How to Learn to Touch-Type As an Adult
Maybe you didn’t have to sit endless hours in high school typing class like I did. Or maybe yes, but you would rather write notes to your friends than play the role of a diligent student. Anyway, if you are now an adult who has hunted and pecked your keys for decades, you might finally want to buckle up and learn to touch.
If so, we have some tips for getting you started.
Choose an online program
You may be able to find a local typing class in your area or hire a tutor to work with you, but in reality, a basic online program is all you need to learn finger placement and access exercises to practice. … Typing Club is a good choice if you don’t know where to start because you can check it out and start typing right away without even creating an account.
Users can take a free “placement test” so the site can determine where you need to start. Depending on how you score on the test exam, the scores will open up many lessons for you based on your specific areas for improvement. The lessons are quick but offer repetition to help your fingers build muscle memory for each key. You will receive a report detailing your accuracy and speed for each lesson. If your score can be improved, you will be prompted to try again; If you studied well, you will be sent to the next lesson. The goal they propose is to get a five-star grade in 10 lessons every day.
Some of the tutorials are simple typing style of what you see, while others are in cute video game formats, plus you can earn badges, which is a nice, reassuring touch. There are also additional video tutorials that explain certain concepts, followed by tutorials that reinforce them. And you can track your speed to compare your progress over time.
Basic Typing Club lessons are free, but you can upgrade to a premium membership that doesn’t require ads and offers more features. And of course, there are tons of other free online software you can check out, including Typing.com , LearnTyping.org, and How-To-Type.com . (Once you will understand the basics, you can go to Keybr.com, to increase the speed.)
Try the sticker trick
As much as you want to look at these fingers as you move, the habit will be difficult to break. You may have to force yourself to drop this option entirely. Paul Bode suggests this idea on Quora :
The best / cheapest thing you can do is stick stickers on your keys so they can’t be seen. Print your keyboard layout image to tape at the top of your monitor, or better yet, use software that displays the keyboard layout and the keys you press close to where you need to look and focus on typing.
The catch is that if you look at the keys at all, you’ll never develop the muscle memory you need to type effectively. Found out by switching to a different keyboard layout (dvorak). This made me not look at the keys, and after years of slow typing, I started to improve quickly.
Practice, practice, practice
This may sound obvious, but to break the habit of staring at your fingers, you basically need a whole bunch of reps to help your fingers build muscle memory. Frequency is key here. Longer, less frequent sessions will be less effective than shorter, more frequent sessions, so try to practice at least 15 minutes a day until you feel more natural.
If you’re not already preoccupied with every movement of your fingers, you should also do your best to maintain good posture so as not to add neck or back pain to this equation.