31–40 of 78 posts
So I'm in the odd situation that I both "sloppily" touch type in Qwerty on normal keyboards, so I can keep my hands at a comfortable angle, but faced with an ergonomic keyboard I can switch to Dvorak and touch-type.
I learned to touch-type on a basic mechanic typewriter in the late 80s -- no electricity whatsoever, you had to hit the keys very hard to make it work. The teacher was an old style professional typist; she was almost able to hear each mistake (in a class of 20 people). There was a huge screen at the end of the classroom that showed a keybord; when the teacher would say "A" she would lit the letter up at the same time…
I took a typing class in high school; it was probably the most useful course I took over the entire five years. It has paid for itself literally thousands of times over in increased productivity (my cruising speed is around 100-120 wpm). I'm with Steve Yegge: if you can't touch-type, your productivity will remain stuck under a pretty hard ceiling. http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirties...
I also don't have problems with the characters that were not part of the lessons. I spent about 10 years on a US keyboard layout and then another 10 with a mostly UK keyboard layout, and then there's the UK Mac keyboard which is a strange combination of the two. I don't feel I have trouble switching between the types of keyboards, it's like switching between driving on the left and right hand sides of the road which I also got pretty used to.
I took a typing class in high school; it was probably the most useful course I took over the entire five years. It has paid for itself literally thousands of times over in increased productivity (my cruising speed is around 100-120 wpm). I'm with Steve Yegge: if you can't touch-type, your productivity will remain stuck under a pretty hard ceiling. http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/09/programmings-dirties...
Lots of good resources in these comments, guess I've got something to work on.
I wanted to learn touch typing properly, so I took a touch typing class in high school. But it wasn't a very good class and the teacher basically told me I didn't have to do anything to pass as I already typed 30-40 wpm faster than anyone else in the class... Guess she didn't know proper touch typing either
My hands fly everywhere on the keyboard when I type. I honestly think this might be better for minimizing RSI, as I switch between using different muscles for movement. There's really no system behind it
I once got told it looked like I was torturing my keyboard, not typing on it.
Again!
A S D F J K L semi!
Again!
We will keep doing it until you got it right!
A S D F J K L semi!
Eddie in Row 3, come on now, keep up!
A S D F J K L semi!
Mrs. Tomjonovich, I cursed you then. I thank you now.