Poll: How do you type?

[Kolby Jack]

I never took a type class in school. I guess I was at that perfect nexus where computers were not essential enough to have it offered in school but they were still a major device I used growing up. Because of that I never really learned the proper way to type on a QWERTY keyboard (fingers lined up in the middle, wrists resting at the bottom), which some people I know have commented on. I pretty much type using only my index fingers and thumb (for spacebar), but I'm actually pretty fast at it because of all the practice I get.

So how do you type? Are you like me, pecking away with only two fingers? Did you learn how to properly type in school? Do you have a custom keyboard layout because the QWERTY system is absolutely stupid? Or is there another way I haven't thought of?

 

[Marter]

I type with all of my fingers, but I don't use the "home row" technique that is taught in schools. I do have to move my hands a bit more because of this, but I type quite fast with limited errors.

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

Mainly index fingers. Occasionally I may get a bit adventurous and introduce my middle fingers.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Yay... I can at last go: ninja'd by my thread! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.287493-Skill-at-word-processing]

Anyway, I forced myself to learn to touchtype, and writing as a hobby kinda helped. And once you get used to it, the QWERTY keyboard layout is very easy to use.

Play 'Typing of the Dead', great game and hilarious at the same time when watching other people play it. You'd find it bizarrely cathartic as well.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I type mostly how it was taught in typing class.

But I look at the keyboard most of the time.

EDIT: But it has nothing to do with what I learned in typing class. I learned to type like this because it's the fastest way to get thoughts onto the screen. I thank my internet addiction for my fast typing, not my boring and annoying typing classes.

 

[DJDarque]

I switch back and forth. If I'm sitting I use the way that I was taught in school with the home rows and everything, but if I'm lying down I search and peck with my index fingers. I don't know why, it just happens.

 

[soren7550]

I do a mix of hunt n' peck and using multiple fingers. Due to all my story typing, I'm pretty fast/good at typing. My spelling on the other hand, still terrible (thanks a bunch hooked on phonics learn to read bullshit that we were forced to learn how to read with in elementary school).

 

[baconsarnie]

I tend to use any number of fingers depending on the word length, complexity and familiarity. Never one finger from each hand and never using the right ring finger or either little finger.

 

[Bureacreative]

I use the home row mostly, but my hands move around a ton. I have to look at the keyboard or else it's just ugly

 

[Benmonkey7]

I type with the home row standard. I started learning in 3rd grade and have taken some sort of typing/computer class every year (sometimes for only a couple weeks, sometimes a whole semester). With all the practice I received, I can type around 80-85 words a minute with little to no errors.

 

[TiefBlau]

I've been wanting to learn Dvorak for a while now, but currently it's still a QWERTY setup.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I type with all of my fingers, but I don't use the "home row" technique that is taught in schools. I do have to move my hands a bit more because of this, but I type quite fast with limited errors.

... I keep reading about this 'home row' thingy... what is it?

Is it the numerals above the letters (as opposed to the number pad to the right)?

 

[oreopizza47]

I type with a really weird mixture of touch-typing and homerow usage. Let me explain that. Quick things or really easy things tend to just be typed out without looking. Harder things I watch the keyboard the whole time and just spellcheck the rare spelling mistakes. But the really weird part would be my most used method. What I do is combine the two. I start typing while looking, and I look up to check how it's going every once in a while, though I continue to type while looking away. In other words, homerow doesn't really exist for me, though I know of it and use it to guide my movements. But it isn't necessary, and it doesn't really help. I like to think I have a cool method of going about this, but it's really probably something that a lot of people do. Also, it allows my to work faster and more efficiently because I can easily check to see what I've messed up without having to go back, though it also causes me to not notice when I'm spilling huge reams of word soup... like right now.

 

[Bags159]

I do a mixture of proper typing technique and "search and poke". I only look at the keyboard when it's dark,which really makes no sense. I honestly have no idea why I do it.

Really wish we used "Dvorak" keyboards since the current ones are designed to be inefficient.

 

[electric_warrior]

I touchtype on a QWERTY keyboard, but I only use two or three fingers on each hand. Sort of like very fast poking.

I was never taught any different

 

[Marter]

... I keep reading about this 'home row' thingy... what is it?

Is it the numerals above the letters (as opposed to the number pad to the right)?

No.

It's keeping your fingers on the middle row of keys, and then only moving them off there to reach other letters.

Here's a picture of what I mean. When not typing any letters, you're supposed to keep you fingers on these keys.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/QWERTY-home-keys-position.svg/300px-QWERTY-home-keys-position.svg.png

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

I taught myself to type to spite typing class, and as such my hands just kind of land wherever on the keyboard.

Typically A W E on the left and and L [ enter on the right.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I was taught how to type in school and I personally hated using the home row that they made me do. I type much faster without doing that and I don't have as many errors as I would with the "proper" technique. I used to piss off my instructors when I would go back to my style after the typing lesson was over and was much faster than they wanted.

 

[AbstractStream]

I just looked to see how I type and I realized that I type in home row position. I was forced to take it in school so I guess all that drilling stayed in my head after all these years. Although to be honest, I don't press the keys with the "correct" finger sometimes.

 

[Jimmy_Mac]

I type using my first three fingers, it works for me.