Do you touch type, or "hunt and peck?"

[Rebecca]

Do you touch type (without looking at the keys) or do you hunt and peck?

I confess; I still haven't learned to touch type after all these years. Old habits die hard, I guess. ;)

Rebecca

[whitehawke]

I clicked both, but then I realised that I was wrong. I should have click hunt and peek. :eek:
It is a lazy habbit I got into, after all, when you are creating fiction and not copying something, one doesn't need to type blind. :o My bad.

[ProfessorAlan]

I should have clicked both -- what I do is probalby closer to "touch-typing," as it's not that one finger thing, but I do spend most of my time looking at the keyboard and not the screen, so it's not classic touch-typing, either.

[noodlegirl]

Touch typist. When I was a little girl, I spent a great deal of time at my grandmother's house. One of my favorite treats was setting up her old typewriter on the kitchen table and teaching myself to type from her books. That probably says a lot about me, but I'm not going to spend too much time psychoanalyzing that.

[TanyaSue]

Definitley touch type. I'm usually talking to someone or watching my kids at the same time ... I never get a chance to look at the keyboard. Go multi-tasking!

[Arlene]

Touch typist. YEARS ago I could type 100 wpm. Of course, I was an admin. then. I still love to type though and it is fun to go fast and astonish my grandkids. I still can't do the numbers without looking - never could!!!

Arlene

[whitehawke]

I should have clicked both -- what I do is probalby closer to "touch-typing," as it's not that one finger thing, but I do spend most of my time looking at the keyboard and not the screen, so it's not classic touch-typing, either.
Whoa, ProfessorAlan, that's what I do. !thumbsup! :D I use most of my fingers, but I watch the keyboard. lol

[MsSherry]

Learned to touch type in H.S. and I must confess, that on occasion, I stll play around w/ Mavis Beacon (Was in the SW w/my puter-:))

[tlm]

I went back to college in my 30s to get my degree. I was terrified when I had to take a computer class. Naturally, the young kids chuckled at my inexperience. I couldn't even turn the computer on.

The professor said nothing, but one day assigned us to type some very long documents. The kids begged him not to make us type all the material, but he insisted that we needed the experience with the word processing program.

Well, I began typing as if the keyboard were a typewriter while those kids were hunting and pecking. This time I could hear the kids mumbling, "She isn't even looking at the keys--or the moitor. Her eyes aren't even leaving the book." The professor laughed and said that I had learned to type, "old school."

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I've recently learnt to touch type properly. I get about 45 - 50 words a minute on average. I'm really bad with numbers though (especially the Numpad ones).

[DrRita]

Gads, I don't think I'd have the patience to look at the keyboard and try to find the keys. However, I do have to look at the numbers. I used to be able to type about 60 wpm but I don't think I can do that anymore.

[Keith Wallis]

Mostly hunt and stab - especially since my new keyboard seems to ignore what my fingers are doing sometimes !!!!

[RabidAlien]

*LOL* Sounds like my old wireless keyboard, Keith. I hate those things...gimme a cord any day! I touch-type, but I have to look at what's going on on the screen. When typing up something I've written (I still have to scribble it in my notebook before computer-fying it), I switch back and forth pretty much line by line. But typing replies or e-mails..I'm all about touch. Numbers, though.....that's another story. I can't hit numbers to save my life. Gotta stab at those.

[z-knight]

Mostly hunt and stab - especially since my new keyboard seems to ignore what my fingers are doing sometimes !!!!

Yeah, right, ol' chap! :p It's the keyboard. Nothing to do with your old english fingers. :rolleyes:




I'm the same as Pofesser Allan, My fingers go where they're supposed to, but I still have to look.

[ellenjames]

I voted for touch typing, which I do most of the time. However, sometimes I get my fingers on the home keys moved to the left. Then I have to backspace or delete and start over. Didn't have to do that on this note!

Bertha
www.freewebs.com/wayber

[tbafs]

I once took an eight-day touch typing crash course for fun, then had no use for it for about eight years - but when I started writing, it was a God-send. I don't imagine I'd have written much if I had to hunt and peck for letters. Like most others, I haven't mastered the number keys.

tbafs

[Lookin^Up]

I've been a touch-typer since high school. Never mind how many years ago! My skill improved when I got my Underwood typewriter, then my Brother, but I was never able to make better than 40 wpm because often that was too fast for the machine. Frequently two or three keys would lock around each other, and I'd have to untangle them to continue.

But ever since my first DOS computer, suddenly my speed went up to 60 wpm; I now average around 62 when I'm really on a roll. But though I have a general idea how to touch-type 10-key, I usually wind up looking at it.

I've seen people whose right hand jumps to the number pad whenever there are numerals to type, then back to the main keyboard with killer accuracy. When I try that, I often wind up on the 7-8-9 row, then return to h-j-k-l, or k-l-;-'. Lovely!

More often, when I'm typing a combo text-number, such as a Scripture reference, I visit the number row with the symbols and watch myself do it. Otherwise, instead of John 3:16, I'll type John e:qy. :eek:

[z-knight]

I'm sure it makes me much slower, but I won't start typing when I return to the keys, until I feel those little ridge things on the F and J keys.

[Nessa-Ciryatan]

Rofl - hunt and stab, huh? :p

I chose touch type, but I also don't really touch type in the sense that I don't need to look at the keys (especially when typing in code to italicise things, for example). :rolleyes: I use a almost all of my fingers, and I write so much that I just kind of know where everything is and sometimes don't have to look at the keyboard, but it's not professional, proper touch typing with this finger specifically doing that, or whatever. Still, it's not hunting and pecking either. It's closer to real touch typing... just my way. :p I'll take that. :D

Cheers, !thumbsup!

Nessa-C

[CherryBlossoms]

I voted for both...because I dont look at the keys but I dont type properly using all my fingers either. My teachers tried to make me type properly in school but.... :D

[paulchernoch]

I'm hunt and peck. But after twenty five years of using a computer, I do more pecking than hunting. The thing is, I can't think much faster than I can type, so it doesn't slow me down much.

- Paul

[theodora3]

I write everything out longhand. Then I type it. I can't compose using a machine. I think this is because I type really fast--I used to do about 120 words a minute on a manual typewriter, however I'm out of practice now. I can't think at the speed I type at, so can't compose on a keyboard.

I have carpal tunnel issues also which also limits my typing.

Theodora3

[ProfessorAlan]

I write everything out longhand. Then I type it.


I do this most of the time, too. That way when I get something into the computer, it has been sort of edited . . . or at least thought about a second time.

[Lookin^Up]

Since I edit and re-edit anyway, it doesn't matter whether I write it out first for use the keyboard; I actually do it both ways at times. In my typewriter days, I'd buy a spiral notebook and fill it with my book, then copy it. On trips, you'd scarcely see me without my notebook and a pen hooked in the spiral. But the computer put an end to that.

[Keith Wallis]

Paul I'm hunt and peck. But after twenty five years of using a computer, I do more pecking than hunting. The thing is, I can't think much faster than I can type, so it doesn't slow me down much.
same here.

Theodora3 I have carpal tunnel issues I think "Hannah" has similar affliction.

[abbasjewel]

II hunt and peck too...I try not to peek and use the home row keys method, but they always sneak around and switch places on me...so I really have to keepan eye on those rascal keys!

[abbasjewel]

see what I mean--don't know how that extra 'I' snuck in:confused:

[Lookin^Up]

You're not alone, Abbasjewel. Just read a few of these posts, and you'll find a lot of sneaky letters popping up where they don't belong. ;)

[abbasjewel]

yea--they bunch together too, like sweethearts :eek:

[miranda119]

I'm definitely a touch typer. When I was in high school my friend Tracy and I were in the same typing/computer class together and we competed against each other the entire semester. We were both able to do about 70wpm by the time we were done. We also both got A's.!thumbsup!

[Keith Wallis]

My lady took a correspondence class in touch typing. The typewriter she had to use had little coloured caps on all the keys. When she wasn't around I used the typewriter BUT I took 'em off ! Mind you with my particular wireless keyboard touch typing would be pointless it only registers an "e" when it feels like it and "o"s have been known to take a holiday to. If yu knw what I man !

[Hisart]

I said both as I 'know' where about half the keys are so I go from stare'n at the keyboard to stare'n at the monitor. Last year I did NaNoWriMo all in longhand and then transcribed it, jumped my word count up 6k too! :D

God Bless!
Hisart (http://www.Hisart.us) :cool:

[siddigrl]

I am a touch typer, old school. I should probably go back to hunt and peck as I had better grammar and spelling back then. lol

[siddigrl]

[QUOTE=Keith Wallis;58380]My lady ...QUOTE]


My lady? How endearing...

The best I get is "darling", and that is only when he is talking TO me. He probably wouldn't say that about me outside of my presence. lol

[write4jesus]

I picked both. I'm great at touch typing at work on a regular computer with the number pad and everything, but on the laptop nothing seems to be where it belongs.

[GentleJourneyAu]

I chose both because I took a six week course in typing when I was sixteen. That was it. So I use more than two fingers and have typed so many words that I pretty much know where the letters are, but I still look at the keyboard.

[drwrl4jesus]

Learned the touch type way back in High School more years than I care to recall.

[rodojeki]

ii touch type, but occasionally have to look at the keyboard if i am doing numbers...i used to type 90 wpm, but have slowed down with age...

anyone remember those typing tests......

how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood...or...

suzy sells sea shells at the sea shore....

there is another one that uses every letter of the alphabet, but i cant remember what it is....... must be age eating up my memory !!! something about every good man.........etc.etc. etc...

[ellenjames]

Donna, are you looking for:

"The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog."
I don't see an 's' in the sentence.

Bertha
www.freewebs.com/wayber

[rodojeki]

yes that is it...only i think it goes

the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs back

thanks bertha

[ServantRose]

I learned in high school how to type, so that's probably why I can touch type... but my husband lol poor man does the hunt and peck and he likes it! Altho, he's generally a decently fast typer too. HA! I can even type without looking at the screen to see what I'm typing, but only momentarily here and there.

[InkBleed]

I selected both because I have to look at the numbers and the weird shift characters to find them. Other than that, I touch type looking at the screen or watching tv or whatever. I love to type.

[Ichthus_J316]

Mostly hunt and stab - especially since my new keyboard seems to ignore what my fingers are doing sometimes !!!!

I'm definitely part of the “Hunt and Stab” category. After I spilled pop on my keyboard at work it's never worked the same.

[Lookin^Up]

Can we call you Sticky Fingers, Ichthus?

[psynaut]

Well, I’m using more then one finger, but I still spend a lot of time looking at the keyboard.!thumbsup!

[smokey the dog]

I never took typing when it was offered in high school. I thought it was for girls. Hoo boy was I dumb then.

[rachris]

I grew up in antiquity when manual typewriters still roamed the earth. IBM and a few others got wise and hooked electrodes to them. I remember typing class - if you were one of the unfortunates who got to class late, you were almost assured of getting a desk with one of the low-tech, manual boat anchors. Then you might as well hunt-and-peck, because the electrified "tekkies" were going to blow you away anyhow.

The worst case of hunt-and-peck I ever saw was in the Army. I came to work one morning to find a new Staff Duty NCO just getting off shift. He had only to finish transcribing his hand-written log to a type-written format before I could let him leave. Even on the IBM electric typewriter, I could see he was going to miss lunch, and probably supper, too. He would literally hold his finger high in the air, visually search the keyboard, then let his finger slowly sink to the proper key. Sometimes he even pressed it. I realized he was in trouble after I watched at least a half dozen times as his finger halted just above the key and he visually scanned the keyboard again, finally raising his finger back up into the air before letting it descend again to the targeted key. Sometimes he actually nailed it on the second try. I watched this for nearly half an hour (it was entertaining), passing the minutes by calculating the approximate time it took him to type each character: nearly 30 seconds.

If anyone on CW is ever tempted to be discouraged about having to hunt-and-peck to get anything entered into your computer, just remember this guy. By comparison, you'll probably feel like your fingers are suddenly on fire and flying over those keys!

The Staff Duty NCO went on to become an award-winning journalist. (Okay, I just made that part up. :D ) But the truth is, a lot of hunt-and-peckers did.

~Robert
Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of one another than you do of yourselves. Philippians 2:3, Phillips.

[JustJeremy]

I was one of the "only guy in the typing class" fellows from the seventies. I do enjoy typing, but find my fingers sometimes get ahead of me, or off track and when I look back at the screen I find a great abundance of jibberish has taken the place of what I had believed was an absolutely brilliant thought. I then spend the next twenty minutes trying to remember what that brilliant thought might have been. jeremy

[ayomide]

I touch and type and cannot type quite fast without looking at my keyboard. I learn typing on a keyboard with no words. Can you imagine that. Cool isn't it.

[Beverly]

I learned how to touch type while in high school, then learned how to touch type fast while attending Heald College. That was back in the 70's. Yikes - I feel old!!

[crander80]

Touch and type, dad always made us spend a half an hour on a typing program before we could play any games.

[lindasellers]

Why, I learned in the good, ol' classroom - the summer I was going into seventh grade. I typed at the end of my six-week class 34 wpm, and that was great!

In H.S. I learned to speed up my skills on an IBM Selectric - oh, dear I'm dating myself - and got up to 60 wpm.

Now I've been in admin jobs for more than half my life, and have reached up to 90 wpm. But I noticed I always did my best on the old Selectric with a correction key. The computer keyboard is so scrunched up, it's been taking me a lifetime to master it! - Linda

[lindasellers]

That's so funny! I'll bet that military guy knew you were a fast typist and thought it'd be better if you took over the keys for him!

[Pinecone Tortoi]

I touch type regular text, but I tend to look for numbers and special characters. It's frustrating, though - I'm doing IT and there's special characters/numbers aplenty in it. @_@ Typing two hundred words in paragraphs could probably take me less time than typing a hundred in code!

And don't even get me started on the F keys. Don't think I can hit any of 'em automatically - with the possible exception of F9 for macs. Don't get me wrong. I'm very much a PC fan, but I have to use macs for the arty side o' my degree.

Which brings me to the point of keyboard shortcuts - I'm pretty quick on quite a few o' those. Especially for undo, redo, save, select all, copy, cut and paste. But WHAT WAS APPLE THINKING WHEN IT REPLACED CTRL WITH THAT WEIRD SQUIGGLE BUTTON?!?! ;_; I'm very fond of my shortcuts, I use them a lot and I don't like weird ceramic keyboards messing with my automatic reactions.

To all of you who like macs, I'll admit that they're very pretty and that F9 and F11 thing is very useful.

Piney.

[ishy]

I've actually been teaching myself to touch type lately. I have done a little before, but didn't keep it up, and can't seem to get any faster. I downloaded a program online (TypingMaster) and it works really well. Hopefully I can break the speed barrier.

[Lookin^Up]

Be patient, Ishy, it takes time. Just like anything else, people become experts at something after a lot of patience and perseverance.

By the way, welcome to CW! ;)

[ishy]

It's getting better, but it's hard not to drop into my advanced hunt and peck method if I don't keep paying attention to it.

[Nochipa]

I definitely touch type. I never look at my keyboard, except for those F keys that Piney was talking about, but I almost never use those anyway. I learned to type on a manual and typed my first novel on an electric. Then I bought a computer for twenty-five dollars at a yard sale. I've been using a computer ever since.


Nochipa

[Onthebay]

Years of taking commercial courses in H.S. just in case no college would accept me. Voila! Years of working my way through college touch typing in some grimy office. Voila! Years of working on computers. Voila! Now I'm a writer--I cant NOT touch type. But there are side effects--I type very fast without even trying to spell correctly and let the spell checker pick up the errors at the end. Lazy, I know but it works for me.

[WriteLady]

I have to admit, that I LOVE the sound of the keys clicking onmy keyboard! I had a newer keyboard that was quiet and I put it away and got my old "clicky" one back out. To hear those keys tapping makes me feel like I'm really getting something done. When I used to work in an office I would drive everyone nuts--at least my boss knew when I was working!
I mostly touch-type, but have to look at the numbers up above--however, I'm fast at the number keypad. I took a book-keeping class in High School that required us to do the number pad without looking (I'm thankful for this skill).
Can anyone relate to this?...I have always been terrified of taking typing tests (though I can probably type 55-60 wpm). I would always get only 40 wpm on tests because I would get so nervous. My brilliant solution? I avoided applying for jobs that required me to take a typing test!!! Hmmm, how smart was that? ~WriteLady

[Pinecone Tortoi]

I have to admit, that I LOVE the sound of the keys clicking onmy keyboard!

I'm not alone! :D Heh, I can get very picky about the sort of keyboard I use. Mostly to do with the feel and sound of the keys. Not overly impressed with those keyboards that feel and sound soft and muffled. Where's the edge? Where's the clickety tap that makes it sound like something's actually HAPPENING? I like a keyboard that's got a TAP to it. Where you can really TELL when you're typing fast. Where you can get some SATISFACTION from hittin' those keys. Not too sure why this appeals so much, but that's the way I likes it. *looks at what have just written* o.O

...

Waaaah, I'm too young and non-rich to be eccentric!


... but that hasn't stopped me from trying to be. Pass the miniature umbrellas, please!

Piney.

[melw]

i said i touch type, but not always. I can get lazy and look at the keys, and don't try me to do numbers without looking. Though i can be rather quick if i just use the numbers (worked for a telecommunication company). I also use the spellchecker it is one of my best friends.

As long as you get the typing done, or employ someone to do it, that is all that matters.

MEL

[Onthebay]

Thanks Piney I love that sound too--so much that I hook my desksized computer keyboard up to my laptop and click away--makes me feel like I'm making progress!

[Onthebay]

melw--

spellchecker is my best friend!!

[ProfessorAlan]

I was wathcing the HGTV special on technology gifts, and one was a BLANK keyboard . . . A keyboard without any of the letters printed on the keys. The keys still worked, the "T" button typed a "T," there just wasn't a "T" printed on the key.

Anyway, the claim was that within about 2 weeks, the average typist would become more accurate and something like 40% faster. Without the visual clues to rely on, one is forced to become a better typist.

I'm not sure I buy it, but it was interesting.

[Hn_stargazer]

Deffinately touch-typing. I learned it at an early age, the computer teacher I had in elementary school would actually punish us if she caught us looking down at the keyboard when we typed. A little harsh but it really helps now, so I'm not complaining.