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Where did you learn to properly type?

M

mfuchs88

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 26, 2011
300
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As a 16 year old, I grew up with technology all around me. I was using a computer from a very young age, and therefore, picked up some pretty bad typing habits by teaching myself. I find that when I was in elementary and middle school, I was the fastest typer I knew. Now, since I don't know how to type properly and other kids from private school systems with typing classes did, I find I'm typing more and more incorrectly. Just wondering where you all learned to type, how many of you are touch typists, and how much work it took for you to learn. Do you think it's even possible for someone like me who has been typing wrong (still kind of fast though) for 10 years to relearn how to type correctly with proper finger placements and everything? Thanks guys, my curiosity just got the best of me. Cheers!

Also, do you know of any good online courses or anything to learn how to type correctly?
 
I learned from a required course in 6th grade. I'm sure there are plenty of good programs that teach you correct placement, just search for them. It'd take some getting used to to be able to type correctly after that long, but you should be fine with some practice.
 
I took a required class as well. The best practice is through repetition and memorizing where the keys are.

As a person that spends 5-10 hours a day on the computer thats how I learned to type fast.


Spelling, thats another issue lol
 
I can type up to 140wpm, and like you I did not learn it formally lol. However, typing correctly has never really been a problem! :D
 
We had Mavis too! But the keyboard had no symbols on it at all...On the wall was a poster of a keyboard with the letters and symbols on it...You HAD to look at the poster, it was your only point of reference.

Thinking back, It was genius!
 
I think where I really got my fast typing abilities was in all the chat and forum posting I've done over the years. It makes a difference - you practice a lot that way :)
 
I never learned to type!

I did 7th, 8th, and 9th grades in 2 years, so we had no "minors", like home ec and typing. Big pain in the ass in undergrad and grad school, I had to pay to have all my papers typed. Cost a fortune.

Now it's two finger, hunt and peck. If I type something long, I get faster (everything is relative!) as I type.

I envy you all who use ten fingers, but I'm too damn lazy to get a typing program and learn correctly. Old dogs, new tricks...:eek: :p
 
I took a typing class in 7th grade. We used IBM Selectrics.
 

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I went to a veeeery ****** school and even though all the schools in my area had computer labs, we didn't. Our school only cared about useless sports.

I never got to learn how to type properly in high school, but my junior year my parents bought a web tv (instead of a computer because the sales guy at the store said it was just as good) so I at least had the ability to get on the internet and I started to learn to type a little bit on that.

I didn't get to type a lot until my senior year when I had a job and bought a real computer. Instant messenger helped me learn to type but I always had to look because I didn't know how to type properly.

Finally in my first year of college we had a typing class (this was 2001) and I decided I had to force myself to learn to do it the right way and we used Mavis Beacon to learn typing. After a few weeks of typing class I was able to do some words without looking. I kept properly typing and not allowing myself to look and eventually I became a touch typer.

Now I have an awesome typing speed and never have to look, not even on an iPad without keys.

My only weakness is raised keys. My keys need to be flat. I have the worst time typing on raised keys because ever since my early days on my web tv it had a flat keyboard. At college it was raised keys but my home keyboard was flat as well.

So yea, in a sense Mavis Beacon DOES teach typing! :p
 
I never learned to to type. I still type with mostly my index finder on my right hand and every now and then, my index finger on my left hand.

I'm nearly 48 now and have been typing like this all my life. Pretty fast at it but I never let anyone see me type like this.

I did take typing classes in HS way back when we had typewriters and it just never caught on.
 
High school classes on a typewriter.
Didn't help. Thumb and index finger used both hands. Not pretty.
 
I took a course in middle school but over the years since have developed my own style of typing that I prefer. I'm only doing emails at the longest so it works fine for me.
 
How do you define "properly"? I never took lessons or anything, I just used computers a lot and picked it up. I can type and touchtype quite fast as a result.
 
0dev said:
How do you define "properly"? I never took lessons or anything, I just used computers a lot and picked it up. I can type and touchtype quite fast as a result.
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Properly is using the home row to start, and having certain fingers reach for certain keys.

I *almost* type properly but I'm pretty sure that in proper typing the right hand reaches the y key, but always use my left hand.

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chordate68 said:
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I want that! Not that I need it.
 
Self taught over a long time - when I was at school, there was only one computer (an Apple ][) in the whole building, and typing was simply not considered to be important.
However, I've been programming for 30 years (started at home when I was 16) and over that time have developed the ability to touch type very quickly :)
 
Wirelessly posted

I learned on my own. Like the OP, I grew up with computers around me. I just picked it up by typing a lot. However, my dad still types as slow as Christmas (presses every key with 1 finger), which I still don't understand (he's the tech guru in my family).
 
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