How fast can you type?

[Moglet]

How much pages of work do you get on a typical work day?

We don't get 'pages' as such, we get orders from customers and we then produce them. I've been helping out in the warehouse lately though as it's been insanely busy in there. We sent out 120 orders last Thursday. It doesn't sound much but we only have 8 staff in there!

Anyway I'm going way off topic now! I'll keep quiet and we can carry on the typing talk. 👍

 

[Azuremen]

EDIT: Bizarrely, looking at my typing while doing it I've discovered that I use 2 fingers on my left hand but only my index finger on my right. I have no idea why I have learned to type like this!

You likely do this because QWERTY has a clear left hand bias for commonly used keys, which is among the many flaws of the layout. The most apparent is the top row bias for common keys as well.

I generally manage around 80wpm, and can score between 70 to 90wpm on tests. AIM and messengers I likely sit at about 100wpm, do to the sloppier grammar and what not.

I was able to type at about 40wpm on Dvorak a few years ago and can manage 30wpm or so on Colemak.

Keyboard I use at home

I use a cheap travel keyboard with my netbook. Chiclet, standard spacing, 2mm travel scissor switches.

 

[AMCNUT]

Keyboard I use at home

How come there are no markings printed on that keyboard? How does that not get confusing? It must have taken some practice...

 

[MSTER232]

How come there are no markings printed on that keyboard? How does that not get confusing? It must have taken some practice...

You can buy keyboards that have no markings on then at all. The way you type on them is the same way you type blindfolded or without looking. If you are an efficient typist, then you should know where all the keys are on the keyboard without having to look at it, and that's the whole point of unmarked keyboards.

 

[Slash]

I can half look and half not look when I'm typing. If I don't look then I type way slower.

 

[MSTER232]

I can half look and half not look when I'm typing. If I don't look then I type way slower.

I think you would struggle greatly with unmarked keyboards. But's it's still pretty impressive being able to type without directly looking at the keyboard.

EDIT: To those who have not heard of it, here is a website where you can do typing races against other people. Good fun!

http://play.typeracer.com

 

[Driving Park]

None of you however are as good as my ex computing teacher who could do constant 120wpm on crappy school keyboards.

Just accomplished this:
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9307/124oc.png
(and in case you're wondering, I did this just now on a keyboard as you describe in my school's library (that's why the desktop is so generic and Firefox is open, not Google Chrome).)

I'm not claiming to do that constantly, however. I probably could, but after doing a few more tests and races on that site with some very devious word choices (type "appropriate" twice in the space of three words? Yeah, no thanks.), I've found that I usually hover around 90-100 words per minute in day-to-day typing. It's a lot more relaxing than engaging the turbo all the time, which cramps up my hands after a while.

But's it's still pretty impressive being able to type without directly looking at the keyboard.

I think it depends a lot on how you were taught to type (if taught at all), because when I learned to type in elementary school we were always taught not to look at the keyboard, so I don't when I type, and I'm sure a fair amount of people do not as well.

None of us come CLOSE to the speed typists in the early 20th century, though. I was shown a video in one of my classes at one point of a speed typing competition from something like the 1920s, where about twenty typists or so would pound away for minutes on end on typewriters (a LOT harder to type on than keyboards for those that don't know...and there was no backspace so you had to be perfect.) at something like 150 words per minute.

 

[MSTER232]

Just accomplished this:
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9307/124oc.png
(and in case you're wondering, I did this just now on a keyboard as you describe in my school's library (that's why the desktop is so generic and Firefox is open, not Google Chrome).)

I'm not claiming to do that constantly, however. I probably could, but after doing a few more tests and races on that site with some very devious word choices (type "appropriate" twice in the space of three words? Yeah, no thanks.), I've found that I usually hover around 90-100 words per minute in day-to-day typing. It's a lot more relaxing than engaging the turbo all the time, which cramps up my hands after a while.



I think it depends a lot on how you were taught to type (if taught at all), because when I learned to type in elementary school we were always taught not to look at the keyboard, so I don't when I type, and I'm sure a fair amount of people do not as well.

None of us come CLOSE to the speed typists in the early 20th century, though. I was shown a video in one of my classes at one point of a speed typing competition from something like the 1920s, where about twenty typists or so would pound away for minutes on end on typewriters (a LOT harder to type on than keyboards for those that don't know...and there was no backspace so you had to be perfect.) at something like 150 words per minute.

Congratulations on your amazing achievement of 124 words per minute! That is a truly outstanding typing speed. It seems that you are the fastest typist on this thread with 124 wpm, and me following behind with 93 wpm although I am capable of 100 wpm when I really try. I will have to try again sometime soon.

And yes, typing with a typewriter is much more difficult and requires much more precision as there is no such thing as a backspace key but I heard that some models of typewriter are slowly introducing backspace by having some kind of white paint that dries very quickly. To be honest, I don't think there should be a backspace key at all on a keyboard but you can accomplish this by removing the backspace key on your keyboard. But do not try it with a laptop keyboard otherwise you will break the laptop (your common sense should tell you not to do it with a laptop).

EDIT: To those that do not know what 150 words per minute looks like, here's an example done with a Das Ultimate Keyboard:

 

[Azuremen]

How come there are no markings printed on that keyboard? How does that not get confusing? It must have taken some practice...

I've been a touch typist since I was a child, so it wasn't a big deal for me to switch to this. The larger issue was actually learning all the characters on the number row without being able to see them. The keyboard also doesn't have a numpad on it, which tends to through some people for a loop.

The blank layout is also nice when I switch to Colemak from time to time.

Caps Lock has been remapped on all my layouts out to Backspace, while Scroll Lock is now Caps Lock.

 

[AMCNUT]

OK, gotcha. I don't think I could ever type efficiently without knowing what the keys were labeled as. But I guess if you can custom map the keys to suit your convenience than it makes it easier.

I never touched a keyboard until I took a typing course in high school, and I was always one of the slowest. I've gotten loads better, but I'm still appreciably faster when I look at the keyboard.

If you are an efficient typist, then you should know where all the keys are on the keyboard without having to look at it, and that's the whole point of unmarked keyboards.

There has to be a better reason for them than simply using it as a way for excess showing off. I'm not so sure that's the point of unmarked keyboards, or else no one would bother making them, I think.

 

[Swara]

I can half look and half not look when I'm typing. If I don't look then I type way slower.

For school, we have to type without looking at the screen sometimes when the teacher writes notes on the board. I've learned that skill haha

 

[MSTER232]

There has to be a better reason for them than simply using it as a way for excess showing off. I'm not so sure that's the point of unmarked keyboards, or else no one would bother making them, I think.

Well I was just sharing my opinion on why I think keyboard companies make unmarked keyboards. After having a little think for a while, I now think that they make them so people can challenge themselves to see if they really know how to touch type, or they are looking at the keyboard from the corners of their eyes. And yes, they can be used to show off.

EDIT: Today I just got 101 wpm using my laptop. I guess you get used to that flat key feel to a laptop keyboard after a while.

 

[Lucas]

Using this page, I got 99wpm, with only one mistake: "thourhg", instead of "through". I'm typing on a netbook, by the way.

 

[Diogo]

Using that page

Your speed was: 45wpm.

You made 8 mistakes, your mistakes are shown in bold text:

- putside (outside)
- Dancers.The (Dancers. The)
- Left (left)
- , (, )
- -lokking (-looking)
- Youc ould (You could)
- ther. (other.)

Between the "()" is the correct "answer"

Not bad for a 14yr Portuguese boy

 

[MSTER232]

Using that page

Your speed was: 45wpm.

You made 8 mistakes, your mistakes are shown in bold text:

- putside (outside)
- Dancers.The (Dancers. The)
- Left (left)
- , (, )
- -lokking (-looking)
- Youc ould (You could)
- ther. (other.)

Between the "()" is the correct "answer"

Not bad for a 14yr Portuguese boy

Not bad. Do you use a QWERTY keyboard? If you do, then I think your most common mistakes is that you reach too far to reach a certain key (you hit p instead of o when you are intending to reach for the letter o) and sometimes you get carried away and press a key twice when it you only meant to press it once. But not bad indeed, faster than average 👍 .

 

[Diogo]

What do you mean qwerty keybord ?

 

[Bopop4]

42 WPM, made two mistakes. Not bad for having to look at the keyboard.

 

[xXKingJoshXx]

I've done 89 wpm but I've seen people do 120+wpm. I'm on my cell phone so not nearly as fast.

 

[Diogo]

I'v made 45 by normally I write at 60-100 maybe

 

[MSTER232]

What do you mean qwerty keybord ?

This keyboard layout:

It seems that your country doesn't normally use the QWERTY keyboard layout but nevermind. Well the QWERTY keyboard was designed to maximise alternation between both hands when typing, which in theory increases typing speed. However, this keyboard is biased to the left hand so that the more common letters are often typed on the left hand. An interesting fact was, the QWERTY keyboard layout was created to slow down really fast typists (the ones that were right handed anyways).

 

[Slash]

^^Isn't that the type of keyboard everyone uses for PC's (I know some phones have a bit diffenrent keyboards and some have QWERTY).

 

[Murcie_LP640]

About 75wpm or thereabouts for me. That was on my old laptop with rough-surfaced and curved keys though, I'm a little bit slower on this one.

 

[Diogo]

Actually my lap top has it but the numbers are also on the right side toughether

 

[Driving Park]

^^Isn't that the type of keyboard everyone uses for PC's (I know some phones have a bit different keyboards and some have QWERTY).

Dvorak keyboards exist but aren't widely used, and QWERTZ (Y and Z are swapped) and AZERTY keyboards are used a lot in Europe.

 

[Azuremen]

It seems that your country doesn't normally use the QWERTY keyboard layout but nevermind. Well the QWERTY keyboard was designed to maximise alternation between both hands when typing, which in theory increases typing speed.

This actually isn't the case at all, as the clear left hand bias shows. The other bit about it being designed to slow down typing was actually true, due to hammer jams, though it wasn't because of right handed typists. Further, some keys were moved to the top row to so that typewriter salesmen could quickly type "TYPEWRITER" with only the top row of keys.

The Dvorak layout took far more consideration of alternating keystrokes between hands, even fingers, to increase efficiency and speed. Additionally, keys were moved to put more keystrokes on the home row and to minimize usage of the bottom row which is quite awkward to use.

Quick comparison of row usage between the layouts.

Row	      QWERTY	Dvorak
Top	        52%	22%
Home	        32%	70%
Bottom	        16%	8%

 

[MSTER232]

This actually isn't the case at all, as the clear left hand bias shows. The other bit about it being designed to slow down typing was actually true, due to hammer jams, though it wasn't because of right handed typists. Further, some keys were moved to the top row to so that typewriter salesmen could quickly type "TYPEWRITER" with only the top row of keys.

The Dvorak layout took far more consideration of alternating keystrokes between hands, even fingers, to increase efficiency and speed. Additionally, keys were moved to put more keystrokes on the home row and to minimize usage of the bottom row which is quite awkward to use.

Quick comparison of row usage between the layouts.

Row	      QWERTY	Dvorak
Top	        52%	22%
Home	        32%	70%
Bottom	        16%	8%

I almost forgot about the left hand bias. And at least for me, the bottom row keys aren't a huge issue for me. For me it would be the number keys.

EDIT: I did mention the left hand bias, you just didn't quote my whole post.

 

[Azuremen]

I almost forgot about the left hand bias. And at least for me, the bottom row keys aren't a huge issue for me. For me it would be the number keys.

EDIT: I did mention the left hand bias, you just didn't quote my whole post.

You did. But you said they designed qwerty with alternating keystrokes in mind and that wasn't really the case. It was more designed to prevent hammer jams on typewriters.

Numbers aren't used enough in regular sentences to be considered heavily for the layout options, but I've seen some variations where they've moved common numbers to more prominent fingers.

 

[terminator363]

Swiss keyboards suck

 

[MSTER232]

Swiss keyboards suck

Dorvak keyboards?

 

[terminator363]

Dorvak keyboards?

No the ones that have to accommodate both German and french. They have crappy little backspace keys that are nearly impossible to hit.

Or at least they look confusing... I generally dislike mini backspace keys.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU!