Computers have become indispensable support devices in many fields. Appropriately, computer-related skills have also become essential, especially touch typing. Touch typing is considered a crucial skill for all pupils, students and white-collar workers.
What is Touch Typing? Everything you need to know about 10 fingers typing
I. What is Touch Typing?
Touch Typing (10 fingers typing) is a skill of typing using all 10 fingers and without looking at the keys. Through typing practice, the brain will automatically remember the position of the characters on the keyboard. During the typing process, 8 specific fingers will be placed on the home row and move according to certain rules.
Invented since 1888, touch typing is still increasingly proving learn typing importance in modern life. The "father" of this technique is Frank Edward McGurrin - court clerk in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
II. Benefits of Touch Typing
- Time Saving: 10 fingers typing will save you a lot of time for your study and work. A touch typist can type 75-80 words per minute. Which is much faster than the hunt and peck typing habit of many people, when the speed only fluctuates about 30 words per minute.
- Improve your health: Typing for long periods of time will more or less negatively affect the eyes, shoulders, spine, ... Using all 10 fingers to type helps you form the correct sitting posture, which limits diseases such as eye strain, neck pain and shoulder pain.
- Be more productive: Instead of having to knuckle down to finding the right keys on the keyboard, you can give yourself more time to think and be more creative with your work.
- Find more opportunities: According to a Microsoft’s survey in 2014, 43% of employers consider 10 fingers typing to be a very important skill. In the UK, 4 out of 10 people have the habit of using only 1 or 2 fingers to type. Their typing speed is only around 40-50 words/minute. These statistical data have shown the importance of 10 fingers typing practice in many fields, especially for jobs that require a lot of text editing such as editors, journalists, translators, etc.
III. Learn how to touch typing
1. Practice 10 fingers typing with Typingtop
Typingtop is a simple and efficient typing program with great features:
- Web-based program, no need to download and install, practice at home and school.
- Typing exercises are designed from basic to advanced levels in a variety of forms, helping students get used to the keyboard quickly and improve typing speed.
- Set practice goals, help you track your practice progress.
- Automatically evaluate typing practice, give suggestions on learn typing time.
- Reward Badges for students with good performance, promote emulation movements among students.
- Management system for teachers to help effectively track students' typing practice, assign and summarize the results of class assignments and homework.
2. Find your proper sitting position
Sitting position affects not only your typing speed, but also your physical health. Accordingly, you should adopt the correct sitting position as follows:
- Sit up straight, don't tilt your head back and don't lean forward too much. Which just puts pressure on the neck and shoulders.
- Place your legs comfortably. the hands create a perpendicular contact angle with the table top and the keyboard.
- 50-100cm is the ideal distance to keep our eyes from the computer.
- The computer is placed in line of sight, not too high or too low.
3. Basics of Touch Typing
When touch typing , each finger is associated with specific keys on the keyboard as follows:
For left hand:
Index finger: Sits on the F key, responsible for typing R, F, V, 4, T, G, B, 5 keys.
Middle finger: Sits on the D key, responsible for typing E, D, C, 3 keys.
Ring finger: Sits on the S key, responsible for typing W, S, X, 2 keys.
Little finger: Sits on the A key, responsible for typing Q, A, Z, 1, ‘, Tab, Caps lock, Shift keys.
For right hand:
Index finger: Sits on the J key, responsible for typing H, Y, N, 6, 7, U, J, M keys.
Middle finger: Sits on the K key, responsible for typing 8, I, K, < keys.
Ring finger: Sits on the L key, responsible for typing 9, O, L, > keys.
Little finger: Sits on the ; key, responsible for typing 0, P, :, ?, “, [, ], -, +, , Enter keys.
IV. Principles for effective Touch Typing practice
- Don’t look at your keyboard too much: This is probably the biggest challenge when starting to practice 10 fingers typing. Whenever you can't imagine the position of a key, you will tend to look down at the keyboard to find the right key. However, it’s best not to look down if you want to master 10 fingers typing skills. Learn typing regularly and take time for the brain to memorize the keys.
- Do not move your wrists too much: Using the wrist while typing will cause wrist and arm fatigue. Therefore, the only thing should be moved when typing is your fingers.
- Don’t try to find correct keys: The secret of being able to type with 10 fingers quickly and accurately is to allow the brain time to process. Instead of staring at the keyboard and mechanically memorizing how to place your hands, you should move your hands in the most flexible way. With enough practice, the brain will form a natural reflex to help you type more easily.
- Don’t use too much force on the keys: Not only does this make you tired, using too much force will affect other people with lousy noise. Therefore, you should press gently on the keys, which improves your speed and probably hurts your fingers less.
- Don’t rush yourself: The goal of 10 fingers typing practice is to improve typing speed. But you should remember, typing test is not everything. You can type 90-100 words/minute, but if you often misspell words and grammar, everything becomes meaningless. Instead of focusing too much on speed, value accuracy as well.