Handwriting

[Podaar]

I had a typing class in Highschool. I think at one point I was up to 70 wpm...I'm probably closer to 40 now.

[Indiscipline]

Is it still hunt and peck when you are pretty fast but only using the index fingers?

If yes, then I do the hunt and peck 

[Evermind]

Just tried to do a 1 minute wpm test in English, got 83 wpm. I probably won't be able to maintain it for long though, a few minutes at best. I didn't do any typing classes but I did play some "who types faster" games on Russian sites when I was around 15.

This forum is one of the things that helped me polish my typing speed in English.

[MirrorMask]

I never had any kind of class or lesson about typing, but if I can tooth my own horn, I'm a damn efficient writer on the keyboard. Damn fast and accurate as well. I'm writing all of this without watching the keyboard. I'm not making any errors so far. I'm going on rambling just to see when I fail. I did, right now in the last sentence, because I was too concentrated on going fast without even anybody as a witness. I'm out of my mind  :

[pg1067]

So not to squat on EB's thread but how many of you took formal typing lessons or learned how to type by some means?  And how many of you do the hunt and peck?

I took typing in high school (graduated in 1985)... on a manual typewriter (which is what we had in our home for most of my childhood).

My school offered typing and typing II classes.  The first class learned on manual typewriters.  The typing II class got the electric typewriters.  I wanted to learn (although I don't now recall why), so as a junior in high school, I took "early morning" (i.e., zero period) chemistry so that I could fit typing into my schedule.  By the end of the year, I was somewhere in the 80-90 WPM range, and I was faster than that on an electric typewriter.  When I was in law school (between 1998-2001), someone had given my wife a laptop computer, and I brought it to school on occasion.  Once, I was sitting in the student lounge typing something and a friend walked by and was astounded at how fast I was typing.  No idea where I am nowadays, but I think I'm relatively fast.

My kids (18 and 16) can both type (not hunt and peck) because they've had keyboarding instruction since kindergarten or 1st grade.  I have no idea how fast they type, though.

[Podaar]

... if I can tooth my own horn,...

Then your are damned flexible.   

[Northern Lion]

I took typing first when I was in junior high.  That was a long time ago and computers were not exactly awesome back then, particularly the screens.  It gave me very bad headaches trying to look at the screen, so I gave up.

I tried again in highschool using Mavis Beacon at home, and that was a horrible experience so I failed then as well.

Then I took a typing class in college and that's when I finally had success.  It was a good class with a good teacher.  I'm not real fast, maybe 40 wpm, the fastest I can go is maybe 60 if I try real hard and practice a lot, but I just don't see a need.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I never did much in the way of formal typing lessons, but my method has sort of developed over time into something like, maybe 80% 'real typing.' I just took an online test which put my wpm at around 70, which seems about right.

[The Walrus]

Weird flex but I can't resist; I had to take keyboarding 1 in freshman year of high school because it was a prerequisite for all other computer classes. We were forced to use these annoying rubber keyboard covers. I was typing 150 WPM with 5-6 fingers (no thumbs). Eventually my teacher stopped paying any attention to me because I'd get my work done in the first 10 minutes of class, and I convinced the faculty to let me skip all the prerequisite computer courses after showing more proficiency than the teachers. I can get up to 168 on a good day but I'm always trying to get better

[The Walrus]

... if I can tooth my own horn,...

Then your are damned flexible.   

  !!!

[Northern Lion]

Weird flex but I can't resist; I had to take keyboarding 1 in freshman year of high school because it was a prerequisite for all other computer classes. We were forced to use these annoying rubber keyboard covers. I was typing 150 WPM with 5-6 fingers (no thumbs). Eventually my teacher stopped paying any attention to me because I'd get my work done in the first 10 minutes of class, and I convinced the faculty to let me skip all the prerequisite computer courses after showing more proficiency than the teachers. I can get up to 168 on a good day but I'm always trying to get better

  Kattelox, you must be secretly superman.

[pg1067]

... if I can tooth my own horn,...

Then your are damned flexible.   

I tried very hard to find a photo of a seal playing a squeeze horn with its mouth, which I would have labeled "MirrorMask in action!"  Couldn't find such a picture, though, so just close your eyes and pretend I did.

[The Walrus]

Weird flex but I can't resist; I had to take keyboarding 1 in freshman year of high school because it was a prerequisite for all other computer classes. We were forced to use these annoying rubber keyboard covers. I was typing 150 WPM with 5-6 fingers (no thumbs). Eventually my teacher stopped paying any attention to me because I'd get my work done in the first 10 minutes of class, and I convinced the faculty to let me skip all the prerequisite computer courses after showing more proficiency than the teachers. I can get up to 168 on a good day but I'm always trying to get better

  Kattelox, you must be secretly superman.

Nah. I've just spent a startling amount of my life around computers since I was a little kid and just LOVE typing, there's something I love about the feeling of pressing keys (I used to do my friends' classwork for them when the teacher was out of class because I could fly through lessons quickly). There are people who can type 200+ WPM and it just boggles my mind how anybody can type that fast. I imagine they use all 10 fingers but I can't do that, it's so uncomfortable (generally never use my pinkies or my right thumb, ever). 168 for me requires a good deal of caffeine, honestly; I hover between 120-130 normally.

[Cool Chris]

I wish I took typing at some point earlier in my life. 

[gmillerdrake]

So not to squat on EB's thread but how many of you took formal typing lessons or learned how to type by some means? 

They had (2) typing classes in Junior High we all had to take. I'm by no means a fast typist but can do so without having to hunt and peck.

[King Postwhore]

My handwriting is chicken scratch.  I'm that bad.  I remember when Erasermates came out as a lefty, I smeared every letter.  I couldn't use them.

[Northern Lion]

Weird flex but I can't resist; I had to take keyboarding 1 in freshman year of high school because it was a prerequisite for all other computer classes. We were forced to use these annoying rubber keyboard covers. I was typing 150 WPM with 5-6 fingers (no thumbs). Eventually my teacher stopped paying any attention to me because I'd get my work done in the first 10 minutes of class, and I convinced the faculty to let me skip all the prerequisite computer courses after showing more proficiency than the teachers. I can get up to 168 on a good day but I'm always trying to get better

  Kattelox, you must be secretly superman.

Nah. I've just spent a startling amount of my life around computers since I was a little kid and just LOVE typing, there's something I love about the feeling of pressing keys (I used to do my friends' classwork for them when the teacher was out of class because I could fly through lessons quickly). There are people who can type 200+ WPM and it just boggles my mind how anybody can type that fast. I imagine they use all 10 fingers but I can't do that, it's so uncomfortable (generally never use my pinkies or my right thumb, ever). 168 for me requires a good deal of caffeine, honestly; I hover between 120-130 normally.

Just curious, with how much you like typing, do you like clickly or non clicky keyboards more?

[The Walrus]

Just curious, with how much you like typing, do you like clickly or non clicky keyboards more?

I like the sound and feel of clicky keyboards, but I also love the basic C900 Microsoft keyboards or whatever the model is. They're shallow but have some response to the keys. The worst keyboards I've ever used are Mac keyboards. Way way too thin and almost no depth to the keys. I also hate laptop keyboards so I generally have a USB board plugged in at all times. I also can't stand ergonomic keyboards that are curvy and split in the middle.

[Stadler]

To use the vernacular of many here, those clickety-clack keyboards can fuck right off.  The more quiet the keyboard, the better, with the proviso that it can't be totally silent (it's a tactile thing, not a sonic thing).

[Podaar]

Those "clickety-clack" keyboards are terrific for gaming, but yeah, Mrs. P hates the sound of me posting on DTF! 

[The Walrus]

More than once as a kid I'd be typing away on forums and from the other room I'd hear my dad say, "WTF is going on back there?" 

[Podaar]

 

Let's go full on Blob and start discussing which Cherry switches are better. Red or Brown...and don't even say the Blue ones.

[Northern Lion]

You know, I thought I would hate a clicky keyboard until I got one.  My kids LOVE it when they do their typing lessons.  And I agree, it's better for gaming.

I thought the clickiness would bug the tards out of me, my wife as well, but nope.  I actually really like it.  However, if I was able to pick between a clickly keyboard and a non clicky one with a good tactile feel, I'd probably pick the later.

But, I love having a wireless keyboard and mouse and there really is only one good wireless gaming keyboard on the market right now and it's clicky, so that kind of gave me no choice.

[Podaar]

You can almost hear El Barto's teeth grinding with this talk of typing and keyboards in his handwriting thread.

[The Walrus]

You can almost hear El Barto's teeth grinding with this talk of typing and keyboards in his handwriting thread.

I was about to make a post about PC peripherals when I thought the same thing, sorry EB 

[El Barto]

So not to squat on EB's thread but how many of you took formal typing lessons or learned how to type by some means?  And how many of you do the hunt and peck?

At one point, I could type around 80 wpm.  My mom insisted on a typing class in school and then I did transcription for some extra cash back in the day.  I watch my kids hunt and peck now and it makes me cringe!

I took a typing class in high school, but it was first period so I wasn't always completely functional, for one reason or another. I did learn touch typing, though, except for the numbers. I'll switch over the 10key side for those, even in the middle of a sentence. I can type well, although my speed is down quite a bit from where it used to be. Depending on how I error correct it's been close to 100, but the test I just took had me in the low 60s. The keyboard certainly matters, as well, and this one ain't so great. My first real job was for an inventory service, and I became ridiculously fast on a 10-key. It turns out that skill goes away about 5 years after you stop using it. I also did some data entry for a while, which helped bring my typing up to my 10-key speed.

[El Barto]

You can almost hear El Barto's teeth grinding with this talk of typing and keyboards in his handwriting thread.

I was about to make a post about PC peripherals when I thought the same thing, sorry EB 

Don't care. Handwriting has kind of been covered.

There's a sweet spot with clicky keyboards. The old IBM model Ms were amazing to type on, but only after they'd gotten broken in. I could never quite pin it down, but what I learned working a 10-key was that non-clicky ones were the worst, but some clicky ones were vastly superior to others. You never wanted to be the last one in for a shift, because you'd get the worst pad in the lot.

[Dream Team]

I’m in the age bracket that took typing on typewriters, got up to I think 45 wpm or so. I think I was the fastest male in the class. On a test one kid got 0 wpm (fingers weren’t on home row 😄)

My handwriting has always SUCKED and I’m the same boat as EB it’s getting worse. Spelling is exemplary but legibility. . . eeesh

[Northern Lion]

Let's go full on Blob and start discussing which Cherry switches are better. Red or Brown...and don't even say the Blue ones.

Red, definately red 

[Herrick]

I write fluent cursive and can instantly write out the alphabet in cursive, but the one cursive letter I've never ever used is the capital Q.

That's the capital letter I couldn't remember a few weeks ago when I was writing some notes. I don't write in cursive anymore unless I have to sign my name, and I try to make it nice and legible. I had good handwriting back in the day.

[pg1067]

I write fluent cursive and can instantly write out the alphabet in cursive, but the one cursive letter I've never ever used is the capital Q.

That's the capital letter I couldn't remember a few weeks ago when I was writing some notes. I don't write in cursive anymore unless I have to sign my name, and I try to make it nice and legible. I had good handwriting back in the day.

If I recall correctly, a capital "Q" looks like the number 2.

[The Walrus]

^ correct.

[Herrick]

I write fluent cursive and can instantly write out the alphabet in cursive, but the one cursive letter I've never ever used is the capital Q.

That's the capital letter I couldn't remember a few weeks ago when I was writing some notes. I don't write in cursive anymore unless I have to sign my name, and I try to make it nice and legible. I had good handwriting back in the day.

^ correct.

Yes. I had to look it up. I couldn't remember. Poor Old Herrick

If I recall correctly, a capital "Q" looks like the number 2.

Edit: Can't figure out why I'm quoting within a quote.