Some questions about your touch typing

[Obakemono]

Hi!

I'm learning to touch type, by myself but following the standard guidelines, but as i become faster i found myself pressing some keys with the wrong finger because on certain positions it feels more natural, should i avoid this?

Also, all of you guys use both shifts for caps?

And one last question, i'm using a ISO Spanish layout but my next board will be ANSI layout as i want to learn it, mainly to use it with *nix operating systems, and i will swapping between both layouts. You people find easy to have to layouts in muscular memory or is hard to achieve?

I don't know if this is the best subforum for this, srry if is not. 

[tp4tissue]

Hi!

I'm learning to touch type, by myself but following the standard guidelines, but as i become faster i found myself pressing some keys with the wrong finger because on certain positions it feels more natural, should i avoid this?

Also, all of you guys use both shifts for caps?

And one last question, i'm using a ISO Spanish layout but my next board will be ANSI layout as i want to learn it, mainly to use it with *nix operating systems, and i will swapping between both layouts. You people find easy to have to layouts in muscular memory or is hard to achieve?

I don't know if this is the best subforum for this, srry if is not. 

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

[ynrozturk]

Hi!

I'm learning to touch type, by myself but following the standard guidelines, but as i become faster i found myself pressing some keys with the wrong finger because on certain positions it feels more natural, should i avoid this?

Also, all of you guys use both shifts for caps?

And one last question, i'm using a ISO Spanish layout but my next board will be ANSI layout as i want to learn it, mainly to use it with *nix operating systems, and i will swapping between both layouts. You people find easy to have to layouts in muscular memory or is hard to achieve?

I don't know if this is the best subforum for this, srry if is not. 

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

Thanks for the advice. I am trying to get my technique down as well. It's pretty good now after tons and tons of practice, but the only key giving me problems is the pinky on my right finger. It just feels awkward.

I guess it all comes down to typing more and more words with p in it, until it naturally switches from my ring finger to my pinky.

[tp4tissue]

Hi!

I'm learning to touch type, by myself but following the standard guidelines, but as i become faster i found myself pressing some keys with the wrong finger because on certain positions it feels more natural, should i avoid this?

Also, all of you guys use both shifts for caps?

And one last question, i'm using a ISO Spanish layout but my next board will be ANSI layout as i want to learn it, mainly to use it with *nix operating systems, and i will swapping between both layouts. You people find easy to have to layouts in muscular memory or is hard to achieve?

I don't know if this is the best subforum for this, srry if is not. 

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

Thanks for the advice. I am trying to get my technique down as well. It's pretty good now after tons and tons of practice, but the only key giving me problems is the pinky on my right finger. It just feels awkward.

I guess it all comes down to typing more and more words with p in it, until it naturally switches from my ring finger to my pinky.

no i'm telling you using the ring finger is correct for p and q..

that is faster than using pinky, because to use the pinky for those keys you usually have to lift your wrist or even your whole arm.

[divito]

Mine rests more naturally on Shift, A, W, D, Space. Second hand is closer to Space, J, O, P, ]...until I start typing and then my hands are all over the place.

[tbc]

do you move your pinky at the same time as the ring finger?   there is absolutely no way that my ring finger doesn't get caught on the pinky and it is always slower than just using the pinky.


i think people should be giving estimates of their hand size as well...I've seen absolutely horrible recommendations about using pinky for backspace because I don't have basketball player hands.

[ynrozturk]

Hi!

I'm learning to touch type, by myself but following the standard guidelines, but as i become faster i found myself pressing some keys with the wrong finger because on certain positions it feels more natural, should i avoid this?

Also, all of you guys use both shifts for caps?

And one last question, i'm using a ISO Spanish layout but my next board will be ANSI layout as i want to learn it, mainly to use it with *nix operating systems, and i will swapping between both layouts. You people find easy to have to layouts in muscular memory or is hard to achieve?

I don't know if this is the best subforum for this, srry if is not. 

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

Thanks for the advice. I am trying to get my technique down as well. It's pretty good now after tons and tons of practice, but the only key giving me problems is the pinky on my right finger. It just feels awkward.

I guess it all comes down to typing more and more words with p in it, until it naturally switches from my ring finger to my pinky.

no i'm telling you using the ring finger is correct for p and q..

that is faster than using pinky, because to use the pinky for those keys you usually have to lift your wrist or even your whole arm.

Ohh okay, that makes my life a hell of a lot easier, then. I am actually very relived to hear that.

The only other finger that ever gives me problems is the index on the left hand, it always wants to press C.

[AuRinBei]

do you move your pinky at the same time as the ring finger?   there is absolutely no way that my ring finger doesn't get caught on the pinky and it is always slower than just using the pinky.


i think people should be giving estimates of their hand size as well...I've seen absolutely horrible recommendations about using pinky for backspace because I don't have basketball player hands.

Yeah, I have to move my wrist for hitting q with ring finger, but not with pinky. Do you hit backspace with something other than pinky though?

[Obakemono]

The only other finger that ever gives me problems is the index on the left hand, it always wants to press C.

That happens to me too, specially when i have to use the same finger for three or more keys in a row.
I use other fingers in that situation because a find it faster.

[ynrozturk]

Alright cool, so I'm not the only one, haha.

I'm just constantly running through speed tests and whatnot these days to build my muscle memory and hopefully solve the problem.

[Fullcream]

If you're having trouble using your little fingers it could be because you're doing what a lot of people do and resting their wrists on the desk. which is incorrect. After I trained myself to hover my wrists I started to have no trouble with using little fingers and using pinky for backspace as well and speed increased and no more wrist pain, any proper guide on touch typing will show/explain to not rest wrists, and for good reason.  For me the main reason was RSI. however there's a lot of very fast typists not using their little fingers.

[Tony]

1. I use standard touch typing technique, correct finger for each key.
2. I use both shifts
3. I use Colemak layout. Here it is


For Qwerty, since E and T - two most frequently used keys are on the top row, so most people are using non standard touch typing to reach that keys as fast as possible.

[Lycoth]

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

Eh. I recently started trying to touch type and much like the OP had some few issues. (Before I was doing 14 year old gamer typing, with only 2 fingers on each hand all over the keyboard; albeit at a respectable 104 words per minute) and I couldn't get the hang of it at all.

And yet these 2 tiny tips have made it so much easier.... O.o

Thanks bud!   

[daerid]

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

Come on, dude. Knock it off. This guy seems pretty impressionable.

@Obakemono: please don't put too much stock in TP's "advice". He's very, very opinionated, and tends to take a contrarian stance on many topics. Place your fingers wherever they feel natural. The most important thing is to be relaxed and not unnecessarily strain your muscles.

[Obakemono]

press q with "ring finger"

press p with "ring finger"

relaxed standard position is awefjio;

not asdfjkl;    Only novices put their fingers on asdfjkl; ,

Come on, dude. Knock it off. This guy seems pretty impressionable.

@Obakemono: please don't put too much stock in TP's "advice". He's very, very opinionated, and tends to take a contrarian stance on many topics. Place your fingers wherever they feel natural. The most important thing is to be relaxed and not unnecessarily strain your muscles.

I know 
Tried awefjio; for like 5 minutes and it didn't feel right to me. so i'm still with asdfjkl; also, don't have any problem with little fingers

[Obakemono]

1. I use standard touch typing technique, correct finger for each key.
2. I use both shifts
3. I use Colemak layout. Here it is

Show Image

For Qwerty, since E and T - two most frequently used keys are on the top row, so most people are using non standard touch typing to reach that keys as fast as possible.

The idea is nice, but i write normally in three languages and its designed for english, same problem with dvorak, is different for each language

[Thimplum]

The only other finger that ever gives me problems is the index on the left hand, it always wants to press C.

I used to try to stop myself from doing this, but then I realized that it doesn't matter. Using the middle finger for C is quite uncomfortable.

[ynrozturk]

Yeah I don't think I'll ever get the hang of it. Doesn't seem to make a whole lot of sense when transitioning into new words, either. It just doesn't feel natural to me at all.

[spiceBar]

I have learned to type on QWERTY but now I'm an AZERTY user.

I  have received my FC660C just this morning, and it's a QWERTY (not a mistake, I knew it when I ordered it).

So now I'm back at 10 words per minute and I realize I'm starting to touch type, kind of, because it's less tiring than constantly looking back at the keyboard!!!

On AZERTY I look at the keyboard to position and re-position my hands. That's what you do when you have never learned how to type correctly.

I think I'm going to learn touch typing, but while I'm at it I may as well learn a better layout such as Dvorak.

[Macsmasher]

I have learned to type on QWERTY but now I'm an AZERTY user.

I  have received my FC660C just this morning, and it's a QWERTY (not a mistake, I knew it when I ordered it).

So now I'm back at 10 words per minute and I realize I'm starting to touch type, kind of, because it's less tiring than constantly looking back at the keyboard!!!

On AZERTY I look at the keyboard to position and re-position my hands. That's what you do when you have never learned how to type correctly.

I think I'm going to learn touch typing, but while I'm at it I may as well learn a better layout such as Dvorak.

You might consider Colemak. I chose it over Dvorak for a couple of reasons. First, it's easier to learn coming from Qwerty. Second, it's designed with Win keyboard shortcuts in mind. But in the end, it is all personal preference.

Just be prepared for the inconvenience factor. If you make a living on a keyboard and have to work on other computers than your own, it's a pain in the butt. You can take a PKL (portable keyboard layout) on a flash drive and run it without the need to install it. It works great. But you always have to have your flash drive, or your PKL in Dropbox or similar so you can grab it when needed.

There are some people who can switch back and forth between Qwerty and whatever. I'm not one of them. I work with a coder who can switch between Qwerty and Dvorak with ease.

However, even considering the inconvenience factor, I'm glad I switched.

[spiceBar]

I have learned to type on QWERTY but now I'm an AZERTY user.

I  have received my FC660C just this morning, and it's a QWERTY (not a mistake, I knew it when I ordered it).

So now I'm back at 10 words per minute and I realize I'm starting to touch type, kind of, because it's less tiring than constantly looking back at the keyboard!!!

On AZERTY I look at the keyboard to position and re-position my hands. That's what you do when you have never learned how to type correctly.

I think I'm going to learn touch typing, but while I'm at it I may as well learn a better layout such as Dvorak.

You might consider Colemak. I chose it over Dvorak for a couple of reasons. First, it's easier to learn coming from Qwerty. Second, it's designed with Win keyboard shortcuts in mind. But in the end, it is all personal preference.

Just be prepared for the inconvenience factor. If you make a living on a keyboard and have to work on other computers than your own, it's a pain in the butt. You can take a PKL (portable keyboard layout) on a flash drive and run it without the need to install it. It works great. But you always have to have your flash drive, or your PKL in Dropbox or similar so you can grab it when needed.

There are some people who can switch back and forth between Qwerty and whatever. I'm not one of them. I work with a coder who can switch between Qwerty and Dvorak with ease.

However, even considering the inconvenience factor, I'm glad I switched.

Yes I'm looking around and pondering my options.

[tbc]

do you move your pinky at the same time as the ring finger?   there is absolutely no way that my ring finger doesn't get caught on the pinky and it is always slower than just using the pinky.


i think people should be giving estimates of their hand size as well...I've seen absolutely horrible recommendations about using pinky for backspace because I don't have basketball player hands.

Yeah, I have to move my wrist for hitting q with ring finger, but not with pinky. Do you hit backspace with something other than pinky though?

right ring finger.

please note this is for non-chiclet keyboards (i can easily pinky hit backspace on my MBP 13" 2010)

using right pinky:

try desperately to reach for backspace
try pressing down, but my pinky starts sliding off the key
   '40%' of the time, the finger slips off completely and it never registers
   '35%' of the time, i subtly move my hand to the right, so i reduce the 'reach' tension on my pinky
   '25%' of the time, everything works as expected
go back to homerow, but 35% of the time, I need to reset my hand positioning and that never seems to work for me

using the right ring finger, i 100% move my entire hand over (far enough for my ring finger to easily hit the BS key) and need to reset my hand, but at least the backspace registers 100% of the time.

i KNOW this is because my hand just isn't large enough (i see basketball players do it 100% correctly without ever trying and I've seen little girl asian hands fail the exact same way as me).

[daerid]

Backspace with right ring finger. Always. Pinky just feels weird, much more of an uncomfortable stretch. Unless you're on a HHKB.

[Polymer]

Are you asking what you should be doing or how other people do it? 

Really you can't type however you want..whatever allows you to type without looking at the keyboard itself and feels comfortable..there are plenty of people that type fine without using their pinkies at all.

That said, unless you're 90+ WPM with whatever method you're using, you may want to consider going to a more standard way of typing which uses your pinkies and you use both shifts (To be honest, I can't imagine only using one but some people do).  It is that way because it is easy to learn and efficient for most people....it isn't for everyone...but if you're really working on your speed and your method isn't giving you that speed, it probably isn't the best method for you...

Don't listen to people saying this and that about your wrist..everyone's hands are different so at some point you'll fall into whatever the right way is for you..and as someone mentioned keeping your wrists off the desk will help your form (and speed) as well...

[d33p]

I started to learn touch typing 5 months ago when I bought my first mechanical keyboard, and moved from french ISO azerty to US Ansi qwerty.
I type by the book, no problems using my pinkies or both shift.
Also I've been playing guitar for 20 years now so maybe it helped as I can easily move my fingers independently.

Before touch typing I could reach 40wpm, hunt and peck.
Of course, at the beginning I was slower with touch typing, but I forced myself to do at least 1 hour of exercise each day for at least 3 weeks until I reached 40wpm.

Now I'm around 70wpm. I try to do exercises every day at least 10 minutes.

[Larken]

I'd go with whatever feels more natural and comfortable, but be careful not to confuse 'natural' with 'bad habits' that had been gained over time.

Too many different opinions on what's right and wrong here, so I'll just list down what I do that's probably not in line with the standard system.

I don't use pinkies for the backspace.

Pinkies for the shifts, yes. Which means I ring finger A and Z too. Just feels more comfortable when I use the ring finger as little as possible. Probably slows me down a tad, but speed isn't really an issue.

Fingers are on awefjio. Large hands. Home row doesn't feel comfortable to me. I think home row is theoretically faster, but if my hands tell me that it is most comfortable on other keys, who am I to say no?

Don't rest your wrists on a rest while typing. That's one of my worst habits ever. I still do it on my ergodox sometimes - and it causes something more than wrist pains for me - weird aches at the base of my palms. It's not comfortable, but I keep doing it out of laziness; bad habit. I've since then made adjustments so that I can float my hands above while typing. More an ergo concern than for touch typing.

 

[stancato9]

Can someone clear a few things up for me:

a) What pinky do you use to hit the shift.
b) Does it matter if you interchange your right and left index fingers when hitting Y and B.

[hey raena]

Can someone clear a few things up for me:

a) What pinky do you use to hit the shift.
b) Does it matter if you interchange your right and left index fingers when hitting Y and B.

A) I'd use the opposite hand to the one typing the letter you're shifting (ie, I wouldn't chord shift).
B) If you're comfy then sure why not? I tend to reach for y or b with my left hand if I'm using some right hand punctuation next.

[stancato9]

Can someone clear a few things up for me:

a) What pinky do you use to hit the shift.
b) Does it matter if you interchange your right and left index fingers when hitting Y and B.

A) I'd use the opposite hand to the one typing the letter you're shifting (ie, I wouldn't chord shift).
B) If you're comfy then sure why not? I tend to reach for y or b with my left hand if I'm using some right hand punctuation next.

What would you do in order to type "PQ" Would you alternate shift keys? Also, it seems more comfortable in certain situations to use the left hand for Y and the right for B. I guess if it's more productive, there's nothing wrong with it.

[hey raena]

I use P with left shift, Q with right. (I use qwerty if that bears clarifying).
But I guess now I'm thinking about it, typing PQPQPQPQ repeatedly is a bit easier if I just hang on left shift

I physically can't comfortably stretch my ring finger to use just right shift for P, unless I move my right hand a little to use my middle finger instead.

[stancato9]

I use P with left shift, Q with right. (I use qwerty if that bears clarifying).
But I guess now I'm thinking about it, typing PQPQPQPQ repeatedly is a bit easier if I just hang on left shift

I physically can't comfortably stretch my ring finger to use just right shift for P, unless I move my right hand a little to use my middle finger instead.

Yeah, I guess you should do whatever you can eventually be faster with.