⌨️ Do You Type or Finger Peck? - Tips To Type Like A Pro
Issue 16 - Technology
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if I said, “typing is more important than handwriting in the world we live in today”. Almost everything we do involves a computer, so it wouldn’t hurt to get faster at typing. It has many benefits including saving time, making it easier to take notes, and enhancing your brain capacity and function. In this article, we will go over some tips and tricks to help you boost your typing speed! Make sure to like, share, and subscribe!
Why Should You Learn To Type Fast?
For everything that we learn, there’s a purpose, and typing is no different. I think there are 2 reasons why the skill is beneficial.
Being More Productive
As I mentioned in the intro, a lot of things are moving online. If you learn to type faster than the average typist (45 WPM), all the way to around 75 WPM, that’s not bad, and you can get more things done.
As a bonus, this doesn’t just apply to work-related tasks. It’s also applicable to text messages, browsing the web, etc. You’ll be able to save time that can be used for other things.
Makes Your Peers Impressed
When I’m doing my school assignments, I’ll often start drawing attention because of my typing speed. It’s always a conversation starter because people want to know how you are able to type so fast. I can imagine the same thing happening at a workplace.
The Three Concepts To Succeed
1. Sitting at the Keyboard
Before getting started with typing, you need to be sitting in the correct position. Experts recommend that you sit up straight in your chair, and rest your palms. Now, this seems like such a minor thing. However, poor posture at the keyboard could potentially cause misalignment of your upper body, which would cause straining, pain, and discomfort in your neck, shoulders, and upper back. On top of this, you could also have a lower typing speed and accuracy.
Something else that’s important is to rest your palms (not your wrists). When resting your palms, you are reducing the chances of getting some kind of strain as listed above.
Also, make sure to take breaks after typing for a while. A good rule is to take a 5-10 minute break every hour.
You may have heard of RSI (repetitive strain injury). This is caused when overusing/using a part of your body too much. All of the tips above will play a role in preventing RSI.
By the way, if you are enjoying this article, please be sure to share and subscribe. I have a promotion going on which allows new and existing subscribers to get a 1-month free trial to Skillshare (the best place to learn any new skill)
2. Finger Placement
Knowing where to place your fingers and what fingers to use when typing is an underrated skill. Did you ever notice that the ‘f’ and ‘j’ keys have bumps on them? The purpose is so that you can recognize if your hands are in the correct spot without looking at the keyboard.
You should always use all your fingers while typing. Some people will only use their pointer, middle, and ring finger. A tip is that you should move your hands as minimally as possible. To do this, it’s best to also use your pinkie fingers only for the ‘a’ and the colon/semicolon key.
After we get out finger placement down, we should find a website to practice our skills. I recommend a website called “10fastfingers.com” or “monkeytype.com” (my favorite). I like “monkeytype” the best because it just looks nicer, and also because it gives you a graph of how fast you were typing in that time interval. Nevertheless, both have the same purpose, so any of them is okay.
The average person types about 45 WPM (words per minute), but a good place to aim is around 60 WPM, which is on the faster side. After a couple of years of practicing, I’m able to average 105 WPM.
3. Shortcuts
Once you’ve got the keyboard down and know where all the keys are, it’s time to learn some tips and tricks. Shortcuts are a great and quick way to speed up your typing. Instead of doing something repetitively, you can just use keyboard shortcuts to speed up the process.
Delete a Word - Let’s say that you are typing and make a typo in the word you are typing. You can hit backspace a couple of times, but hitting backspace often hurts your WPM. As a solution, you can hit Ctrl + Backspace on Windows or Opt + Delete on Mac. This allows you to completely delete the word you are typing and retype it. It’s very useful because it doesn’t hurt your typing speed as much.
Delete a Line - This shortcut is like the one above but if you made a bunch of typos in a line. You push Shift + Backspace on Windows or Ctrl + Delete on Mac. Once again this will be a shortcut that will help your WPM and help you be more efficient.
Go to a Word in the Middle of Line - Both of the shortcuts above either take you back one word, or to the back of a line, but what if the word is in the middle of a line? To do this you push Ctrl + Arrow Key on Windows (depending on where you want to go) or Option + Arrow Key on Mac.
BONUS: If you’re a frequent browser, here are some quick and easy shortcuts:
Open a Tab: Ctrl + T or Command + T
Close a Tab: Ctrl + W or Command + W
Re-Open a Closed Tab: Ctrl + Shift + T or Command + Shift + T
Refresh the Page: Ctrl + R or Command + R
Improving Over Time
Practice is the key to improving your typing skills. 10 minutes a day can help you improve 20 WPM or more a month. Again “monkeytype” and “10fastfingers” are great places to practice.
You may have some weaknesses on the keyboard. I know I did. For a while, I wasn’t able to reach the Z and X keys very well. This was until I found a website called “keybr.com”. This website specializes in helping you fix your typing weaknesses. You can pick a letter with which you are struggling, and the website will give you prompts to help you get better on that key.
Thanks for reading this week’s article! I could keep on going, but this is a brief summary of my typing progression. I hope you find it useful in improving your typing skills! Let me know if you have any other tricks in the comments! I’ll talk to you next week!
- Luke Rapaka
I learned keyboard skills on a manual (not electric even) typewriter. It was a class recommended to take in high school. I was so proud when I passed 40 WPM! Those skills learned early have served me well since almost everything written now is produced on a keyboard.