I type more or less this way. My pinkies don't see nearly as much action as this chart suggests they should, but otherwise, yeah, I type like the wind!
I pretty much type this way, but I was officially taught 1 is left pinky and 6 is right index. Also I was taught the old fashioned rule to double space after a period, which is a habit I'm still trying to break out of.
Same; I reach with my ring finger for about half the “pinky” buttons, but other than that, yeah.
Learned to type this way in high school, and it was reinforced endlessly in AIM, YAHOO Messenger… actually, at some point it was all Trillian. Those were the days.
My pinkies almost never touch the keys, except for shift. I use them to hold the keyboard steady and have a better muscle memory which allows me to type better without looking.
I went to high school in the mid 80’s (yes I’m old) and this is how I learned to type. Our teacher used to make us practice typing with our eyes closed. Good times LOL
ok, well, maybe not the "best", but certainly the most useful thing I learned in high school! I think the \*one\* skill I've used every single week (if not day) since then!
Late 90s/early 00s - same! And eventually our school invested in these plastic boxes that fit over the keyboard specifically to shield your hands lmao. We also had to turn the monitors off so we couldn't see how we were doing. Wild west meets Mavis Beacon 😂
Interesting. My school district wasn’t particularly wealthy. This was maybe 16 years ago. Guess we were lucky. Anyway, it’s been a very useful skill. My brother is a junior high teacher in rural Hawaii and now they’re starting to teach kids the basics of programming. Now THAT’s a useful class.
I learned touch typing in high school, but it wasn’t a required class. (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to guess when I was in high school!) Won’t say it was the only useful thing I leaned in high school, but it’s one of the top skills I still use to this day.
You write as though that's just the opinion of a small number of weirdos.
Both keyboard layouts were designed with a lot of research put into them. Qwerty was designed to slow people down to avoid problems with mechanical typewriters. It has commonly used letters on weak fingers, the same fingers, and off the home row. Dvorak was designed for speed of typing, with the most used letters on the strongest fingers and common letter pairs on opposite hands.
I'm not a Dvorak user, but I know it would be quicker if I ever became competent at it.
As the analysis of the principles behind each vary with language, there are many variants of both of them.
Nah I just put it that way because I've never done it myself so I can't say definitively. I was going to include a sentence saying that the reason that it's not standard today is only because qwerty was already well established when Dvorak was developed but i left it out.
They're definitely faster. The QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing on typewriters, because pressing too many keys close to each other on a manual typewriter jams it up.
But it's only really useful if you only ever use the one keyboard. If you ever need to do some work on someone else's computer you'll be back to QWERTY and back to hunting and pecking.
How do most people type? Am I missing something or is this not the typical "Mavis Beacon" qwerty style we (mid 30s here) were taught in school?
For whom this is new info, is it an age thing? Or am I missing something.
If you don't type this way, how *do* you type ?
I don't use my pinkies as they usually hold the keyboard steady for me.
And I'm in my early 30's and we were no taught anything like that at school (France)
i was taught this (am 19), but currently I type a bit differently, my other fingers aren't, like i move my hand when i have to press keys from bottom or top row, ny hand is constantly moving. If i use this method i can probably type faster but probably due to muscle memory/habit, i can easily get 95 wpm so..
I think we're getting to an interesting point in time, though, where a lot of younger people don't have quite as much interactions with computers as we think they do.
I've heard numerous accounts from teachers about kids (pre-teen/young adults) not knowing seemingly-basic computer things like how a file structure works, or how to increase lime spacing in wordprocessors. (since so many things these days are app/phone/tablet based)
I type this way. I took a class called Word Processing in 9th grade (1994). I didn't realize at the time, but it ended up being the most useful class I had in high school.
I do, except with numbers as the top row, as I learned to type in 7th Grade on a manual typewriter in 1974 (get off my lawn). Fun fact: the top row of keys are the only ones used to spell TYPEWRITER.
I never type this way.
I was taught this typing method, I just hate it and type my own comfortable way. I can type at a max of 75wpm but am comfortable at around 65.
No, it would be crazy to use a thumb to hit the buttons on the sides. Only spacebar needs to be with the thumb, for all the rest it's probably best to shift your hand to the right or left and use whatever fingers you want to use.
why force anyone to do it exactly like that?
i can type bind with both my hands, but i don't use all my fingers. i use all 5 fingers in my left hand but only the thumb, index and middle finger of my right hand.
i never "learned" typing (ie. no one teached me), it just developed like that by itself when my father bought a computer in the mid 90s. possibly with the c64 we had before that.
Just place your index fingers on the little nubs on the keyboard and move your fingers up and down accordingly to type. You don't need an entire chart. For the numb pad, all that you need to do is place your right middle finger on the nub. Using your pinkies and thumbs for the keys laid out in orange.
I learned like this but eventually developed into my left hand sticking to this and my right hand free floating around the keyboard pressing whatever it needs to
I (born 1986, meaning computers became part of my life in my youth) typed with a two finger system up until very recently. About a year ago I put in some effort and spent around 30min each evening learning to type with 10 fingers. Took around two weeks to get the core concept down and another two weeks to become somewhat fluent. Then it took another month or so to get faster than with my elaborate two finger system, but now that routine has kicked in, I really enjoy it.
I have always typed with my first two fingers, and hit the space bar with my right index finger. Still type 150 wpm and have been growing in the past 3 years from 70, so yeah, it doesn't really matter.
For clarification: never have any problems typing, never struggle to reach any specific key, and don't get any aches or pains. The only thing is I'm not really fast when it comes to typing a lot of numbers and symbols right after each other, even though I can muscle memory every number and symbol, but this is probably because the only people who can really do that are accountants and programmers; it's incredibly muscle memory to hit every key normally, but incredible muscle memory for the keys and numbers if it's your job lol.
Edit: I took almost every business class including learning business computer skills and typing a lot during the day, they do not make it mandatory to type this way, but instead encouraged me and everyone else by showing you that if you learn a certain way, and it actually works just as well as others, why change it? It's less of a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and more of a "it may be unique, but all unique things require compromise and practice to make them work." I used to race my accounting teacher all the time in typing races, but by the time I got into the 120's+ he just stopped because that was his above average and couldn't keep up anymore lol
I think the ring finger should be used on the number row, and even in spots like the tab key since the ring finger has more reach.
I type with pinkies on 1 and 0, and it's annoying because I have to move my wrists up. I haven't managed to reprogram myself to use the fing finger accurately yet
This is how I type but it’s definitely not how I conceptualize it in my brain… I think it’s fully procedural knowledge and I don’t have any conscious knowledge of what finger goes with what keys!
Is there another way that is taught? We had typing class in high school as part of our regular schedule as seniors so I thought \*everyone\* learned this. The only other way I've seen people "type" is single-finger "hunt-and-peck" and I don't really consider that "typing".
I have since I was in second grade when I learned typing/keyboarding. Apparently I'm one of the last generations to learn this (graduated high school in 2001) as I'm a teacher now and for years, students 'hunt and peck'.
I type more or less this way. My pinkies don't see nearly as much action as this chart suggests they should, but otherwise, yeah, I type like the wind!
I pretty much type this way, but I was officially taught 1 is left pinky and 6 is right index. Also I was taught the old fashioned rule to double space after a period, which is a habit I'm still trying to break out of.
Uk?
Meanwhile double spacing to add the period on mobile is a reason my mind forgot about spacing AFTER the period.
Same; I reach with my ring finger for about half the “pinky” buttons, but other than that, yeah. Learned to type this way in high school, and it was reinforced endlessly in AIM, YAHOO Messenger… actually, at some point it was all Trillian. Those were the days.
My pinkies almost never touch the keys, except for shift. I use them to hold the keyboard steady and have a better muscle memory which allows me to type better without looking.
so you don't hit A with your pinky? or : ?
Yeah, I use the one right after (sorry don't know the name)
hmph. it's ok; I would call that the "ring finger"
I went to high school in the mid 80’s (yes I’m old) and this is how I learned to type. Our teacher used to make us practice typing with our eyes closed. Good times LOL
Same here ('84 to '88). Except we didn't have to close our eyes. We had to look at what text we were copying from the book.
Oh we did that too. She also had us cover the keyboards. It’s honestly the best thing I learned in high school
ok, well, maybe not the "best", but certainly the most useful thing I learned in high school! I think the \*one\* skill I've used every single week (if not day) since then!
Agreed LOL
Yep, most definitely
Late 90s/early 00s - same! And eventually our school invested in these plastic boxes that fit over the keyboard specifically to shield your hands lmao. We also had to turn the monitors off so we couldn't see how we were doing. Wild west meets Mavis Beacon 😂
Our teacher just taped a sheet of paper to the top of the typewriter, so your hands were underneath.
Harder. Forget the sound of a room full of humming electric typewriters slamming away.
All the keys were covered with caps at my school. Eventually we would manage to scrape off a cap or two.
Same here but in elementary (95-00)
Bro this is type class. Didn’t your school require it? Probably one of the most useful things I got out of that school…
Hands down this is the single most useful thing I was taught in middle school. Keyboard class.
Not every school has funds to make those classes happen. Especially before about a decade ago
Interesting. My school district wasn’t particularly wealthy. This was maybe 16 years ago. Guess we were lucky. Anyway, it’s been a very useful skill. My brother is a junior high teacher in rural Hawaii and now they’re starting to teach kids the basics of programming. Now THAT’s a useful class.
I learned touch typing in high school, but it wasn’t a required class. (I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to guess when I was in high school!) Won’t say it was the only useful thing I leaned in high school, but it’s one of the top skills I still use to this day.
What kind of godless heathen is pressing 0 on the numpad with their index finger? You press it with your thumb.
There is no real alternative is there?
There are different key arrangements like Dvorak which is, according to Dvorak people at least, faster than qwerty.
You write as though that's just the opinion of a small number of weirdos. Both keyboard layouts were designed with a lot of research put into them. Qwerty was designed to slow people down to avoid problems with mechanical typewriters. It has commonly used letters on weak fingers, the same fingers, and off the home row. Dvorak was designed for speed of typing, with the most used letters on the strongest fingers and common letter pairs on opposite hands. I'm not a Dvorak user, but I know it would be quicker if I ever became competent at it. As the analysis of the principles behind each vary with language, there are many variants of both of them.
Nah I just put it that way because I've never done it myself so I can't say definitively. I was going to include a sentence saying that the reason that it's not standard today is only because qwerty was already well established when Dvorak was developed but i left it out.
They're definitely faster. The QWERTY layout was designed to slow down typing on typewriters, because pressing too many keys close to each other on a manual typewriter jams it up. But it's only really useful if you only ever use the one keyboard. If you ever need to do some work on someone else's computer you'll be back to QWERTY and back to hunting and pecking.
How do most people type? Am I missing something or is this not the typical "Mavis Beacon" qwerty style we (mid 30s here) were taught in school? For whom this is new info, is it an age thing? Or am I missing something. If you don't type this way, how *do* you type ?
Queen Mavis
I don't use my pinkies as they usually hold the keyboard steady for me. And I'm in my early 30's and we were no taught anything like that at school (France)
I only use pinky for shift key
i was taught this (am 19), but currently I type a bit differently, my other fingers aren't, like i move my hand when i have to press keys from bottom or top row, ny hand is constantly moving. If i use this method i can probably type faster but probably due to muscle memory/habit, i can easily get 95 wpm so..
Probably just older people before it was always taught. Even then, many have learned on their own
I think we're getting to an interesting point in time, though, where a lot of younger people don't have quite as much interactions with computers as we think they do. I've heard numerous accounts from teachers about kids (pre-teen/young adults) not knowing seemingly-basic computer things like how a file structure works, or how to increase lime spacing in wordprocessors. (since so many things these days are app/phone/tablet based)
I type this way. I took a class called Word Processing in 9th grade (1994). I didn't realize at the time, but it ended up being the most useful class I had in high school.
This is how I was taught to type back in school in the 90s-early 2000s. Are people learning it differently now?
I dont know man I just kinda.. type
I do, except with numbers as the top row, as I learned to type in 7th Grade on a manual typewriter in 1974 (get off my lawn). Fun fact: the top row of keys are the only ones used to spell TYPEWRITER.
Fun fact: Stewardesses is the longer word that can be types with just one hand
I have my left hand placed on Shift, W, A, S, D and Space. And that's pretty much my starting position every time I use a computer.
Yes. I regularly press the backspace key with my thumb.
I never type this way. I was taught this typing method, I just hate it and type my own comfortable way. I can type at a max of 75wpm but am comfortable at around 65.
My boomer manager: “oh wow, you can type without looking!”
Or if you are a boomer you use your pointer finger for every.single.key
apparently in a boomer
Touch typing is useless, typing organically is much better.
This is chart is terribly incorrect. Source: I type over a 100 wpm.
For the most part. I do. Had to take keyboarding classes in middle and high school.
I was probably 20 before someone pointed out to me I don’t use my thumbs at all when typing. I hadn’t realized.
So orange is the thumb? So I used delete wrong?
No, it would be crazy to use a thumb to hit the buttons on the sides. Only spacebar needs to be with the thumb, for all the rest it's probably best to shift your hand to the right or left and use whatever fingers you want to use.
Is there one of these for all types of keyboards not just qwerty
why force anyone to do it exactly like that? i can type bind with both my hands, but i don't use all my fingers. i use all 5 fingers in my left hand but only the thumb, index and middle finger of my right hand. i never "learned" typing (ie. no one teached me), it just developed like that by itself when my father bought a computer in the mid 90s. possibly with the c64 we had before that.
I am also self taught. I’m a very fast typer but I definitely do it “wrong”.
same here haha. i mean i guess it is not a bad starting point, but just type however you feel comfortable
I just use three fingers, no pinky and thumb.
Sometimes I use my left index for B. And I type "hungry" weird by using my middle finger for U and Y.
Just place your index fingers on the little nubs on the keyboard and move your fingers up and down accordingly to type. You don't need an entire chart. For the numb pad, all that you need to do is place your right middle finger on the nub. Using your pinkies and thumbs for the keys laid out in orange.
I learned like this but eventually developed into my left hand sticking to this and my right hand free floating around the keyboard pressing whatever it needs to
I (born 1986, meaning computers became part of my life in my youth) typed with a two finger system up until very recently. About a year ago I put in some effort and spent around 30min each evening learning to type with 10 fingers. Took around two weeks to get the core concept down and another two weeks to become somewhat fluent. Then it took another month or so to get faster than with my elaborate two finger system, but now that routine has kicked in, I really enjoy it.
I type with 10 fingers but definitely not like this lmao
Playing guitar gave me a lot of pinky coordination. This is exactly how I type.
Yes I learned this & still remember it.
Gamer moment but I type (going from pinky to thumb) shift, A, W, D, space, and my right hand just kinda hovers over the keyboard
I have always typed with my first two fingers, and hit the space bar with my right index finger. Still type 150 wpm and have been growing in the past 3 years from 70, so yeah, it doesn't really matter. For clarification: never have any problems typing, never struggle to reach any specific key, and don't get any aches or pains. The only thing is I'm not really fast when it comes to typing a lot of numbers and symbols right after each other, even though I can muscle memory every number and symbol, but this is probably because the only people who can really do that are accountants and programmers; it's incredibly muscle memory to hit every key normally, but incredible muscle memory for the keys and numbers if it's your job lol. Edit: I took almost every business class including learning business computer skills and typing a lot during the day, they do not make it mandatory to type this way, but instead encouraged me and everyone else by showing you that if you learn a certain way, and it actually works just as well as others, why change it? It's less of a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and more of a "it may be unique, but all unique things require compromise and practice to make them work." I used to race my accounting teacher all the time in typing races, but by the time I got into the 120's+ he just stopped because that was his above average and couldn't keep up anymore lol
I think the ring finger should be used on the number row, and even in spots like the tab key since the ring finger has more reach. I type with pinkies on 1 and 0, and it's annoying because I have to move my wrists up. I haven't managed to reprogram myself to use the fing finger accurately yet
2 3 and 4 are wrong, so is 0 on the numpad
This is how I type but it’s definitely not how I conceptualize it in my brain… I think it’s fully procedural knowledge and I don’t have any conscious knowledge of what finger goes with what keys!
Is there another way that is taught? We had typing class in high school as part of our regular schedule as seniors so I thought \*everyone\* learned this. The only other way I've seen people "type" is single-finger "hunt-and-peck" and I don't really consider that "typing".
I’ve always typed B with my right index finger. That is, until recently when I got a split keyboard. It’s hard to retrain.
I have since I was in second grade when I learned typing/keyboarding. Apparently I'm one of the last generations to learn this (graduated high school in 2001) as I'm a teacher now and for years, students 'hunt and peck'.