[quote=“irishstu”]Anyway, they were talking about how qwerty keyboards were originally designed to SLOW typists down (so that the hammers didn’t get suck). I found that very interesting.[/quote]That’s a bit of a myth. Yes, qwerty reduces the times when the hammers get stuck, but it’s not specifically designed to slow typing down.
Learning touch typing isn’t that difficult, and it’s very satisfying when you have that skill. But to do it properly, you really need to make a complete break from hunt and peck, which will probably mean that you can’t do any typing-related work for a week or so. I think the software I learned on had the edge on Mavis Beacon but this was some years ago and I don’t even remember what it was called. Mavis Beacon should be fine, anyway. My dad learned on that and said it was OK.
If you mainly only use one computer, you might want to change your keyboard to the dvorak layout (or buy a dvorak keyboard) and learn that. It’s faster, more intuitive and probably more ergonomic. Some good info, including a link to a free dvorak typing tutor, in this thread:
[forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 494#411494](RSI? Natural keyboard?
Some more good info and links here:
[forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 076#165076](Natural Keyboards?
I went half-way – a bad idea! I popped off the keys on my keyboard and put them back in the dvorak format. I started learning dvorak but then decided that as I don’t really type that much and I sometimes use different computers, I might as well stick with qwerty for the moment. But I haven’t got round to changing my keyboard back, so I’m typing qwerty on a dvorak layout.