Typing is a necessary business and personal skill. There is tweeting, blog posting, forum responding and more. At their foundation, there is typing. Here are some tips and resources to help you get up to the typing speed that you desire.
1. Learn the Layout: Study your keyboard and learn the layout. Memorize where everything is on your keyboard so you can work your way into touch typing. Once you know the layout of the keyboard, you can start dictating to yourself.
2. Keep Your Hands in the Home Position: Put your left index finger on the ‘f’ key and your right index finger on the ‘j’ key. These are called your home keys. They are the central position of the keyboard where your fingers do not have to travel long distances to make it to specific letters.
3. Practice With a Book: Take your favorite book, prop it up and start typing. Look at the pages rather than the keyboard. Occasionally look at the screen to make sure that your hands are in their proper positions. You are training your fingers to work without any crutches.
4. Type to the Music: Listen to familiar songs and try typing the lyrics while the artist is singing the song. You have plenty of flexibility with the choice of songs. To start, stay away from the syncopated and complex songs. While practicing, you will find yourself typing to the rhythm of the music.
5. Type in Short Bursts: One great way to learn to type is to choose text and start typing as quickly as possible. Set a timer to go off after a minute. Your fingers will become faster and faster at finding the keys.
6. Typing Web: This is an interactive site which teaches users how to type. The lessons are informative and easy, filled with plenty of practice sessions. The site prefers that you register, but it is definitely not required. Typing Web encourages that the site be used as part of a teacher’s curriculum.
7. Goodtyping: There are 27 guided layouts at this typing tutorial. The program itself is offered in different languages like Spanish, French and Italian. You can choose up to 20 keyboard layouts.
8. Peter’s Online Typing Course: You can learn how to type quickly and accurately with this site. The lessons are very practical, without relying on some of the flash and glamour that are prevalent with the other sites. it takes each bit of the keyboard one by one, and has an interactive set of exercises.
9. Learn 2 type: This site takes typists of all skill levels. The exercises are scaled to your level of typing expertise. If you register, you can pick up where you left off. You have the QWERTY, Dvorak and AZERTY keyboard layouts available.
10. Only Typing Games: This collection has plenty of typing games. You can kill bad guys and make the aliens pay for their transgressions with your typing skills.
11. Free Typing Games: Give yourself a chance to relax and educate yourself by playing typing games. You can play a variety of games like Keyboard Revolution, Martian City Defender and Desert Typing Racer. You can defend the world from invasion with your typing skills.
If you devote time each day to your typing, you will soon be tapping the keyboard like a pro. When you find that your speed is flagging, you can refresh yourself by heading to a typing site or playing a game. Have fun, and best of luck!
Photo Credit: laffy4k, Link to Photo
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Article by James Adams
James is an in-house product specialist, tech analyst and writer for an online ink cartridge provider. Much of his writing is to be found on the CreativeCloud, a blog about the arts, design and media.
James has written 4 awesome articles.
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