|
Volume: 3, “Wow, you must spend a lot of time in the
chat rooms…”
“Wow,
you must spend a lot of time in the chat rooms…” I
hear from over my shoulder.
“Naw, why do you say that?” I reply, typing away
inputting this new customer’s info into our
computer. The customer pries his attention away from
his future golf cart, “You type so fast…”
“Oh, I’ve been typing from a long time…” and our
conversation returns to golf carts.
In truth I have never even been in a chat room, but
this type of inquiry is all too common for me. You
would think I could type with uncanny speed; like I
have lightning fingers straight out of a comic book.
I’m not any faster (probably slower) than most avid
keyboardists, but people don’t expect to see a
talented typist at a golf cart shop I guess.
I’m not really a typist at all. That would imply I
enjoy typing and seek to excel at it. Quite the
opposite really, typing quickly is just a means to
an end. I am a computer enthusiast and keyboarding
is half of the 1-2 punch that is inputting to a
computer. Without being able to type quickly it
wouldn’t be practical for me to write this column.
(The ironic thing is, for once in a great while, I
wrote this originally on paper and transcribed to
into the computer.)
Those kinds of questions actually do kind of get to
me. I have been typing for more of my life than I
haven’t. I got my first computer at age 12 and I
became the fastest “hunt & pecker” you’ve ever seen
by the end of junior high. I could type out a
thousand word essay using only 2 fingers to type in
an evening. I found that for me thoughts came out
much smoother through keys than a pen. I’m 25 now
and I took my Rogers High School keyboarding class
over 10 years ago and have practiced (in terms of
used, no so much practiced to get better) touch
typing ever since. Touch typing is a tried and true
method involving using the feel and placement of
your fingers to find keys on the keyboard, as
opposed to using two fingers to “hunt” for the key
and then “peck” at it as fast as you can. Touch
typing, in theory means you don’t have to look at
your keyboard while you are typing. I guess my point
is, humbly, if you are within the reach of this
column, and you can’t type so well, realize that in
this day and age you may be the exception, not the
rule. And, that there is hope for you.
So this is a “how to”/”self help” column, I guess I
should get to it. Which category to do you fit into,
the touch typing majority or the “hunt & peck”
minority? Actually, it doesn’t matter. If you can
type 30 words a minute typing with just your two
index fingers, or if you try really hard to keep
your fingers on the middle rows of the keyboard and
not look at them you can benefit from these two
helpful hints. First we need to establish the
learning curve. If you don’t know how to touch type,
you need to learn the basics. If you understand the
idea, but just haven’t used it enough (or more
likely stuck with it enough) you need to get back on
the wagon. If you are like me, you will quickly
learn that you are not as fast as you could be if
you used some of these learning tools.
There are lots of ways to learn keyboarding. I
learned initially in high school. I highly recommend
taking a class. You will be surrounded by
like-minded, determined (yet frustrated) people
trying to type in unison what the teacher chants at
the front of the room. It doesn’t sound like much
fun, but if you are a classroom learner like I am,
you will benefit from this approach. It’s pretty
easy to find keyboarding classes. The Community
Colleges of Spokane teach several different
beginning computer keyboarding classes, online, in
classroom and a hybrid of both. (More info:
http://www.scc.spokane.edu/ or call (509)
533-7000) I’m sure Gonzaga and Whitworth have
classes as well. I believe there are many other free
and low cost computer and keyboarding classes
offered by various community organizations as well.
Okay, maybe you’re not the classroom learner. Maybe
you’re the kind that does better teaching yourself.
Well, you’re in luck too; there are lots of options
for you too. I have found two free programs and one
cheap program that you can get easily and use to
improve your skills. Here ya go:
-
Bruce's Unusual Typing Wizard 1.3.1:
Freeware (that means free software,), the full
version, very small download. This program is a
little clunky and lacks the visual bells and
whistles you would get from non-freeware, but it
seems to get the job done. Everything from
beginning touch typing to practice lessons to
games to hone your skills. I recommend it if you
are patient enough to learn to use it to its full
potential.
-
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing® version 12 on
clearance for $9.99:
-
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing® version 16,
newest
This is the industry standard as far as I know.
Learn everything I learned in a semester in high
school with this program, from finger placement to
typing tests and skill improvement. I’ve never
personally used it, but there is a reason why
there are 16 editions. Mavis has taught a lot of
people to type better.
-
TypingMaster Typing Test 6.3:
Free Demo, less than 5 minute dial-up download. It
includes typing speed tests (I got around 50 words
per minute) and touch typing games. It’s pretty
good if you already touch type a little, not so
good if you are a “hunt & pecker.”
Download Bruce’s and TypingMaster and try them
out, you don’t have anything to loose. If they
don’t work for you, spring the $10 or $20 for
Mavis Beacon’s programs.
My second helpful hint? You must practice touch
typing (the get better kind of practice, not just
the using it kind). It’s just like your mom said,
“Practice makes perfect.” Or like your coach said,
“Practice, practice, practice” or something like
that. Anyway, you have to keep with the touch
typing if you want to be any good at it. You have
to write stuff. Do you think I would have gotten
as fast as I am if I rarely used the skill? No
way, I wrote billions of words, in thousands of
papers and essays in high school and college that
got me to where I am today. You need to find
something to write about. Your normal day to day
computer use will benefit from touch typing, and
visa versa, but it’s not going to cut it for
practice. You need to write short stories, or long
ones for that matter. Write editorials to the
newspaper; write an editorial to this website
EditorialSubmissions@Historic-Hillyard.com to
get them considered for publication. Write various
diatribes, stories or jokes on the Community
Forum. (http://www.historic-hillyard.com/forum)
You can practice your touch typing and help out
your community. Try a daily journal or diary; you
can put in a half an hour a day. It will probably
unburden your soul and help your typing. Be
creative, anything you can do that keeps you
banging those keys with do, as long as it’s for an
extended period of time and at regular intervals.
I could end the column here, but I would be remiss
if I didn’t address another issue, closely tied
with using your practice time constructively. If
you are writing something for others to read, you
may run into a hang-up as I and many others have
when speaking up via keyboard. Hello, my name is
Luke, and I’m a bad speller. It’s true, I can’t
spell. I’ve never gotten anything less than an A
in an English or writing class, but I have a
weakness, an Achilles’ heel if you will. I can’t
spell, I just can’t. My brain works phonetically,
if a word can’t be sounded out, I probably can’t
spell it. Unfortunately for me and my bad-spellers
anonymous brethren in today’s world spelling and
grammatical mistakes call into question one’s
intelligence and take validity away from the point
one is trying to make.
“How can this be?” you say, “We’ve seen your posts
on the Community Forum and your errors are few and
far between.”
You’re too kind. Truth be told I have, in the
spirit of my bone-shaping ancestors, a tool. A
wonderful thing Bill Gates invented (okay, I
haven’t any idea who invented it) called spell
checker! That’s right. I write all of my posts out
in Word before I post them. Microsoft Word
highlights anything that looks like it might not
be spelled correctly and I address it with proof
reading. That is to say, I re-read everything
before I post; I check for grammatical errors
(your/you’re gets me every time) and I correct as
much as I can. When I’m satisfied I copy and paste
my post onto the forum.
Maybe you don’t have Word, or something
comparable. Well, there is hope for you as well.
SpellCheck.net is made for you. Point your browser
to:
http://www.spellcheck.net. You can type what
you want to say and hit the “check spelling” link
and it does the same as Word, highlighting any
misspelled words for you to address. This is a
good tool if you are using a computer other than
yours, or if you have trouble running the internet
and Word at the same time.
In conclusion, I hope I have opened your eyes a
little to the point of view of a younger person,
so you will not be so astonished next time you
meet someone like me with fingers of fury. I also
hope these tips for faster typing and better
posting have encouraged you to share your thoughts
and ideas with the world, or at least your
community.
Thanks for reading and remember, feel free to
e-mail me,
Luke Tolley, any questions you might have
about computers and stuff and I’ll do my best to
answer them.
Resources:
|