Touch typing and the home row?

[novende]

:O
Once again, working my way through touch typing programs, and I'm still not sure when the fingers should be resting in their home row positions. If I'm spending time every day practicing, I want to do it right. So..

How often do the fingers return to their home position? Is if after every key typed, or only as convenient? For instance, if I type 'tr', do I type 't' go to home row (f) , then 'r'. Or should I just do 'tr'. :eek:

Yeah, have a good laugh, even ROFL, but I figure I've got to be something wrong or I have extremely stupid fingers. :lmao:

[veritableqndry]

You know, I've never thought very much about this. I must've had to concentrate at some point when I was learning to type, but now it's like talking: second nature & I'm not sure exactly how everything works but it all seems to wind up in the right place.

Let's see... I guess I'm not going back to the home row after every letter. BUT I don't think I started off this way, either. I can't remember when I learned to touch type, actually. Sometime around the 4th or 5th grade I guess? I know I was good at it by the time I was a freshman in high school...

What does Mavis Beacon suggest?

[.DC.]

I'd hit t
then r
then rest that finger on the f key

:bulb:

[veritableqndry]

I'd hit t
then r
then rest that finger on the f key

:bulb:
A lot of people would like to hit TR. :nod:

[novende]

What does Mavis Beacon suggest?

I just rechecked Mavis. She doesn't really seem to stress when to go back to the home positions. I've worked with 4 programs, and none seem to stress returning home after each keystroke, but some obscure web site said 'after every keystroke' which I definitely do not do now.

I really need to improve. (stumbled through just these few words)

[veritableqndry]

I really enjoyed a game I can't seem to find now that was a space-invaders-style typing game. Instead of aliens you got words coming down at you faster and faster and you had to type the word to eliminate it... I found lots of "typing invaders" games but none of them are this one. :annoyed: Anyway OP just find something that's fun for you so it doesn't feel like work.

[skcolb]

You just do "tr"

I had a mean computer lab teacher in elementary school, and as a result, I type really well now.

[thearteest]

I really enjoyed a game I can't seem to find now that was a space-invaders-style typing game. Instead of aliens you got words coming down at you faster and faster and you had to type the word to eliminate it... I found lots of "typing invaders" games but none of them are this one. :annoyed: Anyway OP just find something that's fun for you so it doesn't feel like work.

I remember that game! I think it was called "Letter Invaders", but it was very long ago!:lmao: I know that my typing got better with that program more than any other.

Just found it! Check here: http://www.softlookup.com/display.asp?id=51636

And here's on for the Mac fans http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/8038/letter-invaders-x

[Piccaboo]

If you were taught typing in a business class in school, you would have been taught that your fingers always rest on the home row asdf jkl: and always go back there in between typing whatever words you are working with. Those whom were not taught the proper way probably do not do this, but those whom went thru two years of typing classes had a teacher walking around them commenting on "your fingers are not placed properly" and having points deducted from your class average, on a daily basis :( It was drilled into our heads to do it this way :nod:

There is a reason most keyboards have small indentations on the F & J keys in order for most people to feel their way back to the home row keys as well, if they can't figure it out :lol: The only two keys on the keyboard that have these :)

[Phrozt]

Wow.. it was really weird thinking about it... but here's my breakdown.

Whenever a finger that is not doing work (i.e. if you're typing "i", the asdfjl; fingers aren't doing anything), it goes back to the home row. That sounds like a lot of work remembering to do it, but realistically, when you get fast enough, it's all muscle memory anyway.

Over time your fingers will naturally flow to where you know you want to go when you type. For instance, when I type the word "get," my index finger hits "g" and starts instinctively moving towards "t" (notice, *not* going back to home row), while my middle finger hits "e." The more you type, and the better you get, the more you'll notice this. In fact, being slightly more conscious, in thinking about this thread, I've noticed that my hands hardly ever sit on the home row.. they actually float a bit above the keys, ready to hit them faster.

[novende]

Thanks, All, for taking this question seriously. I've settled down with Typing Pal. It offers either a home position based on 1-row or 2-rows. The 2-rows (left hand on AWEF and right on JIO;) seems slightly more comfortable and ergonomic. Taking lots of practice to break the 1-row habit I learned originally.

My fingers want to 'move' to where the action is, and need to be reminded to go home! The built-in instructors are always yelling at me, "Slow down" or "You're not concentrating". I do feel like I'm back in grade school. My current instructor, Typing Pal's Julia, looks so cute when she's trying to be stern.

Again, thanks to All.

[Fallacy]

I use two different fingers for typing TR. I guess not conventional? but it's faster.

I return to the home row after I finish typing a word. Because like the word "finish" you type f with your left hand, then i with your right hand middle finger then n with your right hand index finger, but what's the point of taking the middle finger off of i, since you need to use it again now :dontknow:

I type about 70 AWPM or maybe 80WPM total if I'm going for speed. So I'm about average :dontknow:

[Phrozt]

It's fine if your fingers drift to where the action is... but they should get used to going back to the home row when it dies down.

It sounds really funny, because all of this should naturally happen in fractions of a second, but that's really what's going on.

[CowgirlMechanic]

Hum.... Never really thought about it.... let me see

tr--- I go right from t to r....

But if I remember when I was learning I would return to "home row" after every letter.... that is till I got used to where home row was :lmao:!!! Now I just think about a word and it is just typed out by my fingers.... but that took A LOT of practice!!!

[beanqueen]

So I'm not gonna lie the best way to learn to type is to start in your home row so you know where you are and then just start IMing people...that's how I got fast, you get use to regular words that way and just get really quick at doing them.

[JBird77]

play this TyperShark (http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/typershark.jsp)