Typing Speeds

[Rodimus Prime]

And this did not lower output?? He said, she said.

did not slow it down at all. If anything it improved speed because it prevent jamming.

If you ever messed around on those old typewriters the quickly way to jam them is to hit 2 letters right next to each other very quickly.

This way it spread them out a little so they would not hit each other as often when typing fast.
Also before QWERT there really was not a good single formate. QWERT took off because it prevent jamming.

They also have done studies comparing different key layout like dvorak vs QWERT and have found once someone gets use to the different format there really is not any real speed improvement. Typing speeds seem to work out to be about the same.
Speed is not the reason to learn a new formate. Now taking strain off the wrist and damage that a lot of typing can do is a reason to learn it but speed is not a factor.

 

[mscriv]

Just did an online typing test and came out at 63 words per minute. Wow, I haven't done one of those since 8th grade. I think I learned to officially type on a Tandy 1000. Before that it was two finger pecking on my dad's old typewriter in the basement office for fun.

 

[iJohnHenry]

did not slow it down at all. If anything it improved speed because it prevent jamming.

OK, I'll keep playing.

Before QWERTY the most common letters were grouped for fast access. That is why the jamming occurred, caused by mechanical limitations.

The most used letters, E, T, A, O, I, N, S, etc, should be grouped on the Home Row, not out in left/right field.

And now that there is no mechanism involved with computer keyboards, the time has come to bit the bullet, and start teaching the old layout again.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

OK, I'll keep playing.

Before QWERTY the most common letters were grouped for fast access. That is why the jamming occurred, caused by mechanical limitations.

The most used letters, E, T, A, O, I, N, S, etc, should be grouped on the Home Row, not out in left/right field.

And now that there is no mechanism involved with computer keyboards, the time has come to bit the bullet, and start teaching the old layout again.

again you should read up on why QWERTY was created. It was not to slow people down. Before QWERTY there was no standard at all in terms of keyboard lay outs.

Schwalbach later replaced the piano-like keys with "buttons" and positioned them into four banked rows.[45] The mechanics of the machine, however, made the alphabetical arrangement problematic. The typebars were attached to the circumference of a metal ring, forming a "basket". When a key was pressed, the corresponding typebar would swing upwards, causing the print head to strike at the center of the ring. Gravity would then return the typebar to its initial position. The implication of this design, however, was that pressing adjoining keys in quick succession would cause their typebars to collide and jam the machine. To mitigate this problem, keys were reordered using analysis of letter frequency and trial and error.[46] Typebars corresponding to letters in commonly occurring alphabetical pairs, such as S and T, were placed on opposite sides on the ring.[47] The keyboard ultimately presented to Remington was arranged as follows:[46]

Little bit out of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter

It explain how QWERTY came about.

 

[vincenz]

Didn't know about typeracer until now. Having some fun

Averaging a little over 80 wpm.

 

[Kildeer]

I got 43 wpm and I'm fine with that, considering I'm not typing for a living. If I was I'd probably type a lot faster or at least work up the skill to do it.

 

[Don't panic]

OK, I'll keep playing.

Before QWERTY the most common letters were grouped for fast access. That is why the jamming occurred, caused by mechanical limitations.

The most used letters, E, T, A, O, I, N, S, etc, should be grouped on the Home Row, not out in left/right field.

And now that there is no mechanism involved with computer keyboards, the time has come to bit the bullet, and start teaching the old layout again.

iJohnHenry is right,
if the most common combinations of letters where laid out (in alternate) in the home row and around the 'center' of the keyboard, both speed and accuracy would greatly benefit, because the keys would be controlled by the stronger fingers or by the weaker fingers in their optimal position.

rodimus has a point in saying that the qwert layout lead to more efficient typing by preventing jamming, but the jamming was a direct consequence of how quickly the keys where typed one after the other, even if they were on opposite sides of the keyboard (but it's true the problem was worse with adjacent keys).

use of a dvorak resolves these problems. in english, 70% of dvorak keystroke are on the homerow, and the separation of vowels and common consonants allow a good hand alternation within a word and almost eliminate 'single hand words'.

that said, i don't think a switch will happen as there is too much of a re-learning curve involved

 

[Rodimus Prime]

iJohnHenry is right,
if the most common combinations of letters where laid out (in alternate) in the home row and around the 'center' of the keyboard, both speed and accuracy would greatly benefit, because the keys would be controlled by the stronger fingers or by the weaker fingers in their optimal position.

rodimus has a point in saying that the qwert layout lead to more efficient typing by preventing jamming, but the jamming was a direct consequence of how quickly the keys where typed one after the other, even if they were on opposite sides of the keyboard (but it's true the problem was worse with adjacent keys).

use of a dvorak resolves these problems. in english, 70% of dvorak keystroke are on the homerow, and the separation of vowels and common consonants allow a good hand alternation within a word and almost eliminate 'single hand words'.

that said, i don't think a switch will happen as there is too much of a re-learning curve involved

I am not arguing that homerow change like dvorak would improve damage done from typing does to ones wrist but I want to say some studies that I have read showed that speed improvements were negligible on people who completely switch.

But like I said QWERTY layout was not done to slow down typing speed but more was designed so letters were spaced out better on the ring to prevent jamming. It was laid out not based on how common letters were but more laid out based on how often certain letter appear next to each other. So for example S and T were put on spread out on the ring to prevent jamming.

problem is QWERTY was designed to mechaincal limition and now that we do not have that problem any more we can not switch to a better layout because of ingrained it is.

 

[iJohnHenry]

iJohnHenry is right,

I love when that happens. (No longer a married man.)

... that said, i don't think a switch will happen as there is too much of a re-learning curve involved

It's too bad, really.

The change could have occurred with the IBM Selectric series typewriters, well before personal computers.

You remember, the bouncing balls?

 

[EazyWeazy3]

I type slowwwwww.

 

[Drastry]

I would really like to increase my typing speed, but I prefer online courses. Which ones would you recommend me to take?

 

[millerj123]

I would really like to increase my typing speed, but I prefer online courses. Which ones would you recommend me to take?

One of the first few listed on a google search for touch-typing is http://www.typingstudy.com It allows you to select your keyboard, and then walks you through learning row by row and then goes into word combinations. Something like that is pretty good, is free, and is online.

 

[Southern Dad]

QWERTY was designed to slow typists down. The keys on a mechanical typewriter kept jamming.

If we went to DVORAK things would speed up, but I guess QWERTY is now entrenched?

I took a test today and it says that I type 71 wpm with 100% accuracy. You are correct that the QWERTY keyboard was designed to slow the secretaries down but another poster is right it was to slow them down in order to speed them up. If the keys were to jam, that slowed them even farther.

In the newspaper business we occasionally have one of those writers, copy editors or publishers from days gone by that can pull out an old Royal typewriter, then impress us all with a super fast typing speed. We keep a couple of the old machines around just for this.

 

[The Doctor11]

I use type racer about everyday and I have about 45 wpm

 

[imaketouchtheme]

Here's a screenshot of my TypeRacer scorecard. My all-time average is lower because I made the account over five years ago and have slightly improved since then. I also play it on my iPhone as well, and only average around 75WPM on here.

When on a computer, I generally achieve around 110-120WPM.

 

[firedept]

How fast can two fingers type? On a good day I can use four fingers! At least I have the advantage of knowing where all the keys are located or maybe that's not an advantage.

 

[Kaylor]

Back in middle school (6th or 7th grade, I really don't remember and it's not important) we were required to take a keyboarding class. At that point I had already learned how to touch type because I had already spent loads of time on the internet and it was frustrating to type slowly, so the class was just extra practice. Back then I typed 90-100 WPM with few errors (read and copy).

Nowadays it's more like 70-85 WPM as long as there's little to no thinking involved, but I can get back into the 90s if I really try. I'd be terrified to know my WPM on some of my experimental write-ups for school... so many hours for a lot of reaction schemes, data tables, and reactions, but not a whole lot of writing. It's probably something like 3-5 WPM. How sad. Untimed literature essays are probably more like 20-30 WPM, less time is spent on them and less thinking and figuring things out. And never frustration with data looking wonky. Ugh.

 

[960design]

For testing I can hit 70-75 wpm, zero errors. But typically I don't type much faster than 40 wpm.

 

[tgellen]

I type around 135 on your average keyboard and 145 on my mechanical one.
Curious: does anyone else only use his/her index, middle, and ring fingers?

 

[Abstract]

I typed 88 wpm on Typeracer, and 76 wpm on another website.

All this intense forum-browsing that I have done has really paid off.

 

[carjakester]

I'm taking typing classes online for credit right now and my best was 56 wpm with no errors on a 5-minute test.

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most people can do well on a 1 minute sprint but keeping the speed and accuracy is what is the hard part.

 

[The Doctor11]

I'm taking typing classes online for credit right now and my best was 56 wpm with no errors on a 5-minute test.

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most people can do well on a 1 minute sprint but keeping the speed and accuracy is what is the hard part.

Do you know of a good site I could go to to take a 5 minute test? I would like to try that.

 

[carjakester]

Do you know of a good site I could go to to take a 5 minute test? I would like to try that.

Just google 5 minute typing test. Trying to keep 60+ wpm is quite a strain on my wrists because i do not use home row

 

[Hey Jude]

That is lightning fast. Mine is usually about 60-70wpm, with few errors.

^^. I learnt how to type in high school, and the skill proved invaluable in college as I am a hopeless procrastinator

 

[Astroboy907]

I type around 135 on your average keyboard and 145 on my mechanical one.
Curious: does anyone else only use his/her index, middle, and ring fingers?

Paltry 60WPM here on a chiclet keyboard, but I never really learned how to type using the Home Row.... I've sort of made up my own version. Probably 70% of my typing is done with my left hand (my dominant hand, and of course the side of the keyboard with most used letters). On my left hand I use from my thumb to my ring finger, on my right I use only my index, middle, and ring. It's a very odd way of typing but I feel that it works pretty well. If I tried to make my right hand type more I could probably pull off 80-100 WPM. This is because some words (like letters, for example) I only type one letter with my right hand and the rest of the letters with my left hand. Maybe I should upload a video with me typing...

I know, I'm an oddball.