Reference number: CH000752

How can I improve my typing?

Question:

How can I improve my typing?

Reasoning:

Users who have tested their typing (see document CH000751 for how to test your typing) or know that they need to improve their typing speed may need additional tips and advice for improving their typing skills.

Answer:

There are several different techniques a user can do to help improve his or her typing skills. Below is a short list of different ideas and recommendations you can do to help improve your typing. Keep in mind that most people are not going to be able to improve their typing speed overnight.

Type more and practice

Starting off with the most obvious, simply typing and practicing typing more will obviously help the most. The more you type the more familiar you will become with the computer keyboard and the position of the keys.

When practicing keep some of the below things in mind.

1. Learn to type the proper way (no typing with one or two fingers). This means your fingers should be on the home row keys A,S,D,and F with the left hand and J, K, L, and ; with the right hand. Of course if you're on a non-English keyboard or a non-QWERTY keyboard this may change.
2. Try not to look at the keyboard while typing. This is usually the hardest for most people, but is definitely a skill that should be learned. Not having to look at where the keys are on a keyboard can dramatically improve the speed of your typing. If you need help learning to not look at your hands try putting a large piece of paper over the keyboard that will allow your hands to fit under it without you being able to see the keys, or put stickers on each of the keys.
3. Make sure your posture at the computer is good. For example, sit in the upright position with both feet flat on the floor.

Chat

Online chat can be a great place to learn to type and is also usually fun at the same time. If you're really wanting to learn to type more efficiently while chatting make sure to use proper capitalization, punctuation, and do not use chat slang.

E-mail, online bulletin boards and forums

Sending friends and family frequent e-mail letters can be another great way to learn to type and keep in touch with all your friends and family. In addition to sending e-mail messages there are millions of online forums with every topic of conversation imaginable. Becoming a member of one of these forums and participating in talking about something you enjoy can also be fun and another great way to learn to type.

Run through online typing tests several times

Visit document CH000751 and run through each of the online tests several times. Not only will doing each of the different tests help improve your typing, you will be able to catch your errors and notice your progression. 

Type pages of a book, letter, or any other page with lots of text

Although not an option that is as fun as some of the other suggestions listed in this document, taking any letter, page of a book, document, etc and typing everything on that page is a great way to help improve your typing. Not only will this help improve your typing of unfamiliar words, it is also a skill sometimes required for some jobs.

Create your own web page, blog, or online journal

Creating your own web page, blog, or online journal that you frequently update is another great way to practice your typing while also doing something productive at the same time.

Typing games

Typing games are a great way to learn the position of all the keys on the keyboard and also help you practice your typing while having fun. Below are a few games that will help with your typing.

LEtters

LEtters is a fun and very addictive Flash typing game where you must type each of the letters as they move across the screen. As your score gets higher the letters will move faster across the screen.

Click here to play the game

Play4Traffic

Similar to the above game, however, instead of typing individual letters, you must type full words. As you progress through the levels, you must type the words faster before they reach the edge of the screen.

Click here to play the game

Typer Shark

A great typing game that is available as a free online and offline version for the PC. One of the more sophisticated typing games we've seen, in this game a user must explore the deep sea while looking for treasure. During the exploration you come across shark and fish that have letters and words on them, each word and/or letter must be typed before they reach your character.

Click here to play and/or download the game.