the quick brown fox jumps over the bad typists

By user706790 - updated: 4 years, 3 months ago - 7 messages

Has anyone here deliberately trained themselves to type non standard in some situations? I type entirely standard home row QWERTY for every key, even though it is sub optimal in some situations, such as typing "tv" for example. It seems that people that learn typing naturally develop micro optimizations in their fingering, even though they don't use all of their fingers such as Sean Wrona.
By user37933 - posted: 4 years, 5 months ago

I learnt to type the standard way. As I have been an active part of the typing community, I observed this trend among the faster typists and changed my typing habits one step at a time to be more optimal. Recently after many years and a long break from typing (over a year) I came back and have slowly improved to where I'm clocking 180 wpm and above average speeds quite easily on this site (depends on the day and the mindset). Bear in mind that I reached 130-140 wpm average quite easily around 6-7 years ago. It was only speeds above 180 that would be a problem for me. With the correct mentality and optimal style of typing it isn't as difficult as I thought it would be.
Coming back to the initial question, you can incorporate changes in your typing style no matter how long you have been typing - you will find it easy to switch between the two styles after working on your new one for some time. The style that will dominate the most will be the one that you practice on the most. But the key here is mindfulness of course - in the beginning whenever you come across the combination of letters where you are fingering it differently this time, you need to be more alert and ready for mistakes. You will need to commit yourself to the process but it will work eventually.
By xx4931xx - posted: 4 years, 5 months ago

I started typing about 3 years ago, and I don't think I know any other way to type other than starting with both hands on the home-row. I've only been taught to type this way, and I still consider myself a newbie at this typing stuff, since I only have about 60 wpm. Is there some other way to go about typing? And who is Sean Wrona?
By lasjflkasjdf900 - posted: 4 years, 5 months ago

While I've seen people be successful with non-standard typing methods, I will also say that they have been few and far between. If you want to break the 110 WPM barrier anytime soon, I would suggest QWERTY. Little irregularities seem, at least to me, like an inconsistent stopgap measure that serve to slow as often as they facilitate typing certain letter combinations. My experience has been that the standard typing method for QWERTY gets me the most consistent results.

But you should note that DVORAK is a more efficient keyboard layout. Friends have told me that the average typist can expect around a 5-10 WPM increase if they get as proficient in DVORAK as QWERTY.
By user706790 - posted: 4 years, 5 months ago

Stick with home row for now. Optimizing in one regard might mean shooting yourself in the foot in another. This stuff is complicated.

Wrona is usually considered the fastest typist alive. Although there are probably some online unknowns faster.
By user706790 - posted: 4 years, 5 months ago

Yeah i typed on dvorak for 3 years and switched back to qwerty. Wasn't worth it.
By xx4931xx - posted: 4 years, 5 months ago

Thanks for the info and the suggestion lol
By mokmoon123 - posted: 4 years, 3 months ago

I don't use home row when doing typing prompts, but I use it as a baseline sort of for my hands to rest when I am not doing active things, but I use the standard qwerty keyboard because it is the most natural for me because I have been typing with these types of keyboards my whole life.