51–60 of 105 posts
Use a mech keyboard. Probably some misses are because poor registering and not because you.
> Probably some misses are because poor registering and not because you. Not because you what? If you use a mech keyboard, then this isn't a strong endorsement.
I switched to Dvorak about 15 years ago, and while I’m not going to advocate switching, I would like to provide one point of view.
I switched in high school for all the reasons people switch the Dvorak. Before switching, my QWERTY avg was around 60. Switching allowed me to relearn touch typing with a clean slate.
Now, 15 years later, I still regularly use QWERTY and Dvorak. But the contexts are different. I use QWERTY on my phone when typing with my thumbs, and Dvorak on my keyboard.
Recently I did an experiment with myself where I replaced all the keys on my keyboard with blank keycaps. Then I tried playing typeracer with a QWERTY layout. As expected, I consistently scored around ~40wpm.
However, if I allowed myself to look at the BLANK keycaps, it’s like a switch triggered in my brain and I was able to consistently type around ~60wpm. It’s like the visual input unlocked something in my brain.
When I type Dvorak, I use proper form, and don’t rely on the visual signals. I believe that because of this, my fingers have had to learn more deeply the shapes of the words as I type them.
One thing which I do is to type words up to about 7 characters as a single fluid motion. For longer words, I subconsciously chunk them into smaller parts, and type each of those parts in a single motion.
So my suggestions is to block all visual signals in whatever layout you use, and allow your fingers to develop a deep intuition about the shapes of words. Typing with proper form will definitely help, but the fastest typists in the world typically don’t use proper form. They just have really good accuracy.
Finally, I don’t think the physical keyboard matters that much. I would not recommend dropping >$150 on a fancy keyboard in order to practice typing faster. I use a fancy keyboard because I like fancy keyboards and how they feel, but that has very little impact on my typing speeds. I can be equally competitive with most off the shelf membrane and scissor switch keyboards.
Are there any competitive typers here? I touch type around 105 WPM, peaking sometimes at 140. I'd like to get faster into the range of 200-300 as I see other people typing at on leaderboards, but I don't know what I should do. Should I switch away from QWERTY? Should I use a different type of keyboard? Should I be doing any mental tricks or is it just raw practice?
Don't aim for speed! Aim for typing without errors and - more importantly - a constant rhythm. Music helps. Start extremely slow and spell out each word letter by letter in your mind.
You should find many exercises out there for how to get started with all fingers. But the key is really to slow things down. It's very much like learning an instrument.
If you keep practicing this say 10-20 minutes per day you'll soon see progress. Speed then comes very naturally and without much effort.
It depends how fast you want to get. You need both skills and good keyboard. You can't type FAST with an average keyboard that doesn't register keys as fast as you can type. With standard Qwerty touch-typing fingers position, you can build up to 85-95wpm easily. You need a lot of practice to build the muscle memory. You can learn basics in Typingclub.com and then you need a lot more practice in communities like typer…
For the record I regularly hit speeds of >140wpm on 10fastfingers https://10fastfingers.com/user/1725123/ and typeracer https://data.typeracer.com/pit/profile?user=richivinsky I switched to Dvorak about 15 years ago, and while I’m not going to advocate switching, I would like to provide one point of view. I switched in high school for all the reasons people switch the Dvorak. Before switching, my QWERTY avg was aroun…
First, you need good mechanical keyboard. Some people will advocate for specific models or switches, but you need to choose one by yourself by typing on it. Second, you need to learn touch typing. There are some tips: a) buy keyboard with blank keycaps; b) if you can't buy such keyboard (you really should), try to pull out keycaps and randomly change their order; c) put blanked or some non-transparent sheet over your…
My beloved thinkpad keyboard died one day, and I decided to finally try a fancy-schmancy mechanical keyboard. I spent a long time working on a laptop as my primary box, and didn't want to carry another keyboard, so I just stuck with ThinkPad.
I spent a couple weeks feeling like I couldn't type, to varying, diminishing degrees. But I really focused on doing the right thing rather than the fast thing.
Now I'm super happy I did spend that time on it. I love my mechanical keyboard, but it wasn't necessary to improve my typing. Though there are a number of benefits I do see because of it's ability to be programmed. I have a bunch of custom settings on it just for my workflows.
I can only tell how we were taught 10 finger typing, some 30 years ago: Don't aim for speed! Aim for typing without errors and - more importantly - a constant rhythm. Music helps. Start extremely slow and spell out each word letter by letter in your mind. You should find many exercises out there for how to get started with all fingers. But the key is really to slow things down. It's very much like learning an instrum…
For the record I regularly hit speeds of >140wpm on 10fastfingers https://10fastfingers.com/user/1725123/ and typeracer https://data.typeracer.com/pit/profile?user=richivinsky I switched to Dvorak about 15 years ago, and while I’m not going to advocate switching, I would like to provide one point of view. I switched in high school for all the reasons people switch the Dvorak. Before switching, my QWERTY avg was aroun…
In what way(s) do they deviate from proper form?
I saw one video of a guy with a bone problem who was actually able use his thumbs to hit speeds in excess of 190.
Sometimes people will type properly but shift the home position depending on the word. I’ve even seen some people use 5 fingers on their left hand and one finger on their right hand.... quite astounding really.
One thing all of them have in common, which is excellent accuracy.