Touch Typing Course

Touch typing means typing without looking at the keyboard. Instead of searching for each letter with your eyes, you let your fingers find the keys by feel while your eyes stay on the screen, or on the page you are copying from. It sounds like a trick, but it is simply a skill that you build through repetition, in the same way you learned to walk, to tie your shoes or to ride a bicycle.

The skill rests on muscle memory. Each time you press a key with the right finger, your brain strengthens the link between the letter you are thinking of and the small movement that produces it. At first you have to think about every key, and typing feels slow and awkward. With enough practice the link becomes automatic: you think of a word, and your fingers type it. Experienced typists often cannot say where a particular letter is until they move their fingers to find it.

Two ideas make this possible. The first is the home row: your fingers rest on a fixed starting position and return to it after every key, so they always know where they are. The second is that every key belongs to one finger. Because the same finger always types the same keys, each movement is repeated thousands of times and becomes smooth. Hunting for keys with two or three fingers can feel quicker in the first week, but it usually limits your speed well below what touch typing can reach.

Start with the home row, the middle row of letters. Rest the fingers of your left hand on A, S, D and F, and the fingers of your right hand on J, K, L and the semicolon. Your two index fingers sit on F and J, which have a small raised bar so that you can find them by touch. Your thumbs rest lightly on the space bar. From this position, every other key is one short reach away.

Index fingers

Each one covers two columns. The left presses R, T, F, G, V, B and the digits 4 and 5. The right presses Y, U, H, J, N, M and the digits 6 and 7.

Middle fingers

The left presses E, D, C and 3. The right presses I, K, the comma and 8.

Ring fingers

The left presses W, S, X and 2. The right presses O, L, the period and 9.

Little fingers

The left presses Q, A, Z and 1. The right presses P, the semicolon, the slash and 0, along with Enter, Backspace and most punctuation keys. Both little fingers also hold Shift.

Thumbs

Either thumb presses the space bar. Use whichever feels natural, and keep the movement small.

The Shift key works on the opposite side from the letter. For a capital typed with the left hand, hold the right Shift key with your right little finger, and the other way round. After every key, let the finger return to its home position. That return movement is what keeps your accuracy high as your speed grows.

Good posture will not make you faster on its own, but poor posture makes long practice sessions tiring and can lead to aches. A few simple habits help.

• Sit upright, with your back supported by the chair and your feet flat on the floor.
• Keep your upper arms relaxed at your sides, with your elbows bent at about a right angle.
• Hold your wrists in a straight, neutral line with your forearms. Do not let them sag onto the edge of the desk or bend sharply upward.
• Curl your fingers lightly over the keys, and keep your shoulders low instead of hunched towards your ears.
• Place the screen about an arm's length away, with the top of the display at or slightly below eye level, so you do not tilt your head up or down.
• Take a short break every twenty to thirty minutes. Look into the distance for a few seconds and stretch your hands and shoulders.

If you feel pain, numbness or tingling in your hands or arms, stop and rest, and speak to a doctor or physiotherapist if it continues. A typing course cannot replace professional advice.

Almost everyone can learn where the keys are within a few days to a couple of weeks of regular practice. Becoming comfortable, so that you no longer think about the keys at all, takes longer, and the honest answer is that it depends on how much you practise and how you practise.

Short daily sessions work far better than rare long ones. Fifteen to thirty minutes a day is a sensible target, because your brain consolidates new movements between sessions. Many learners who practise this way reach a comfortable speed within a few weeks to a few months. The first weeks are usually the slowest, and you may even type more slowly than you did before you started, because you are replacing an old habit. That dip is normal, and it passes.

Speed targets help, but accuracy comes first. Fast typing built on mistakes needs constant correction, and correction is slow. This course asks for both: every level has a minimum accuracy and a minimum speed, and every wrong key counts against you, even one you fix straight away. The rule is strict on purpose. It trains the habit that all fast typists share, which is to hit the right key the first time.

Where you end up is up to you. Adults often type at somewhere between 30 and 50 words per minute, and dedicated practice can take you well beyond that. For most everyday work, a steady and accurate 40 words per minute is a very useful skill, and it is the speed this course asks for in its final test.

Looking at the keyboard

It is the hardest habit to break, because it feels like help. Keep your eyes on the screen, and use the on-screen keyboard and the hint above it when you need to check a key. If you cannot resist, drape a light cloth over your hands.

Practising too fast

Pushing for speed before the movements are accurate builds mistakes into your habits. Slow down until you can type a line cleanly, then speed up a little.

Leaving the home row

If your fingers wander, you lose your reference point and start hunting for keys. Return to the home row after each key, and feel for the raised bars on F and J when you lose your place.

Using the wrong fingers

Typing a key with the wrong finger feels fine for a while, but it puts a ceiling on your speed later. Follow the finger named above the on-screen keyboard until the right choice becomes automatic.

Leaning on Backspace

Constant correction slows you down and hides your real accuracy. Aim to type each key correctly the first time, and read the list of missed keys on the result screen to see what to practise.

Tensing up

Pressing keys hard, hunching your shoulders or holding your breath makes you slower and more tired. Keep your hands relaxed and tap the keys lightly.

Using Caps Lock for single capitals

Caps Lock turns every letter into a capital. Use the Shift key on the opposite side from the letter instead, and keep Caps Lock for words that really are in capitals.

Giving up on a plateau

Everyone's speed stops improving for a while now and then. It usually means your brain is consolidating what it has learned. Keep up short, regular sessions, and the next step forward comes.

The course is built around these problems: one small group of keys at a time, an on-screen keyboard that shows the next key and the finger to use, strict accuracy rules, and a clear list of the keys you miss most. Take it one level at a time, and the skill will follow.