Whether you are a social media maniac, or work as an editor, fast typing is a skill you should definitely hone. Typing with just two fingers (both index fingers) is quite common, but to be able to type at (high) speeds of 80+wpm (words per minute) you will have to use all ten fingers. For a typing based job, a demand of typing speed of 60+wpm is common, so at least reaching this speed is very important.
The good thing is that we have the internet on our side with most of the typing lessons free to utilize. Many websites offer free typing tests and tutorials to help you start typing with all your 10 fingers without looking at the keyboard.
In this tutorial, we are going to introduce some handy websites that will help you learn to type faster and without looking at the keyboard.
Measure your typing Speed
Before you start learning how to type faster, it is important to know how fast you type right now. It doesn’t matter whether you type with two fingers or ten, the goal is to know where you are and make progress from there. This will help you understand what you are doing wrong that is leading to induce slow typing speed. For example, are you using just two fingers? You can’t type without looking at the keyboard?
Below are some Typing test websites to measure your current typing speed:
Typing Speed Test: Here, all you need to do is type common words for 1 minute as fast as you can. When you are done, you will see a summary of total WPM and CPM (characters per minute) and comparison to other people typing there.
10fastfingers: You can take basic and advanced typing test at 10fastfingers. You can also compete against other people in real-time and save results (requires sign up).
Typeracer: At Typeracer, you can sign up to save your average and top wpm to keep record of how you are doing. You can also race with other people or your friends on Facebook.
It’s a process
Typing fast when you have spent years typing without a correct methodology can be daunting. But be assured that whatever your current level is, you can make progress towards a higher productivity. There is a wide spectrum of typers, and you certainly don’t have to go from slow to perfect.
If you can, it’s best to follow methods that have been designed and refined over the years. In general, try to use more fingers and reduce hand motion over the keyboard. Those are two key factors to accelerate typing.
Focus on typing without making mistakes. Muscle memory and repetition will help you increase the typing rate overtime. What’s important is that you go towards having a system that you can get used to, and can predictably repeat to create muscle memory.
Take Typing Lessons
Now that you know where you stand, it is time to learn how to improve your typing speed. There are many websites that provide complete instruction on how to position your hands while typing and offers on-screen typing tests to improve your typing speed.
Below are some websites that provide intuitive lessons to help you type faster:
TypingClub: It offers 100 lessons starting from basic to advanced. You will have to score at least 3 stars to pass a lesson and continue forward.
LearnTyping: They provide basic to advanced lessons with complete text, audio and visual instructions. They also have some typing games to hone your typing skills.
Typingstudy: Typingstudy teach you how to type with an on-screen keyboard and animated hands. They will show you which finger to use while typing a specific word.
FreeTypingGame: They offer free typing lessons with colored keyboard to specify which finger is responsible for which key. They have some interesting typing games as well that you can play to ramp up your typing speed.
Below is a video demonstration of some typing basics:
If you are looking for some advanced Tips and tricks, checkout this video:
Filed in . Read more about Keyboards.