Fun ActivitiesGeneral Online Interests

I never learned to touch type when I was in high school, because I never thought I'd use a typewriter frequently enough to warrant learning. Well, I was right about not using a typewriter, but I was wrong not to learn to touch type. I'm a writer and I use a computer keyboard every day to make my living.

I've gotten pretty good at hunt-and-peck typing. I can type about 40 words a minute, and I don't need to look at the keyboard often; just an occasional glance down at my fingers is all I need to stay on track. The problem is that my fingers move all across the keyboard and I make a lot of mistakes. In addition, my hands hurt when I type for an hour straight. And, of course, I do wish I could type faster.

Well, I'm finally teaching myself touch typing, and I'm using a couple of interesting free websites to help me. The first is called Typing Web, and it employs a fairly traditional method to teach touch typing. After you sign up, you're guided through a series of exercises, starting with the "home row," then moving on to the other rows. After each lesson, you can take a typing test to check your speed and accuracy.

Keybr is less traditional. It presents sentences consisting of nonsense letters that you must copy. If you make a mistake, the correct key on an onscreen keyboard changes color to gently guide you to make the correct choice. If nonsense words don't interest you, you can have Keybr display text from any website. That way, you can catch up with the news while you learn to type.

Both Keybr and Typing Web will record your speed and accuracy so you can chart your progress from session to session. I plan on using both sites as I try to become a better typist. (Note: I fell back to the hunt-and-peck method to write this. I hope I can switch over to touch typing in a couple of months.)

-- Mark Frauenfelder