Touch Typing

In this day and age, where everyone's using the Internet, keyboard skills are absolutely indispensable for anyone who spends a lot of time in front of their computer.

I learned to touch-type using the old "Sight And Sound" method (almost a kind of auto-hypnosis, really) while operating Telex machines in the South African armed forces. We received a thorough training that got us up to about thirty words per minute before we were considered qualified. This ability, to type without looking at the keys at all, has stood me in very good stead over the years, and my speed has grown with practice.

I'm delighted to discover (hat-tip to Morning Glory) that a "Sight And Sound" type of training is now online and free of charge! You'll find it at 10-Fast-Fingers. I've had a quick look through the lessons, and it seems to me to be almost identical to the training I received (with the exception that we had earphones giving us the cadence and pace, and the computer version is more self-paced).

If you've never learned to touch-type without looking at the keys, may I suggest that it'll be a worthwhile investment of time to go there and complete the course?

As for typing speed, the site has a very good speed test. My results:


83 words

Touch Typing

As you see, the test gives you HTML code to display on your blog. I find the speed given to be a bit slow, but that's probably caused by page refresh delays in between screens. My normal typing speed has been measured at 90-100 words per minute, and allowing for a 10% delay for page refreshing, the test figure is probably close enough. Without that delay it'd be in the low 90's.

Here's a challenge to all bloggers reading this. What's your typing speed? Post a comment here to let us know, and post the results on your blog to spread the word about this online training. Readers of this blog, please test yourselves and post a comment too.

I highly recommend this training. You can't beat the price, and it's something we all can use.

Peter