How to improve touch typing

What is touch typing

Touch typing involves typing without looking at the keyboard, by relying on muscle memory and hand placement in order to find the necessary keys.

Traditionally, touch typing involves placing the eight fingers (thumbs excluded) on the horizontal row in the middle part of the keyboard (the home row), with each finger responsible for pressing only a few keys, as shown below.

The typing zones for each finger on a QWERTY keyboard. The keys on the home row are circled. The index fingers are placed on the F and J keys. The little fingers (pinkies) are usually responsible for clicking most modifier keys (e.g. ‘Ctrl’ and ‘Alt’), while the thumb is used to click the ‘Space’ key.

Here, for example, we see that the right index finger is responsible for pressing the columns of keys from ‘6’ diagonally down to ‘N’ and from ‘7’ diagonally down to ‘M’.

Note that most modern keyboards usually have a raised bar or a dot on the home keys of the index fingers (on the ‘F’ and ‘J’ keys in a QWERTY keyboard), in order to help touch typists identify their position on the keyboard, and align their fingers without looking at the keyboard.

Is touch typing better?

Touch typing is usually compared to self-taught typing systems, in which typists use a different combination of fingers to type than in traditional touch typing. People who use these styles of typing usually rely on their index fingers, on their middle fingers, or on some combination of the two in order to type.

Self-taught typing strategies are generally referred to as hunt and peck typing, since many people who use them have to look at the keyboard in order to find keys while typing. However, many self-taught typists are capable of typing without looking at the keyboard, by relying on their muscle memory alone, in a manner similar to those who learned how to type using the traditional touch-typing system.

There are two purported advantages to traditional touch typing:

Increased typing speed.

Reduced hand strain.

However, research on the topic suggests is inconclusive regarding these purported benefits.

In terms of speed, touch typing is not necessarily faster than other styles of typing, and people who use self-taught typing strategies can reach speeds that are equal to those of touch typists, as we can see in the image below:

Source:How We Type: Movement Strategies and Performance in Everyday Typing(journal article)

In terms of hand strain, touch typing has some advantages, since it reduces hand movement, and since it involves a relatively equal use of your fingers (as opposed to relying primarily on your index and middle fingers), both of which are factors that can help reduce the strain that your hands and fingers experience.

At the same time, however, touch typing also has some minor disadvantages in terms of hand strain, since it causes you to type some common keys in an uncomfortable manner, and since it sometimes causes you to contort your hand in order to enter certain key combinations.

Furthermore, another disadvantage of the traditional touch-typing system is that it usually requires conscious practice, without which most people’s touch-typing skills tend to erode over time.

Overall, learning to type without looking at the keyboard can be highly beneficial to your typing speed and workflow.

If you struggle to do this naturally, you could potentially benefit from learning the traditional style of touch typing. However, if you are already a relatively fast typist, and if you can already type without looking at the keyboard, then you will likely not benefit much from learning how to touch type using the traditional touch-typing system.

As such, when it comes to increasing your typing speed, your main focus should be on learning how to type without looking at the keyboard, which can either involve the traditional touch-typing system or not, based on your personal preferences and capabilities.

Learning how to touch type

In order to learn how to touch type using the traditional system, you can look for free courses and software online, which could help you train your touch-typing skills. However, in the long term, your ability to touch type will depend primarily on whether or not you continue to type this way when you’re on the computer.

As such, if you want to learn how to touch type using the traditional system, the simplest way to do it is to simply place your hands on the appropriate position on the keyboard, as we saw above, and to start typing, while ensuring that each finger presses only its designated keys. At first, you will have to look at the keyboard while doing this, but over time you should develop the necessary muscle memory to type without looking at the keyboard.

Keep in mind that learning how to touch type might be frustrating initially, especially if you were relatively proficient in your previous typing style. As with any other skill, touch typing will take a while for you to master, so it’s important to stick with it.

Finally, if you decide that you want to learn how to touch type, then you should make sure t0 start by focusing on accuracy, rather than on speed, since your goal at first is to develop the necessary muscle memory. If you stick with it, then your typing speed will increase over time, as you adapt to this new mode of typing.

Alternatives to traditional touch typing

If you don’t want to learn how to touch type using the traditional touch-typing system, but you do want to improve your typing technique and learn how to type faster, there are still some beneficial things that you can take from this system in order to supplement your own typing style.

First, you can decide to learn how to type without looking at the keyboard.

As we saw earlier, many people who don’t use the traditional touch-typing system are capable of typing without looking at the keyboard, by relying on their muscle memory and hand placement alone. You can learn how to do this by simply training yourself to type without looking at the keyboard.

The difference between doing this and between learning the traditional touch-typing system is that here you should only focus on typing without looking at the keyboard, while in the traditional touch-typing system you need to focus on learning which finger needs to press which key.

Though this might be difficult to accomplish at first, it can be easier to learn how to do this than to learn the traditional touch-typing system, and it can still help you type more quickly.

Another thing that you can do it learn to use a hybrid typing style.

This involves integrating certain aspects of the traditional touch-typing system into your own typing style, in a way that helps you type more quickly, without requiring as much effort as learning the full touch-typing system.

For example, if you tend to rely primarily on your dominant hand while typing, you could divide the keyboard equally between both your hands while typing, which will allow you type faster, while also reducing the strain on your dominant hand.

Finally, you can also make minor modifications to your typing style.

Doing this involves making relatively minor modifications to your typing technique, which can help make a big difference to your typing speed, without requiring much effort on your part.

For example, you can start using your thumbs in order to hit the space bar, instead of using your middle or index fingers. This kind of modification is easy to make, and it can help you significantly improve your typing speed.

Overall, even if you don’t want to learn the traditional touch-typing system, you can benefit from borrowing some aspects of it in order to improve your own typing style. Doing this can help you type faster and reduce the strain on your hands, and doesn’t require as much effort as learning the full touch-typing system.