with programming, too - you just gotta remember where all the funky squirrely brackets are, carats, etc. :-D
The course I took in high school disallowed the use of the backspace or delete key. From what I understand, a keyboarding class of some sort is required now in most high schools.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll go with Mavis I guess.
Yup - I'm a chicken-pecker. I moved around alot, and somehow, during my stint in three different high schools across the contry, I never had the keyboarding class.
I picked up my habits playing the old infocom games back itn eh day, such as Zork, the Great Underground Empire. I can hunt-and-peck at about 40+ words a minute, but it is far slower than I can think, and my typing is so littered with errors that I've even had trouble decipering what I'm trying to say when I go back to fix them.
All right Mavis Beacon, it's me or you. . .
Here's what I did.
I used a simple Learn to Type style game like some of the programs mentioned above to learn where the keys were to pratice for a keyboarding class I was in (if you didn't have your WPM up by a certain amount by the end of the class you got a poor grade).
However I got bored with that.
So what I did is I spent some time in fast paced chat rooms and placed my montior in a way to where looking at the keyboard was difficult (I put the montior to the side so to look at the screen I wasn't looking at the keyboard) and tried to keep up. You learn quickly that way.
When those chats became too easy to keep up with I spent a few months doing what is called Speed RP or /a style RP's where in charater "fights" the person that could type the fastest and with the most detail about what their charater was doing would win. They are uncommon now, but are still around.
I also recommend typing e-mails to friends and family and force yourself to use proper typing "style".
Hope that helps. And for the records, even speed typers slow down a bit when it comes to numbers and symbols, so don't let that frustrate you.
Luck to you,
Lady C
Sorry, Chris, I learned to type on an IBM Selectric typewriter. I have seen some computer tutorials, but I really don't know how good they are.
You had an electric typewriter? Mine was a relic from about 1910 that always put the lower case "a" through the paper and at a funny angle no less.
Still a pecker (yes, in all senses of the word), but you already knew that didn't you, ;)
GGG
well, you should probably decide which type of keyboard you wish to use. Many, if not most, professional writers use a Devorak, not sure of spelling, keyboard in which the keys are oriented in a pattern which lends much greater speed. The classic keyboard is a ponderous thing that you will be doing good to get 60 wpm out of due to the left over orientation of button placement to key old style keys from sticking. If you just want to learn basic skills for casual use, any one should do, it just takes hours of practice. I learned in typeing class in the 10th grade, the keyboard had no letters and you never looked at the keys, just what you read; one hour a day; and it was graded for speed and accuracy; tedious, but it worked. Most of the actual teaching was to memorized the common word keystrokes for things such as and, the, and other common words and a bit on where to rest your hands and which fingers should strike which keys. I can't really imagine that any typing tutor program can really be that much better than any other as long as you do correct practice.
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I bought Mavis Beacon for my wife, and it worked fairly well for her. I also enjoyed using some of the programs for testing.
In my most recent test for employment I have a typing speed of 72 wpm, which isn't too bad (and I don't use the Dvorak keys). Mavis can help, but it can be a little frustrating.
I can usually type as fast as I can comprehend something. Mavis Beacon does quite a bit of the type the following:
aklef; hbea;lk efghis;
I don't have trouble knowing where the keys are, but it is pretty difficult to understand what I'm reading quickly. In the time I can read indubitable I can read "akl".
But, as you progress from one level to another they use more and more "real words" and less and less random keys strokes.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'll go with Mavis I guess.
Yup - I'm a chicken-pecker. I moved around alot, and somehow, during my stint in three different high schools across the contry, I never had the keyboarding class.
I picked up my habits playing the old infocom games back itn eh day, such as Zork, the Great Underground Empire. I can hunt-and-peck at about 40+ words a minute, but it is far slower than I can think, and my typing is so littered with errors that I've even had trouble decipering what I'm trying to say when I go back to fix them.
All right Mavis Beacon, it's me or you. . .
Chris -
during NanoWriMo (yes, it's november, you should be thinking about it now) you can bolster your typing speed by participating in 30 minute word wars. My little brother and I swore by them as a means of keeping up with our word counts. That is, if you are driven by competition at all.
My typing speed comes honestly - I majored in literature in college, and I wrote a LOT of papers. Typing became a survival skill quickly.
- Ashavan
EDIT: fixed minor grammatical error.
well, you should probably decide which type of keyboard you wish to use. Many, if not most, professional writers use a Devorak,
The problem with variant keyboards is if you want/need to use typing skills at work. Or at the library. Or an internet cafe. Or a friend's house. With a portable computer. You get the idea. (Ubiquity is a big reason why QWERTY is still around.)
Check out Typing of the Dead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Typing_of_the_Dead
Fight Zombies as you type!