I’ve been on a touch typing quest for a long time and I think this product is what I need now:
I think I might make one myself. That’s one of the real things holding me back is my habit of looking at the keys when I get lazy.
[quote=“miltownkid”]I’ve been on a touch typing quest for a long time… one of the real things holding me back is my habit of looking at the keys when I get lazy.[/quote]I was lucky in that when I learned, I didn’t HAVE to use a keyboard for anything else other than to touch type.
You’re using a keyboard for various purposes every day which I suppose makes it more difficult.
Are you using a program to help you? My Dad liked Mavis Beacon. I learned on another program which was good but I’ve forgotten what it was called. I think an important part of any typing tutor program is that it balances your speed and accuracy. You don’t want to be aiming for 100% accuracy at first.
At some point once you’re ready you can put a light cloth over your hands when you’re typing. That will stop you peeking.
miltownkid,
you could try Spell Catcher X once you get a mac. It does abbreviation expansion for any program. It’d be good for php or anything where you need to type the same text regularly.
[quote=“TaiwanPsycho”]How about one of these? 
artlebedev.com/portfolio/optimus/
P.S. I sell ninjas and pirates.[/quote]
I think I have just fallen in love with a keyboard!
I would love to program that keyboard to change display after certain sequences of characters. For instance, if I’m typing Chinese with the Cangjie input method and I type ZX and then either A,B, or C, I want the keyboard to display the punctuation possibilities.
You bring your keyboard to HH and I’ll bring a can of black spray paint. We can fix this pretty quick.
I’m lucky and unlucky. I can’t look at the keyboard. I get motion sick if I move my eyes rapidly between two objects. (Mainly unlucky)
Anyone ever try Dvorak?
I checked out the OS X settings. It has a mode where command shortcuts use the old layout. Copy and paste, save, and all other shortcuts use Qwerty. Really nice. I can’t imagine Dvorak in Emacs but I think some do.
[quote=“gary”]Anyone ever try Dvorak?
I checked out the OS X settings. It has a mode where command shortcuts use the old layout. Copy and paste, save, and all other shortcuts use Qwerty. Really nice. I can’t imagine Dvorak in Emacs but I think some do.[/quote]
I have and got real far with it. I still plan on switching again (everytime I switch I get a little better).
Practicing Dvorak helped my touch typing I think because looking at the keyboard was totally useless. I did like the layout better. Some things went a lot more smoothly (like having the T and H right next to each other). I also liked having all of the vowels on the same row.
I think I’m going to figure out to to Switch to Dvorak in Linux now…
[quote=“miltownkid”]Practicing Dvorak helped my touch typing I think because looking at the keyboard was totally useless. I did like the layout better. Some things went a lot more smoothly (like having the T and H right next to each other). I also liked having all of the vowels on the same row.
[/quote]
I’ll try it. It looks a lot more comfortable.
Check this out:
monkeyfood.com/blog/2004/01/ … x-panther/
Imagine the keyboard viewer in your new Powerbook.
I’m actually considering switching to Dvorak (again). I’m a little dubious of the claims of greater typing speed, since I’m already blazing fast at touchtyping with QWERTY, but if it reduces the chance of RSI or anything like that I’d be well up for it. Only problem is trying to learn a new format while still having to do my job, which relies almost entirely on typing anyway, without taking too much of a performance hit.
I think we will all be okay with it.
Feel less pressure now or do you mean your other job?
[quote=“Ironman”]I think we will all be okay with it.
Feel less pressure now or do you mean your other job?[/quote]Despite all appearances to the contrary, this is just a hobby. 
I used ONLY used a typing program at first. Then I started posting on here and writing blogs with Dvorak. Then I got sick of it and quit. Then I started again and was a lot better, but my QWERTY also got better so I wanted to go back to QWERTY and did. Then I went back again, and quit again. Now I’m going back (just figured out how to switch it).
It’s a love hate relationship. I just want to do it to bring me one step closer to being l337.
Nothing beats this for learning touch typing. In fact typing was a school elective/requirement 
