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    Finally learning to touchtype!!

    • Started by Tim
    • 5 Replies:
    • Tim
    • New member
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    • Registered: 23-Jan-2009
    • Posts: 1

    I bit the bullet yesterday and decided to learn to touchtype.

    I have been working on computers for many years, and type pretty fast with 2 or 3 fingers, but want to learn properly. I came across this site and am going to do it with colemak.

    I am already learning where the letters are, but it still took about 10 minutes to write this!!

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    • From: Houston, Texas
    • Registered: 03-Jan-2007
    • Posts: 358

    Fantastic!  Keep at it! don't give up!   I was not a touch typist for decades when I started learning Colemak, now I can hit peak speeds of about 70 WPM  and usually average in the 50's .   Slow is good for you right now to memorize, work on accuracy, just have the layout to look at on the screen and don't look at your fingers.  When I exceed 99% accuracy on tests my average jumps 10 WPM. 

    keep going!

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    • From: New York, New York
    • Registered: 22-Nov-2008
    • Posts: 129

    At first it is a little discouraging, but I think that you should just keep at it. With Qwerty I only typed at 65 wpm max, but it was because I only used 3 fingers. When I decided to learn touchtyping I decided to kill two birds with one stone and learn an alternate keyboard which I chose as Colemak.

    Perseverance and 70 wpm will be a clear reality in a couple of months if you really practice.

    Colemak typist

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    • From: Viken, Norway
    • Registered: 13-Dec-2006
    • Posts: 5,345

    70 WPM in a couple of months? Maybe... it took me a lot longer. I think there are individual differences, practice or not.

    My suggestion would be to not be hung up on the speed the first half year or so, but just learn the thing and enjoy the ergonomy. Then you could start training speed if you want to. Depends on how ambitious you want to be.

    Last edited by DreymaR (24-Jan-2009 18:23:29)

    *** Learn Colemak in 2–5 steps with Tarmak! ***
    *** Check out my Big Bag of Keyboard Tricks for Win/Linux/TMK... ***

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    • From: New York, New York
    • Registered: 22-Nov-2008
    • Posts: 129

    Well, it might be a bit more difficult... to actually get to 70 wpm, but I never really got the hang of touchtyping on Qwerty and since I only used it for a couple of years since my contact with computers had been minimal, it became very easy for me to switch to it in November. This may not be the case for everyone, but that's the way it was. Since I started to use computers more, and my wrists were hurting I needed something more ergonomic

    Colemak typist

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    • From: Australia
    • Registered: 13-Nov-2007
    • Posts: 15

    Good luck. Its definitely worth persevering with. I agree with Dreymar, the 70WPM in a couple of months is putting very high expectations on yourself :)

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