I've been learning to touch type for the last three(ish) weeks. Here's what I've learned this week.
Going Mechanical
The biggest change I made this week was to buy a mechanical keyboard. This feels completely different but so good, and so I decided to start again on a slightly different course (typing basics rather than typing jungle). The keyboard being much more responsive is a slight challenge because you can go too fast and accidentally press too many keys at once.
Slow is Smooth
Previously, I had a very linear progression of my WPM going up, but not my accuracy. I'd spend so much time restarting a challenge if I made a single typo, but this isn't realistic. Instead, this week I focused on hitting backspace and correcting my mistakes as I go. This is much more realistic as in reality your actual typing speed is determined by how often you need to go back and correct errors. I also decided to switch off the on-screen keyboard, which has made things more difficult but felt like a step in the right direction.
Learning to Shift
The emphasis of recent lessons has shifted from the main keys to learning how to use the shift key. I never understood why there's a shift key on each side of the keyboard, and when I started on these lessons I'd still only use the left side shift key. I've learned that best practice is to use the shift key on the opposite side of the keyboard to the letter/key you're using, which allows for greater speed and dexterity.
The other benefit of learning to use the shift key is that it focuses your brain on that and less on the locations of the letters themselves, which has definitely helped.
Practice Makes Perfect
Finally, it's been amazing to see what can be achieved with just 15-20 minutes per day of consistent effort. That said, I still find it difficult to translate touch typing out of the lessons and in to everyday use, but I'm challenging myself to do when I'm not in a hurry and this is a slow but useful exercise.
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