Keyboard Talk of the Day (KTOD) - Typing Bad Habits?

[YummyTreeSap]

Wait, you're supposed to hit the C with your middle finger? I guess that's my bad habit then too, even though I beg to differ. It's approximately the most uncomfortable thing in the world to attempt hitting the C with my middle finger. Yuck.

[OnTheBrink]

- I don't use my pinkie enough.
- I need to learn symbol locations better. Both on number row and with right pinkie.
- I need work on using functions quicker with my FC660C
- Much better with using CTRL in the Caps Lock position (love it so much) but still mess up a bit. Shouldn't be long for muscle memory to completely settle in.

[Mr. D]

Reading through this thread has made me realize I have all kinds of bad habits I didn't even know were bad habits.  Got more to fix than I thought.

[Premonition]

Hitting the space bar with my right Index.  Some idiots started doing it on Youtube and now they've got me doing it...

I think you're supposed to do that, because you use your left hand more.

[tribade]

Proper typing has been pretty well hammered into my brain, except for my wrist position and the fact that I ALWAYS bottom out.  I don't usually find that bottoming out is a problem, though.  For me it's actually enjoyable.  Probably why I enjoy Topre switches so much, to be honest.

[zflamewing]

I normally do the following:

• bottom out, less so with greens, though it's can be pretty often too.
• Mostly use the first few fingers on each hand.
• Use my ring fingers for the keys that are on the edges of the alpha keys and modifiers. 
• Left thumb the space bar exclusively.
• Almost exclusively use the:
   
  • right shift.
  • left ctrl.
  • left alt.

I wonder how challenging my jump to the ErgoDox will be once I get mine built.


-edited for clarity on a few points.

[CPTBadAss]

Hitting the space bar with my right Index.  Some idiots started doing it on Youtube and now they've got me doing it...

I think you're supposed to do that, because you use your left hand more.

No way you're supposed to hit the spacebar with your right *index finger*. Maybe your right *thumb*.

[Premonition]

Why is bottoming out bad? I can understand it being bad if it causes discomfort, but I have been bottoming out since I have first been on computers and I can type just fine.

A bad habit of mine though is that I don't alternate thumbs depending on which hand finished the word I just typed - I almost exclusively use my left thumb so my right thumb just kind of hangs there uselessly.

Bottoming out makes you a little bit slower because of the extra distance and force used.

[moukimokyu]

Left shift forever. Same with left Ctrl/Alt/Win too. Found myself staring at my right shift key the other day wondering why it was so big since I never use it 
It probably has a lot to do with the fact my left hand stays pretty much stationary but my right hand likes to dance all over the place. And I always hit the space bar with right thumb.
Also I have this habit of holding down left shift to write capslocky things instead of using Capslock - I never saw it as particularly bad but my best friend pointed out how weird it was once. I didn't do it as much after that...

[jterp7]

Why is bottoming out bad? I can understand it being bad if it causes discomfort, but I have been bottoming out since I have first been on computers and I can type just fine.

A bad habit of mine though is that I don't alternate thumbs depending on which hand finished the word I just typed - I almost exclusively use my left thumb so my right thumb just kind of hangs there uselessly.

Bottoming out makes you a little bit slower because of the extra distance and force used.

yeah...i got 90wpm yesterday (good typing test) on the dell membrane at work without even trying vs at best 80 on my qfr brown.

[divito]

- My typing style is weird, using primarily only my index and middle finger for both hands, with the ring fingers sporadically thrown in there. This limits my WPM to ~80-120 depending on the test/application.

- I always bottom out, though I'd argue that this isn't really a bad habit. I think typing without bottoming out is just plain weird.

- I only use right shift for question marks. That being said, I don't really use any of the right modifiers.

- As careful as I am when eating/drinking around my keyboard, keeping this stuff in the vicinity and on my desk is definitely a bad habit.

[fknraiden]

I just thought of something else. If I took a class on typing for two years and I still have bad habits, that made me a bad student right?

Or am I just living up to my user name?

You always live up to your username

[jacobolus]

My bad habits?  [...]- I use my left index finger to hit "Y". I think you're supposed to use your right index finger?

Just balance it out by typing "T" with your right index finger.

[CPTBadAss]

I already do that

[jacobolus]

I have one more though, I tend to press the c with my index finger instead of my middle finger, also been working on that.

This sounds like an ergonomic improvement over the “standard” approach.

I advocate typing approximately like this:


(Well actually I advocate getting a new keyboard with a better physical layout, and a new character map better than QWERTY.. but if you’re going to be stuck on standard equipment, might as well make the most of it.)

[rowdy]

I have one more though, I tend to press the c with my index finger instead of my middle finger, also been working on that.

This sounds like an ergonomic improvement over the “standard” approach.

I advocate typing approximately like this:

Show Image

(Well actually I advocate getting a new keyboard with a better physical layout, and a new character map better than QWERTY.. but if you’re going to be stuck on standard equipment, might as well make the most of it.)

Someone actually created a custom keycap set with different colours for each finger.  We wondered at such an unusual layout, but ot made perfect sense when it was explained.