Well, I sort of learned (as one does) in about 1986 or so, on an Atari of some sort or an IBM clone or just one of those computers that used to be around back then. Not my own.
I’ve naturally been going on that and probably typed countless lines in Usenet, IRC, web, notes, code, configs and whatever files. But it always bugged me that it’s just kind of ballistic hammering with any and all fingers that happen to be near the next key.
So, I went and got a very minimal split keyboard to see if I can learn something new. The setup and layers and all that has not really been dull, but I’ve been pecking away slowly at typing.com and trying to keep my hands on the home row like it’s 1989. I thought that might balance it out.
I just got the first unit certificate at 25 wpm. And, hey, I managed to type this post. Maybe I’ll get better with time.
You could also learn an alternative layout like Dvorak while you’re at it.
For folks not willing to make the full leap away from QWERTY, there’s also Colemak that preserves the common key combos, such as Ctrl C and Ctrl V.
Also, a word of advice: all the keyboard formats which minimize finger reach compared to QWERTY (which essentially maximized finger reach to accommodate mechanical typewriters) will cause poor word prediction on Swype-style virtual keyboards on mobile phones. This is because optimized keyboard formats try to keep words as close to the home row as possible, so many words using Swype will just be sliding your finger left and right over the home row, which destroys accurate prediction. This is why I’m QWERTY on mobile but Colemak on desktop.
I second the colemak recommendation.
I third it, but it’s not that easy and you must be dedicated. It took me 6 months to write properly.
Also https://monkeytype.com/
Interesting. When I switched to Dvorak it only took a week to stop feeling weird and another two or three to get up to speed. Maybe it being very different helped. Sometimes when I’m learning something that’s close to what I already know in other areas of life it can be more difficult. What I could never quite get set as far as typing goes was backspice layout on a twiddler. Never got over the hump from learning to functional.
Yeah I forgot how long it took me to fully get fast enough typing. But I’ve been typing in colemak for 15 years by now I reckon. I think I was learning how to touch type first because I want to flame quickly in league of legends lol
One of the things that really amazes me is that mobile — which is a widely-used platform — hasn’t seen a major, widespread, substantial adoption of some new text-entry method optimized for that platform. I mean, I am pretty confident that there are better things you can do with phone hardware for text input than an onscreen QWERTY keyboard. People have tried a lot of variants, but nothing has really become mainstream. I think that something would need to be bundled into iOS and Android as a standard input mechanism for it to reach the necessary threshold.
And yeah, sure, there’s inertia behind the status quo, but for (a) a device where most people will only ever use their own device to a significant degree and (b) where anything that’s software can be swapped out with just software changes, I’m surprised that more fundamental changes haven’t happened.
Like, I’m sure that many people would like the ability to input text without looking at the screen. Or an input mechanism that’s less error-prone — onscreen keyboards on phone screens have pretty small keys.
And while I get “just use QWERTY” made sense when phones were starting out, because a lot of people knew how to touch-type but didn’t know how to input text on a phone, today, a lot of people are using phones before they know how to touch-type. Like, that same level of inertia shouldn’t exist for new users.
I’ve tried a few alternative mobile first keyboards. it is hard, same learning effort as learning touch typing on real keyboards and/OT learning new layout. I just couldn’t stick to them long enough to get good enough. I’m not sure if mastery of them can manage to make me type on screen without looking. I think it’s impossible because a screen is just not tactile. I remember I can type SMS so fast and 99% accurately with the old T9 without looking under the desk in class :P