[mminutel]

Ha! It has been a long time since I have looked at the keyboard. I still have to look for the different symbols but for all letters and punctution, I can do it fine. COngrats though. You should see your speed increase and we all know that typing speed increase means increased posts

 

[003]

I never took a keyboarding class but I have used a computer for so long I eventually picked up touch typing from osmosis.

 

[pne]

now just think if you spent all that time in front of a piano instead of a computer screen you'd be just as good a player as you are a typer! isnt that depressing?

 

[Welly Wu]

I have been touch typing for years. BHD812, the key is to keep both hands on top of the keyboard while you type and not one under your desk while surfing the Internet. Kidding, kidding!

 

[gotchaforce]

In sixth grade everyone was required to take a typing class

didnt make me improve much though

i just spent the next year on the computer all the time and that seemed to do it

 

[colonelkernel8]

I am a rebel. We were almost forced to learn "home row" as younger students, however, I never did. Now, I have simply memorized completely where each key is, but I don't use home row. Similar to 003's case.

 

[SoundGoon]

sometimes I can do it without looking at the keyboard (like right now), but probably about 2/3 of the time I'm looking at the keyboard. So far, i havn't looked hardly at all at the keyboard (and I don't use homerow); I wonder if I type faster looking at the keys or not...

 

[K2Grey]

There was a typing class in high school, but it was not mandatory. So I don't know how common the ability to type without looking at the keyboard is. It's probably not rare considering how often the Internet is used nowadays (and yes, I typed this without looking).

 

[boomana]

I signed up for auto mechanics in high school, and my mother literally dragged me up to the school and changed my schedule so I could take typing. This was back in the days before computers and before typewriters with correcting ribbons. We had erasable bond paper and pencil-like erasers with a brush on the end. My teacher's name was Mrs. Silverbee (we used to call her Mrs. Silverb*tch), and the only thing she hated more than teaching was her students. I did, however, learn to type and earned all my spending money at college typing and writing papers for the wealthy kids at my school. I had an IBM Selectric II and thought that I was pretty special.

Considering what I paid my auto mechanic two weeks ago, I think the wrong choice was made.

 

[Samgotit]

Congrats!

I used Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. At the time I used this piece of software, Mavis' picture wasn't on the package, so I imagined Mavis as an old schoolmarm: it turns out she's the hot librarian type! Hubba Hubba Mavis... hubba hubba.

 

[Vicious Tyrant]

Has anyone ever tried the keyboard that has the keys in a different position, so you can supposedly type faster? I'd love to try one.

In fact, I love my ergonomic keyboard at work and refuse to buy a laptop until they put one a laptop - is that so difficult?

 

[sisenor]

I took a typing class in high school and to this day it remains the single most useful class I've ever taken.

 

[MASantos]

This came very naturaly to me. I have been around computers since I am really young and I don't remember when I stoped looking at the keyboard.

Now the more interesting question is:

How many languages can you write without looking at the computer?

I can do it with English and Portuguese, but with German and French I look at the keyboard more frequently. It doesn't make much sense I know, but it does happen.

 

[MdRex]

can you do a wheelie while you are on it?

 

[Thelonious Monk]

i type a lot faster when i am aware that i'm not looking at the keyboard. even faster when i'm not even looking at the screen. as i type this i am looking at my television. this message took me under 10 seconds to write.

edit: Vicious Tyrant: yes. i use an external Dvorak keyboard. i max out at around 160wpm but average in at around 100... my average is about the same for qwerty, but dvorak greatly increases my caffeine-influenced typing speed

edit2: this is what my ibook looks like

i never saw that image. i guess i'm not the only one dumb enough to dvorakify my keyboard