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Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

typelit.io

171–180 of 394 posts

Re: Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s an interesting idea that we still “need” typing practice. We do it every day why would we need to practice extra? To provide an additional use case, my wife just got me an awesome and completely configurable ergonomic keyboard for my birthday and I’m considering switching to Dvorak or Coleman layouts after typing QWERY my entire life. I NEED a long form practice like this instead of just typing nonsense short bl…

I practiced qwerty touch typing in school, but never really used it myself, rather using two-three fingers on each hand and letting them move around a lot across the keyboard. I switched to dvorak over 10 years ago and since the letters on the keys didn't match, and because it's designed to make it easy to touch type, I quickly learned. But after a year or so of dvorak, I grew tired of being extremely slow when I had…

I added the Dvorak layout to the computer in the conference room.

(This is probably a more acceptable thing to do in companies where more than one language is spoken. The computer already had English-Qwerty and Danish-Qwerty installed.)

Re: Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

#174
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm productive in bursts as well. I have the feeling that in between bursts things are still computing in the background so it looks like you're not doing anything but the brain is still churning. This type of bursty productivity is very hard to account for in a corporate environment where one's productivity should be accounted for on a daily basis and laid down in cookie cutter time slots. I often wonder whether I h…

I think it's quite common among programmers. At least, I have always been that way too. I can go week of unproductive time then suddenly several days of immersion.

That's the reason I avoid taking the Ritaline/Amphetamines route. I think it is normal and i wouldn't want to be a productivity machine anyway

Re: Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

#175
post #15

Amazing idea, really I'm impressed. This intrigued me at first glance as a fun typing exercise, as I've always struggled with typing - I started using computers way before they started teaching typing around here, so my typing is far from the optimal 10 finger method, but I've always found typing exercises mind numbingly boring. However, as I started typing The call of Cthulhu, I'm now much more intrigued by this as…

Seconded, I use gnu typist often but the drills are too bland and I needed something like that. Superb

Re: Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

#176
Awesome project! I've spend some time on sites like Keyhero and 10fastfingers since I really enjoy typing, but sites like those ultimately feel time sinks since there's very little to gain after you reach a decent WPM. This site feels meaningfully different since I get exposed to the literature as I'm typing. From a quick glance it looks like the UI is really clean and the text is easy to read. I'm looking forward to using your site in my free time.

Re: Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

#178
post #14
post #2

"[Hunter S. Thompson] chose, rather than writing original copy, to re-type books like The Great Gatsby and a lot of Norman Mailer, the Naked and the Dead, a lot of Hemingway. He would sit down there on an old type-writer and type every word of those books and he said, 'I just wanna feel what it feels like to write that we'll.'" HST: "If you type out somebody's work, you learn a lot about it. Amazingly it's like music…

This was explained by HST in one of his letters, which was collected in the excellent three book collection of letters he sent and received to his friends. Including many famous writers. HST was always great in small rapid outputs of writing, which is captured well in his letters (similar to how his collection of articles are his most popular works, but these deserve a similar look). He obviously had some sort of ADD…

You need the long periods of meh for the bursts of great to happen. The meh puts in the ground work for the good.

Re: Show HN: I made a site where you practice typing by retyping entire novels

#179
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm productive in bursts as well. I have the feeling that in between bursts things are still computing in the background so it looks like you're not doing anything but the brain is still churning. This type of bursty productivity is very hard to account for in a corporate environment where one's productivity should be accounted for on a daily basis and laid down in cookie cutter time slots. I often wonder whether I h…

If you goal is to get prescribed stimulants (amphetamines, ritalin, or modafinil), it's pretty trivial to get diagnosed and prescribed. Psychs hand that stuff out like candy

I tried some and I don't like their effect. Yes, I can sit down through boring stuff but the intrinsic interest becomes dries up while on these. It is true that I didn't try this treatment for extended periods of time but I may if I absolutely need to (but only temporarily, up to a couple of months or so). For now I try to enjoy my average productivity which comes in bursts and that is okay
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