Where & how did you Learn to type?

eamoss

So where did you learn to type and how(like on computer or typewriter)?

For me I started using computers when I was only 6/7 years old but didn’t really learn to type till later on. I was sent to typing class at the age of 12 and the teacher knew if we had pc's all we would do would mess on them so we had electric typewriters and the adults would have the pc's but they where in another room. Everything was done manually like she had an egg timer and we would have to count up the words and do the math. But I hated going to the class because right beside it was a rough estate. Then I stopped that and started typing class in School and was using Mavis Beacon where I got up to a speed of 30wpm. There was a girl in the class who was there before me and her highest was 5wpm don’t know when I stopped going to that class but I only did it for one year and know I have a speed of 46wpm.

I feel inadequate, I have no typing stories. Certainly nothing about egg timers and rough estates and the dummy stuck on 5wpm.

Saruman

I learnt using a keyboard..,. i pressed the keys and after a while i figured out i was typing

muckwarrior

I've been using computers for nearly 10 years, my job is to write code all day, and I still can't type! properly

projectmayhem

when i was a kid we had a spectrum zx which you could run a notepad thing on. then i migrated to my dads work laptop to play little crappy games. then the internet came along, and my discovery of chatrooms gave birth to my unbelievable ability to type like a secretary on acid

Terry

slef tauhgt.

Ruu_Old

Mavis Beacon* taught me to type.



*'cha right!

Lorri_L

I learnt by starting work as an administrator! Couldn't type for years even though I was using computers all the time. And then discovered if I typed quicker I could doss more in work!

robinph

muckwarrior wrote:

I've been using computers for nearly 10 years, my job is to write code all day, and I still can't type! properly

Touch typing isnt going to help you much with that though so it's not really worth bothering with.

muckwarrior

robinph wrote:

Touch typing isnt going to help you much with that though so it's not really worth bothering with.

I guess that's what code completion/intelli-sense was invented for

Gone West

I was born with genetic knowledge of how to type

WhiteWashMan

i keep looking for this mythic shift key....

daiixi

ahh good ol' Mavis Beacon (and a strict mother) taught me how to type.. followed by three weeks of intensive typing practice in "Computer Studies" in each of years 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12.. have owned computers since I was about 9... long time that *nods*

emeraldstar

I mostly taught myself, but i remember in first and second year in school we had to do a typing lesson each week, but every now and again the teacher would come around and hold a sheet of paper over our hands to see how we did without looking at the keyboard
...it was really bad though, no one learned anything from it

Terry

WhiteWashMan wrote:

i keep looking for this mythic shift key....

i'm told it's a lot easier than using the caps lock key, but i gave up looking for it years ago.

WhiteWashMan

i dont know, some people seemed to think its a disability, rather than an actual choice just not to use capitals*

who knew!










*by choice, i obviously mean lazy.

Terry

I kNoW wHaT yOu MeAn.

sorry. bebo mode just kicked in.

my fingers are too fat for these small keys.
the backspace key is about to break.

Black Swan

What's a typewriter? Self-taught myself to word process on computer when much younger.

Teg Veece

I buohgt an adiuo csstaete cousre taht I ltiesend to wlhie selpnieg. It tpaepd into my subcosciennce mnid and tuahgt me how to tpye. It olny took ehigt wekes of sleepless nghits and tehre mnoths of teharpy to sotp seeing pploee as lettres in vraious fnots dpnedeing on tiehr presnoalities and the bnefeits of tihs cousre are ovboius for all to see.

monkeyfudge

I had a Commodore Vic-20 in the early 80's and the only way to play games was to type in the code that you'd get for free in magazines like C&VG. That got me very comfortable with the keyboard at a young enough age.

Typing was also a required class in my first year of college, so I got the hang of touch typing then.

And these days I actually teach computers myself, and a large part of that is getting people comfortable with using the keyboard... I usually let Mavis take those classses while I hide in the corner and nurse a hangover.

mp3guy

At home, with TypeToLearn software, by myself. When I was 8 or something probably.

Giblet

Just kept on typing from a young age. I can't type in the classical typing way but I'm damn fast in my guitarist way of typing.

Terry

monkeyfudge wrote:

I had a Commodore Vic-20 in the early 80's and the only way to play games was to type in the code that you'd get for free in magazines like C&VG. That got me very comfortable with the keyboard at a young enough age.

Typing was also a required class in my first year of college, so I got the hang of touch typing then.

And these days I actually teach computers myself, and a large part of that is getting people comfortable with using the keyboard... I usually let Mavis take those classses while I hide in the corner and nurse a hangover.

all you fucckers and your early computers.
we had one in primary school (around 87/88) and we were shown it once.
i didn't see one again until the mid to late 90's.

i didn't know what the internet was until last week. i'm actually using someone else's account to post here. i just guessed the password.

i have another window open and it says i have 3 new messages at the top, but when i clicked on it, i was brought to some porn site. the internet is cool.

miju

been dicking with puters since about 8 on my commodore 64 (that still works by the way) could type about 40 wpm looking at the keyboard then joined the civil service (for my sins LOL ) and within about a year could type 85 wpm touch typing (AND i got a cert to prove it) sad or wot


**mental note** play flimbos quest on the 64 LOL

Donald-Duck

I learnt to type and touch type by just using a computer since I was about 6 or 7.Ive never used any typing programs or gone to any effort "to learn" how to type,its just from using the computer.I'd never even dream of going to any lessons for typing as they can hardly teach you anything?Using a computer regularly will teach you just as well.And I don't mean typing pointless things in word pad,using a computer to even use things like MSN or playing games will teach you it.

Terry

Donald-Duck wrote:

I learnt to type and touch type by just using a computer since I was about 6 or 7.Ive never used any typing programs or gone to any effort "to learn" how to type,its just from using the computer.I'd never even dream of going to any lessons for typing as they can hardly teach you anything?Using a computer regularly will teach you just as well.And I don't mean typing pointless things in word pad,using a computer to even use things like MSN or playing games will teach you it.

the space bar is the big one at the bottom.

YeAh!

Well, I began by looking at the keyboard as I pressed the keys, then i practised typing without looking at the keyboard (MSN messenger helped). I dont think i'm typing the correct way though, but hey...works for me!

Pigman II

I learnt on one of those old-style type-writers that someone had thrown out (one of those ones where there was round keys and space between each key, very 1950's i reckon). Great way to get top accuracy skills because the page goes in the bin with one character error

Donald-Duck

julep wrote:

the space bar is the big one at the bottom.

On my keybaord its small and gets broken a lot .Also,I don't ever leave spaces after full stops etc because I don't even do that in writing.

Edit:Shift(or caps lock) are located on the left hand side,or right hand side of the "letter" keys.Sentences begin with a capital letter.You would think after looking when I typed that after every sentence I left no space that you would see that it wasn't a mistake.

ordoyouthinkItypelikethisbecauseIcantlocatemycapslockkey ordo i chooseto sometimes useitbutnot other times then type likethis?

Terry

Donald Duck wrote:

On my keybaord its small and gets broken a lot .Also,I don't ever leave spaces after full stops etc because I don't even do that in writing.

relax.i was just taking the piss.it wasn't meant as an insult.really.

abetarrush

I'm a keyboard

bluto63

I basically taught myself. I used Mavis Beacon a little but found the games more fun than the actual lessons so I just did them all the time. Then i discovered that if you just hold down one key for the whole game it says you got like 200 words per min! So i felt mighty impressed with myself :cool:

monkeyfudge

Donald-Duck wrote:

On my keybaord its small and gets broken a lot .Also,I don't ever leave spaces after full stops etc because I don't even do that in writing.

You really should leave a space after a puncuation actually, it makes things a lot easier to read. Aslo technically it's supposed to be two spaces after a full stop, not many do that in the real world though but you'd fail a typing test if you didn't do it.

Donald-Duck

monkeyfudge wrote:

You really should leave a space after a puncuation actually, it makes things a lot easier to read. Aslo technically it's supposed to be two spaces after a full stop, not many do that in the real world though but you'd fail a typing test if you didn't do it.

I know,its just a habbit I've gotten into over the years since when I was younger I was never taught that in writing so naturaly I did the same in typing.It feels very awkward for me to leave a space after every part of punctuation.

Lust4Life

Posted by Julep:
all you fucckers and your early computers.
we had one in primary school (around 87/88) and we were shown it once.
i didn't see one again until the mid to late 90's.

i didn't know what the internet was until last week. i'm actually using someone else's account to post here. i just guessed the password.

i have another window open and it says i have 3 new messages at the top, but when i clicked on it, i was brought to some porn site. the internet is cool.

You made me laugh at that!

I never took a formal class, but with 4 fingers I can type 45 WPM accurately.
I never took the classes because I never ever thought I would work in an office. Boy was I wrong!!!!!
My keyboard gets so much use that the T L O N S and A are wearing off the keys!!

Rb

I've been able to type quickly for years, just from using instant messengers,email etc. but I can't type in the "proper" way although when in transition year I had an IT class that tried to teach us how but by then I was fairly set in my ways.

Donald-Duck

rb_ie wrote:

I've been able to type quickly for years, just from using instant messengers,email etc. but I can't type in the "proper" way though when in transition year I had an IT class that tried to teach us how but by then I was fairly set in my ways.

Exactly how I am, someone told me theres positions where you're suppose to have your fingers set when you're fingers are at rest(IE over certain keys) :eek:

bluto63

ASDF and JKL; are the keys, i think....

embee

When I was a kid, I had a yoke called a "Pre-Computer 3000" or something like that.... there was a typing challenge on it... I was obsessed with it and used to do it every day.

I built up my typing speed though when I went to work for Satan/Conduit. I was doing Directory Enquiries, taking loads of calls a day..... typing solidly for 12 hours is a pain in the tits.

SpitfireIV

In secondary school, from 1st until 3rd year, two/three hours a week.....typing class!! .

Fingers on the keys ASDF-JKL;, DONT look at the screen and type the words from the book on your right hand side. We used pretty old typewriters and this was back in 1996-1999, our teacher was of the old stock, better suited to teaching young ladies for the civil service and such (possibly what she used to do) :eek:

Ruu_Old

Here she is, the genius herself.

Tazzle

Irc.

*edit*

Pirch, then mIrc. Whatever happened to pirch....

Adam

Teg Veece wrote:

I buohgt an adiuo csstaete cousre taht I ltiesend to wlhie selpnieg. It tpaepd into my subcosciennce mnid and tuahgt me how to tpye. It olny took ehigt wekes of sleepless nghits and tehre mnoths of teharpy to sotp seeing pploee as lettres in vraious fnots dpnedeing on tiehr presnoalities and the bnefeits of tihs cousre are ovboius for all to see.

I love reading that stuff, I feel like t3h r0xorz h4x0r!!

mikedragon32

I had to learn for work about 10 years ago, as I was doing some data entry. At the time, I was required to have 21 wpm for typing and 7000 ksph for data entry. The keyboards used for classes had no letters on them!

The great thing about that job was if you achieved 80,000 key strokes per day you got bonus time off!

I currently type at about 75wpm with 99.2% accuracy.

CathyMoran

First started on the Commodore 64 when I was a kid, I picked up a bit as I was learning how to programme. Then in college in the early 90's I again picked it up, more from mailing than anything else. I finally learned how to type when I was doing up my thesis. I have tried Mavis Beacon but am faster just doing things my own way at his stage.

Idgeitman

Icq chatrooms since i was younger, then from being on MSN. Just kinda picked it up i guess.

~ Idgeitman

DamienH

julep wrote:

slef tauhgt.

Nehpets

MSN.. I've also always typed right too. Never liked the "txt spk".

Dizzyblabla

projectmayhem wrote:

then the internet came along, and my discovery of chatrooms gave birth to my unbelievable ability to type like a secretary on acid

what he said! ahh, good ol' yahoo! chat.. those were the days...

mang87

I learnt from posting on forums 10000 times a day

Blisterman

I took a week long course in touch typing, but I'm much faster typing with two fingers.