Hey guys,

I can't say I am exactly a slow typer; though I could improve and want to improve both in accuracy and speed. I don't use homerow at the moment, although I still type between 40 and 60 words/min. I want to see if I can't aim for 80 word/min and am looking for some good typing games and lessons that are available for free.

I would rather it use real words as examples; although it's lessons can have any random combos if that is the way it works and helps. This goes hand in hand with one of my goals to write more, and thus I want to be able to write as fast as my brain comes up with stuff. I know practice makes perfect; but obviously I need to start practicing correctly vs allowing the closest finger at the time hit the key needed.

Thanks for any help!

In before the LMGTFY link!

Try this

40-60 isn't that bad, but the best way to increase your speed is just by typing more. Stop abbreviating, start using punctuation. Do a lot of programming in BASIC, that's pretty much what sorted me out

I rarely ever abbreviate on the computer, during instant messages, e-mail (abbreviated there though!), and general writing. I usually try paying attention to spelling as well. The problem is I think my finger placement. I agree 40-60 wpm isn't bad, but my error rate is what is killing me. I constantly reach for the backspace;

I don't know if learning the home-row will correct my accuracy problems or speed my typing; but it is better than nothing.

By the way, I have been searching google; just wondering if anyone knew of some good ones. Very funny with the "Let me google that for you" - I had to google LMGTFY to put 1 + 2 = 3... But in all seriousness I do know how to use google, just wondering if anyone had a particularly good one, as it is I've tried 4 of them out in the last hour.

If you use Firefox there is a typing add-on that I used quite a lot.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2828

ahhhhh not typing!!!!! i hate it, but i don't know of any programs either

I've only ever tried a handful and they all seem to be pretty similar in terms of what you get from them. The best ones seem to be the sort that employment agencies use when you sign up with them - they have a good range of standard office activities which gauge typing speed and accuracy as well as accuracy and speed of copying information from one source to the other. Unfortunately I don't know the names of any of them!

Have ago with this, http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/

You type 411 characters per minute
You have 72 correct words and
you have 0 wrong words

Just don't look at keyboard when typing.

If you can't, buy this: http://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard_model_s_ultimate.php

I can type without looking- but not with my hands on the "homerow".

The act of typing isn't really a problem, its the way I go about it that is. I could be wrong about the accuracy part but I was thinking that if I trained my fingers to hit the keys the 'proper' way I might gain more accuracy...

By the way; why does the middle finger on the left hand hit the 'C' key- That is very unnatural and hard for me to do...

EDIT: typing the way I type I am getting consistent ~55wpm and 1 word wrong via pressing space before I was able to reverse... However like I am concerned, my accuracy is still affecting this because every 4 or 5 words I misspell, backspace and spell correctly. 323 characters per minute, though I don't know how that is computed... (if it subtracts the extra presses from 'typos'.

Quote from blackbird04217 :

By the way; why does the middle finger on the left hand hit the 'C' key- That is very unnatural and hard for me to do...

It will come more naturally with practice. I can understand that it feels awkward at first, especially since you probably keep all your other fingers properly on the keys because "that's the way you're supposed to do it". But as you get better and start to type faster you'll notice that your hands leave their "recommended" position often but briefly when hitting certain keys.

For example when I hit the 'c' key my index finger will move down together with my middle finger, placing it above - but not on - the 'v' key. This way the movement comes a lot more natural.

Same thing with the 'x' key: my little finger will move down together with my ring finger, hovering above the 'z' key (at least on qwerty keyboards). I don't think about this, of course, I only just noticed it now when I payed attention to it.

An alternative is to just use Windows Speech Recognition It comes built in with Vista and Windows 7 and actually works very well. A fast typist will still be faster than someone using speech recognition in many cases but... you're not a fast typist Yet

EDIT: by the way, if you feel confident typing a bit faster this might be fun for you You get placed in a "race" with a number of opponents and you type the text shown to you as fast as you can. Whoever finishes first wins Apparently I type at a rate of 100 words per minute with an accuracy of 99.5%. I had no idea There's some insanely high scores on there, though. Makes me doubt if they are legit. 175 words per minute? That's almost twice as fast as me then... that really seems awfully fast to me. I wonder if there's some way you can cheat this system.

Type Racer. www.typeracer.com

I always use it when I am feeling bored

Quote from shaun463 :

Type Racer. www.typeracer.com

I always use it when I am feeling bored

That's what I linked to in the post right above yours. I didn't mention the name, though so yeah...

Also, that doesn't really help the OP with his question so your reply is rather pointless Typeracer is only fun if you already know how to type properly and fast.

41 wpm with no formal training, limited sleep and a brain full of caffiene *YAY* Also this isn't my keyboard