Touch Typing Advice
Touch typing is a valuable, interesting skill that really makes life easier when working on a computer. Unfortunately, most people are not really good at it, and they lose out on the joy of typing efficiently and quickly on a computer, typewriter, or what have you. The other day someone asked me about how to get faster at typing. While I think there are people better equipped, with better records, than I, perhaps I can contribute a little bit to improve your typing skills.
1. Be smooth. The first and I would say the foremost trick that I have for making sure that I can typing effectively would be to remain smooth and consistent in your typing. That does not mean that you will always be typing at the same pace or that your typing will never falter. It does mean that you strive to have a consistent, loping gate that does not reach, jerk, or spasm. Achieving this smooth rhythm in your typing will help you out more than you could imagine, and it will especially help out in the long run, for typing longer texts, and for making sure that you can maintain speed and accuracy over the long haul.
2. Be accurate. Secondly, and perhaps even more importantly than my first advice is accuracy. Simply put, if you want to be fast, go slowly and be accurate. It's counter-intuitive at first because you see people who are typing fast, and it seems like they are in a mad frenzy going all over the keyboard to get their typing speed. What they don't reveal in their motion is that they are not typing frantically at all. Instead, they are typing with accuracy and precision. They know that they are typing the right character, and if they are not, then they know where they went wrong and instantly correct it. However, corrections triple the amount of keystrokes for every key that you type incorrectly. It's the best way that you can destroy a good typing speed. If you want to be fast, then you need to focus more on being accurate than on being fast. The speed will come naturally as you begin to develop an understanding of your keyboard and how to type well.
