i am currently learning to type. it seems like i need to start with what i would describe as finger flexibility. like i am having difficulties moving my pinky fingers without moving dem ringfingers. so i thought it might be a good idea to do stuff like this (fingers on home row):
aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaa aaaa aaa aaa aaa
sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss ss sss sss sss sss sss sss sss
;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;; ;;; ;;; ;;l; ;;;;; ;l;; ;;; ;l;; ;;; ;;; ;;;;;;;;;;;;;; ;;; ;;; ;;; ;;
lll lll lll llll llll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll lll,,,,,.......... and so on, while trying not to move all the other fingers.

i certainly feel like these simple exercises improve the worlds situation.
i am asking for further tipps on how to approach this. i mean, i am not even ready for any kind of software as those all seem to expect me to be able to move my fingers correctly. i don't want to make the mistake to type dem damn letters a thousand times - in some wrong way.
what are like the basic rules your tutor told you? what were your first exercises? did you typ 'a' a hundred times in a row while trying to not move any of dem other fingers? or what?

some basic rules i found already:
keep the backs of your hands parallel to the keyboard.
have your arms oriented so that you are able to keep your index, middle and ring fingers on their home keys, and have both pinky fingers reach the shift keys without bending your wrist sideways.
sit up as straight as possible (within reason!).
have the top of the monitor at eye level.
hands should be slightly lower than elbows (keeps the blood flowing to the hands!).
keep your wrists straight, so that the tendons in your wrist are unencumbered through the carpal tunnel.
take frequent breaks! get up and walk around, or sit under a tree or something.

Keep practicing and soon you'll hit the shift keys too!

Minskleip wrote:Keep practicing and soon you'll hit the shift keys too!

EDIT: Anyway, you may want to check this out http://www.typingweb.com/

When I was ~15 I was really into a video game called Freelancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)). I learned typing in completely free form just by typing a lot on that video game, I never enjoyed having the standard positions on the keyboard and doing exercises, I just learned as I went. By the time I left the video game maybe a year later I could type without looking whatsoever.

Never took a course. I just refused to look at my keyboard for two weeks when typing at work.
You'll learn pretty quick that way.

Actually, learning to touch-type made me aware of the different keyboards out there since I bought a first iteration DAS with blank keys in 2005( rebranded keytronic ). I still have it for its sentimental value.

Regards.

I "learned" it by playing typing games like Typershark. Easy and fun way to learn it : )

I learned typing mostly because of IRC.

I learned by programming pages of BASIC, assembler if I was lucky, masses of hex if I wasn't. Them were't days.

Trent wrote:When I was ~15 I was really into a video game called Freelancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)). I learned typing in completely free form just by typing a lot on that video game, I never enjoyed having the standard positions on the keyboard and doing exercises, I just learned as I went. By the time I left the video game maybe a year later I could type without looking whatsoever.

Fist bump for Freelancer. I wasted so much time on that game. Chris Roberts did some great games. I had Wing Commander for the Amiga and Bad Blood for the C64 as well.

Brian8bit wrote:

Trent wrote:When I was ~15 I was really into a video game called Freelancer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer_(video_game)). I learned typing in completely free form just by typing a lot on that video game, I never enjoyed having the standard positions on the keyboard and doing exercises, I just learned as I went. By the time I left the video game maybe a year later I could type without looking whatsoever.

Fist bump for Freelancer. I wasted so much time on that game. Chris Roberts did some great games. I had Wing Commander for the Amiga and Bad Blood for the C64 as well.

Fist bump as well

I learned most of what I know about business from Freelancer and eventually later EVE-Online when Freelancer started to get older. I've been interested to get the game again and get connected to servers, but I was told that Microsoft no longer hosts the centralized list of servers.

The market stuff that is going on in EVE online is just super creepy... I played for a couple of weeks...that game is WORK. And people just don't seem to care.

Half-Saint wrote:I learned typing mostly because of IRC.

This and quiz bots. Quiz bots are very frustrating if you're a slow typer. And a joy if you're able to react + write within two seconds. ;-P

When I was in school, there was actually a mandatory typing class. Was surprisingly hard, because the teacher was lazy and just make us type a specific amount of words in a minute, or whatever. We learnt quickly that you had to use all ten fingers, because it was impossible to type that many words without doing so.

Miasma wrote:When I was in school, there was actually a mandatory typing class. Was surprisingly hard, because the teacher was lazy and just make us type a specific amount of words in a minute, or whatever. We learnt quickly that you had to use all ten fingers, because it was impossible to type that many words without doing so.

I had a class like that in 4th grade. We learned to type on rubber dome Macs. It was a sad panda time.

So back to the SHIFT key:

Pinky extended....


God those Signature Plastic fonts are fucked.

Zehkul wrote:

Half-Saint wrote:I learned typing mostly because of IRC.

This and quiz bots. Quiz bots are very frustrating if you're a slow typer. And a joy if you're able to react + write within two seconds. ;-P

I have to agree with that! Get on an interesting IRC channel, and one with a quizbot, and typing will become just another natural form of expressing your thoughts. Hell, I'd usually rather type these days than talk.

If you are really so new to typing, then practice transcribing items that have been designed to exercise all the keys. IBM used to have some "typing tutor" lesson plans that I think were distributed with their electric typewiters... these may all be superseded by that link posted above. Speaking of which, there is a fun online typing game that lets you compete against other typists.

http://play.typeracer.com/

Also, don't neglect your number keys!

Computers. I learned typing during the last decades of the 20th century and the first of the 21st, when computers still had keyboards (this will change). Main drivers: programming and MUD. I only recently (2009) learned to type properly - blind, with all fingers - when I switched to colemak.

webwit wrote:Computers. I learned typing during the last decades of the 20th century and the first of the 21st, when computers still had keyboards (this will change). Main drivers: programming and MUD. I only recently (2009) learned to type properly - blind, with all fingers - when I switched to colemak.

MUDs?

Which ones? I used to play MUDs back in the days when the sky was blue and sex was a dirty word....

Kobra LPmud mostly.

captain wrote:

Zehkul wrote:

Half-Saint wrote:I learned typing mostly because of IRC.

This and quiz bots. Quiz bots are very frustrating if you're a slow typer. And a joy if you're able to react + write within two seconds. ;-P

I have to agree with that! Get on an interesting IRC channel, and one with a quizbot, and typing will become just another natural form of expressing your thoughts. Hell, I'd usually rather type these days than talk.

If you are really so new to typing, then practice transcribing items that have been designed to exercise all the keys. IBM used to have some "typing tutor" lesson plans that I think were distributed with their electric typewiters... these may all be superseded by that link posted above. Speaking of which, there is a fun online typing game that lets you compete against other typists.

http://play.typeracer.com/

Also, don't neglect your number keys!

"I'd usually rather type these days than talk"

That really saddens me...

Use a keyboard tray that's pushed all the way in, but gives enough clearance for your hands.

Get into anything that requires rapid-fire typing.

bhtooefr wrote:Use a keyboard tray that's pushed all the way in, but gives enough clearance for your hands.

Get into anything that requires rapid-fire typing.

Back in the day, chat rooms helped me learn to type fast.

Does anybody even use IRC anymore. Surely they do, right?

/old

Got an ssh session to my server, which runs a screen with irssi in it at all times, open right now.

And connected to #deskthority on Freenode.

And I'm not old.

Man, I still cannot use all those chats and have constantly one terminal with IRC opened
I remember those night sessions with mIRC back in 1995 when I first saw the Internet.

gorkypl wrote:Man, I still cannot use all those chats and have constantly one terminal with IRC opened
I remember those night sessions with mIRC back in 1995 when I first saw the Internet.

Same here, 1995 during my senior year in HS, pounding away on mIRC. Good times, good times.

I used Accutype a lot.