What Is Touch Typing And How To Learn It

I used to type around 55wpm, and it was enough. But I started feeling pain in my wrists after long sessions of typing. It was not serious and never bothered me for more than a few minutes, but it made me think that I probably should pay more attention to my typing technique, which at the time was quite random.

As a programmer, I taught myself how to type. It looked natural to me, but I was not using all my fingers, and I found it hard to increase my typing speed despite all my practice.

It all changed after I learned touch typing.

What is touch typing

Touch typing is a method of typing in which you use all ten fingers and type without having to look at the keys. It's a technique that relies on muscle memory and spatial awareness of the keyboard layout.

The term touch typing refers to a specific technique that involves placing your fingers on a horizontal row with your index fingers on the F and J keys. This is the reason why on most keyboards these keys have small bumps: to help you place your fingers in the home position without having to look at the keys.

Touch typing can improve your productivity by increasing your typing speed and accuracy, and it will also improve your overall health and posture, removing the need to constantly look at your keyboard. Your neck will be very thankful.

There are many benefits of touch typing. Apart from time-saving, there are health benefits as well. Touch typing protects your wrists and improves your posture. It also reduces fatigue because of the posture correction.

Everyone can learn touch typing, and I think everyone should. The following are online apps I used. Training touch typing alone could embed your errors. I recommend you give these apps a shot.

Typing

This app will go through all the basics, teaching you to touch type from zero. I recommend you start with this one.

Visit typing.com and create an account. Don't focus too much on your speed but on your accuracy.

Slowly, you will get used to it and as soon as you finish all the basic lessons, continue or try out my next recommendation.

Keybr

After getting used to touch typing, visit keybr.com. You will start with a few letters, and every time your accuracy improves, more letters will be added to your practice.

Again, don't focus much on your speed. Try to type without looking at the keyboard.

Practice for a few days, and when your accuracy is constantly over 95%, move to the next and final app.

Monkeytype

While typing.com and keybr.com are detrimental to improving your technique, this app will help you get faster.

It has many modes you can choose from, ranging from the time of the session to the type of characters you are requested to write.

It is very customizable, and this is what you want. You can now evaluate your level and practice whatever you want. You can add uppercase characters or numbers and even choose to type famous quotes.

Go to monkeytype.com and start practicing.

I used all the apps in the same order they are listed and saw results after less than a month. It will be hard at the start, but you will see the benefits of touch typing, and it will all be worth it.