What Is Touch Typing?

Touch typing is a method of typing where you type without looking at the keyboard keys. It involves positioning all eight fingers (little, ring, middle, and index fingers of both hands) on the home row. For the left hand, this includes keys like A, S, D, F, and for the right hand, J, K, L, ;, and then swiftly moving them to other keys as needed.

If you notice carefully, you can observe that there are slightly raised ridges on your F and J keys on your keyboard. This is to help typists return back to the home keys without having to look at the keyboard again.

Bars Over F And J keys on the keyboard

Importance of Learning Touch Typing

In today’s fast-paced 21st-century world, efficiency is key. Speed and time management can significantly impact your productivity. If you’re still peering at your keyboard while typing, you may be hindering your progress.

Mastering touch typing is especially valuable in professions that heavily rely on computers. The consistent keyboard layout across different devices, whether on a mobile device or desktop, leads to a significant increase in typing speed once you’ve mastered this skill.

Advantages of Touch Typing

Here are some key advantages of touch typing:

• Speed : Mastering touch typing significantly improves your typing speed, increasing your words per minute. You can easily average 60 wpm or more. Personally, I average 120 wpm.
• Accuracy : Once you get used to the keyboard layout, you stop making minor mistakes and typing errors.
• Focus : One of the biggest advantage of Touch typing is that you stay focused on typing the content rather than the keys and their position on the keyboard. This increases productivity and saves a lot of time.
• Posture : That is obvious, you don’t have to lean forward to constantly look at your keyboard anymore. You can type leaning back on your chair on a more relaxed and comfortable position.
• Efficiency : Once you successfully master touch typing, you would notice how easy it is to do your daily tasks, be it programming or writing down notes for your classes. I for one, have almost completely stopped using pen and paper (except for when I have to). This is mainly thanks to how fast I type and how tidy and organised the content is on a text editor.

How Do I Get Started ?

There are various resources available on the internet to get started with touch typing. But before you start, ask yourself this question :

Am I ready to spend time and complete all the sections of the program ?

I want you to answer this question honestly. I ask you to do so mainly because touch typing requires dedication. Just like how it takes time to build a body, touch typing takes time and patience to learn and master. You have to practice everyday until typing becomes second nature. Patience is virtue when it comes to touch typing.

If you’re ready to begin, Typing Master is an amazing software that not only trains you but also monitors your typing speed when you are on your computer.

You can also check out TypingTest.com for additional practice and training resources.

I personally use Monkeytype to warm up and track my typing speeds. You can see my profile and average scores below.

Conclusion

Typing is an essential and daily routine in our everyday life. Touch typing can transform this mundane task into something more enjoyable. It is a must learn for aspiring programmers. Trust me, you’ll thank me later on.

Given the current pandemic situation, I strongly recommend adding touch typing to your skillset before returning to normal everyday life. And remember to have fun while you’re at it!

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

― Walt Disney