Will non-printed keycaps improve my touch typing?

[sudo!!]

Hey guys,
I'm a 95-97% touch typist. However, being a coder by trade, there are a few symbols I cheat on. I look down for brackets and symbols pretty much whenever I type them. I'm planning on ordering an HHKB. But I wonder... should I get non-printed keycaps? Does this improve your touch typing skills or does it just frustrate you?

I guess what I'm asking is... do you need to be a 100% touch typist BEFORE you get a blank keyboard? Or does having a blank keyboard make you a 100% touch typist?

[jakkdl]

blank keycaps all the way!

I learned dvorak on qwerty legends, and eventually switched to a blank keyboard when I bought my das. If you're close to knowing all symbols you'd probably learn them pretty quick if you removed the habit of looking down - of which having blank keys is an easy way to do it. I can now touchtype both swedish qwerty and dvorak on blank legends, even though they have have different positions for both symbols and letters.

I'll admit to sometimes cheating as well, sometimes when I'm lazy and want to press 6/7 (and don't have visual feedback on what I'm typing) I'll count the keys from the left to know which is which. This is definitely an exception though.

[sudo!!]

Thanks! For the longest time, I thought blank keycaps were just to be uber leet. Then... I realized I glance at the board a lot. So, I saw the value in them. I wouldn't have that option with blank keycaps!

[daerid]

I don't ever look at the keyboard anymore with QWERTY, but if I were to learn a different layout, I'd go blank all the way.

Trial by fire baby.

[BucklingSpring]

Does this improve your touch typing skills or does it just frustrate you?

The DAS company made a good business case out of it and sold a lot of keyboards based on the assumption it will improve your typing.

I never had a totally blank keyboard but my Realforce 87U had dark grey fonts on black keycaps and it was pretty close to blank.

The most challenging keys for me were on the SHIFT-NUM row.

In my humble opinion, it is hard to beat advanced exercises provided by touch typing softwares.

[Puddsy]

As long as it uses a conventional layout.

I prefer legends just because I like the look of them, not because I need them.

[mouse.the.lucky.dog]

Either buy two keyboards one blank and one not, or buy one keyboard with blank keys and one spare set of printed keys. Put all the printed keys on.
After typing for about ten hours replace one printed key with a blank key, till you have no more printed keys. Done.

[davkol]

On the "standard" layout, staggering among rows is inconsistent, i.e. the number row is shifted more to the right (or less to the left, if you like) than every other row of alphas. I always had trouble with it... until I discovered *THE ERGODOX*! (Okay, any symmetric matrix/columnar layout should work.) Then, it's only a tiny issue to learn symbols on the number row by heart.

I don't mind blanks, but they're counter productive, whenever I need to type something like a password on US QWERTY (a layout I don't use) to access an encrypted hard drive or something like that. In those situations, at least a colorful keycap set is helpful.

[thestage]

Go with whatever you think looks better.  If you're already a majority touch typist, there isn't really a downside to the blanks.  If you were looking down at a legend, you're already losing a lot of time and messing up your rhythm as is, so the extra second it would take you to remember which key is, say, ^ or [ isn't really significant.  At worst you'll hit a couple keys around it first.  No big deal.  I've been on blanks for a few months now and I've always been bad with the shift + number symbols.  It's not really a big deal to mess up once when you need to hit one of those keys, I don't think.  And you will get better at them.

But I also don't think there's much of a reason to go with blanks unless you prefer their aesthetics (which I do).

[blingcaps]

another advantage to blanks is that the legends will never wear off ;-)

i picked blanks for my 660C because of the known issue of legends wearing off quickly.  and the ones with legends were out of stock at the time so it made my decision even easier.

[dorkvader]

I am learnig proper typnig with blank keycaps right now, actually. I still find myself looking at the blank keys a lot, but I'll get there.

[Linkbane]

I wish I had blanks on my FC660C, hah. On all my MX boards I use all-blank keycap sets, and while I was obviously already a proficient touch-typist, it did take a while to learn the number keys. However, in the end it did speed me up and make entering numbers quite a bit easier, so I think that it was worth it.

Plus, you never worry about whatever stupid printing method. 0-shot > doubleshot every time! All your keys are in pristine printing condition forever.

[rowdy]

I am learnig proper typnig with blank keycaps right now, actually. I still find myself looking at the blank keys a lot, but I'll get there.

"learnig proper typnig" - still got a little way to go, then?

[Sifo]

I've always been blanks for life

Looks best, no noobs touching my ****, can already touch type 100% way before I got into mechanicals.

[Linkbane]

I've always been blanks for life

Looks best, no noobs touching my ****, can already touch type 100% way before I got into mechanicals.

Teach me your ways, master.

[BucklingSpring]

I've always been blanks for life

Looks best, no noobs touching my ****, can already touch type 100% way before I got into mechanicals.

Teach me your ways, master.

me too, me too. I wanna be a typing Jedi.

[epzy]

another advantage to blanks is that the legends will never wear off ;-)

i picked blanks for my 660C because of the known issue of legends wearing off quickly.  and the ones with legends were out of stock at the time so it made my decision even easier.

Just get keycaps that are engraved, doubleshot or dye-sub and you most likely won't have that problem with non-blank keycaps.

[Tony]

Sure it will help. I touch type and I see that blanks help you get rid of the bad habit of looking at keyboard while typing.

[Linkbane]

another advantage to blanks is that the legends will never wear off ;-)

i picked blanks for my 660C because of the known issue of legends wearing off quickly.  and the ones with legends were out of stock at the time so it made my decision even easier.

Just get keycaps that are engraved, doubleshot or dye-sub and you most likely won't have that problem with non-blank keycaps.

A great idea, except pretty irrelevant in this case as it's an FC660C.

[epzy]

another advantage to blanks is that the legends will never wear off ;-)

i picked blanks for my 660C because of the known issue of legends wearing off quickly.  and the ones with legends were out of stock at the time so it made my decision even easier.

Just get keycaps that are engraved, doubleshot or dye-sub and you most likely won't have that problem with non-blank keycaps.

A great idea, except pretty irrelevant in this case as it's an FC660C.

I was just saying that blanks doesn't necessarily have an advantage in general. He can get dye-sub replacement keycaps for his 660C anyhow, though.

[blingcaps]

I was just saying that blanks doesn't necessarily have an advantage in general. He can get dye-sub replacement keycaps for his 660C anyhow, though.

where might i find topre keycaps?  ebay has nothing.  EK has sets for $65+.  might as well get another keyboard for that price.  i still don't have a set of blues or blacks.

[epzy]

I was just saying that blanks doesn't necessarily have an advantage in general. He can get dye-sub replacement keycaps for his 660C anyhow, though.

where might i find topre keycaps?  ebay has nothing.  EK has sets for $65+.  might as well get another keyboard for that price.  i still don't have a set of blues or blacks.

Tao Bao I think, from Realforce keyboards, classifieds, EK as you said ($65 isn't considered a lot for keycaps.)

[mougrim]

As long as it uses a conventional layout.

I prefer legends just because I like the look of them, not because I need them.

Well, even when I won't need them, I will love the sight of good-made keycap It's a matter of aestetics. So you right.