How-To Learn to Type Well and Fast

(for beginners)

By : Anna Landar

You might have been amazed many times by those who are moving their hands over the keyboard so quickly and easily, looking only at the screen and feeling so at ease working at the computer.

You may become one of those tough people one day. Anyone with enough determination and dedication can learn touch typing oneself. But like learning any skill, it will take time and effort. Keep this in mind, remember the good results you are willing to achieve, and be ready to work!

The way to get started:

1. Start typing in the right way from the very beginning. It means that every finger is responsible for certain keys on a keyboard. You first fingers control 46% of the alphabetic keys, your second fingers, 19%, your third fingers, 19%, and your fourth fi ngers, 15%.

2. 8 fingers of your two hands should be placed on the second or home row of the keyboard(A S D F G H J K L...). Every time a finger leaves this row to strike another key, return it to home position quickly. Your two thumbs are on the space bar ( see the picture ).

3. Start training by striking the keys controlled by your first fingers first, then second finger, and so on. Begin typing simple words from the very first day on. Keep practicing. The first time you put your fingers on a keyboard in the way it is shown above you might feel very uncomfortable pressing the keys and moving your fingers around. This happens because you got used to the wrong way of typing. All you have to do is continue typing in the right way. Soon you will memorize which finger is responsible for which keys. You will also memorize where those keys are located on a keyboard, so you will be able not even to look at the keyboard.

4. Place your fingers on the home row keys, as shown above. Notice that keys in the third row(upper) are slightly to the left from the home row; all the keys in the first row(lower) are slightly to the right. You also strike more keys with your first fingers, because they are stronger than the others are. Take a moment to run each of your fingers up and down their pathways and see how simple it is.

5. Try to type first-finger words for a while, and then move to second-finger words and so on. Also, come back and review exercises you did before.

6. Say the letters as you strike the keys. This will help to memorize the key locations.

7. Force your mind to concentrate on each stroke as you type.

8. Do not look at keyboard. Try to type something with your eyes closed.

9. Hold down the shift key with your fourth finger on your right hand to strike a capital letter on the left side of the keyboard. Hold down the shift key with the fourth finger on your left hand to strike a capital letter on the right side of the keyboard.

10. On a number key the home row is 4 5 6. Your forefinger strikes 1 4 7. Your middle finger strikes 2 5 8. Your third finger strikes 3 6 9.

11. Try to increase your speed each time you type the same word typing the same words in an exercise.

12. While doing an exercise try to encrease your spead each time you type the same word.

13. Press lightly on the keys; too much pressure may repeat the character.

14. Practice, practice, and practice again!

WHY it is necessary to type fast?

• It will save you lots of time. When you type with two fingers, it may take forever to write a paper, for example. Typing with all your capacity you won't waste so much time staring at the keyboard and looking for the letter you need. Ten finger typists can do more work in fewer hours saving time for doing other things in life.
  
  
• It will increase your work productivity. Some people can type faster than they can write. Many ten-finger typists say that typing fast enables them to think faster as you could have your thoughts written almost as fast as you are actually thinking. You will certainlyy benefit from that at school or work.
  
  
• Nowadays fast typing is what the employers expact everywhere. Type fast - have a good job.
  
  
  
  

Everybody types in today's Age of Computers and Technology. Thus, the better you'll be at this, the better it will be for you.

Get free typing exercises at:

http://www.typingpal.com/Exercises/

Check your typing speed at:

http://www.typingtest.com/
http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~kuvsa/typing.html