My typing isn't great. I put my fingers in the touch typing position and two seconds later they are flying around all over the place. Heavy use of the backspace key while typing works ok when you can spot the typos, but not so well when you can't see what you are doing.
So I'd like to learn proper touch typing in an accessible way.
I've found a couple of really old posts on here about trainer software, but the only thing I've found that I can use is Talking Typer on the iPhone which I didn't find to be that great. So I thought I'd start a new post and see where it goes.
Is there anything better? I think something running on the Mac would be best. But if it's free I guess I would try something on Windows.
Or if anyone has any good tips they would also be appreciated.
Otherwise I will try to find the will to go back to Talking Typer. I just don't find it particularly instructive and it gets boring fast. But maybe learning to touch type isn't going to be very exciting anyway!
Comments
A few tips, from years back
Hi. Granted this was on an old Apple IIE comp. It wasn't a laptop but one of those old clunky desktops. Anyway, the F and J keys have a small bump on them. If you put your thumbs on the spacebar, resting them there gently, as you type, however fast you need to go, it might help. The other tip is to tape something across the whole computer from one side to the other, a pipe cleaner or some such thing. My issue was my fingers going way above the keyboard as I typed, so this was what was done. As i raised my fingers, I'd hit the "barrier", causing me to rest hands flat on the keyboard once more. As for typing programs on the Mac, I haven't found any, I used a game that would kill the letters as i typed, but this was years ago. Let me search the Mac app store and see what comes up, trying them if they are free, to see if they are accessible. If you go to Windows, in my personal view, yes it'd help typing processes but you'd be going to two differing operating systems. Let me investigate before i watch football in three hours. :) I'll contact you off here if that's ok to help.
Thank you
Thanks for the tips. A couple of interesting ideas that I might have to try.
I tend to use an external keyboard as I like the extra space and the lack of fn key in the bottom left corner. Plus I can't do without a num pad. I don't think Windows would be a big problem as I use the same keyboard and just flip from Mac to Windows, so only the modifier keys are a bit different.
Yeah I guess I could install some stuff on the App Store and see what happens. I'd got it into my head that this sort of thing is likely to need a bit of effort to be accessible but if I can figure out the App Store navigation it might be worth a try.
Update
I'm sorry to say that the typing experience is pretty dismal. I stayed away from any apps that said "in app purchase", as I didn't want you to have fun and spend up to 25 bucks, yes I wrote that correctly, on an app. The three i tried just weren't that fun. Keyboard classic, typer, and touch typing I think. also, when I searched, I did "talking typing" and, "typing". A mistake on the last as it thought I wanted things like coding and font types. The first results were things like text to speech converting text, etc. If you use an external keyboard, I'm guessing the pipe cleaner trick will work as maybe your fingers are just all over the place when as I said, it might keep your hands down not flying up. Case in point, a teacher tried to make me use my thumbs on the spacebar in a brailler, nope, pointer finger it is. Seriously though, I didn't find much help. I know there is a very accessible windows one from mavelsoft, Braillebookstore.com but I think it's like sixty bucks and not sure when it's been updated. I'll Google now to see if I can find anything else. Sorry i'm not more help. as for the numpad, I kinda hate that I learned to type on it as I'm now using a Mac with the top row and have to count, one, two three, yes I want that,tap. Now the numpads are coming back and I kind of wish they weren't but that's me. i'll write another comment when I see if I can find anything.
Some links
Disclaimer: I am just providing resources.
Hi Mr Grieves,
I found a few links you may be interested in. 1 is a pay to use software, but is cloud-based and will work with Mac VO. The other 2 are free and should work with Mac VO, but I did not play around with them too much.
Enjoy~
Typio Online: https://www.accessibyte.com/typio-online-page/#maincontent
($59 annually, blind friendly and Multiplatform compatible)
Type-fu: https://type-fu.com/
(Free but requires a chromium based browser, like Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome)
TypingClub: https://www.typingclub.com/sportal/program-3.game
(Free and web-based. Should work w/ VoiceOver)
Typing club is a no go
Brian, checked out typing club, and the first lesson was narrated beautifully. Except the interface was a pain and if i say that, I don't want someone not as good as you or i to be irritated. I did press esc to continue, and just tapped keys and heard names, couldn't even exit the lesson. i had to command W. Don't worry mr, greeves, sorry didn't check before writing your name, we'll figure out something. Scuse me, football!! ;)
Thanks for the info so far
I tried two apps from the Store before the links were posted above - Typist, which seemed to have some accessible options but I couldn't figure out how to actually start anything. And Typing Fingers which is "touch typing for all" but sadly in the Venn diagram containing both all and blind people, they don't appear to overlap. It made a pretty noise then was deadly silent. It just made a guilty little squeal when I deleted it, although maybe that was my imagination. I will keep going, and try some of the web links. I will report back if/when I have had some success.
My problem is that I have little bursts of time/enthusiasm for things like this, and then life gets in the way and my mind goes off somewhere else. But this is definitely something I need to get to grips with.
I don't mind paying for something that is genuinely good, but I'd rather not on Windows as it's a work machine and I don't want to pay for anything that then becomes stuck to my work account.
See if they will pay for it?
Hi Mr. Grieves, got it right this time!! Is it possible your work will pay for something on windows, owing to the fact that it would help increase productivity? I understand your lack of "Sticktoit'veness" It's a simpsons quote, basically meaning you don't have a long time to devote to things before, blah, whatever... sets in. I'd suggest asking your work place in a polite manner if they'd agree to help you find one or two options then if you like the behaviors on an app or some on one or a few apps, maybe we can find something. Didn't I say I was gonna watch football? I did, car's leaving without me. Oh no!!! :)
Re: Typing club is a no go
Pfft, I'm not good for much of anything. I just play someone like that on tv. True story.
A shame about the Typing Club.
APH used to also have a free web-based one, but it seems they took it down. 🙁
@Siobhan,
Check your mail when you have time? 😇
Small update
Typio Online: looks promising although a bit pricey. I might give the free trial a go but only when I've got some dedicated time before me. Honestly I don't know where the weekends go.
I didn't get on very well with Type-fu. Although it kind of works with VoiceOver it's not great. When VoiceOver reads ffffjjjjjfffffjjjjjfff my brain can't keep up with it. It also feels a bit awkward with getting the focus in the right place. But mostly I think I need something that tells me what my fingers should be doing. If I can learn that properly then I can maybe I can try outSiobhan's tips. It's also not very fun so might be tricky to keep engaged with. But I wanted it to be good with a name like that!
But thanks for the links, Brian. If that first one works out then maybe I should see if my work might pay for it.
Anyway, thanks again both of you for the help. I hope you didn't miss football, Siobhan.
If anyone else happens to read this and has any personal experience, please feel free to share otherwise I'll come back when I have something to report.
Bumps
The most helpful things to me, after going blind, were the raised bumps often found on the "F" and "J" keys of the home row of many computer keyboards. My fingertips rest on the keys of the home row, when typing rather than navigating, so I always know where I am. I put a raised bump on the F6 key of my current keyboard because there are no gaps between the sets of four F keys.. Sometimes there's a bump on the 5 key of the num pad. I also have the very bad habit of moving my fingers to the number keys on the top row, as if it were the home row, when I have lots of numbers to type.
I had already been somewhat trained to type on a typewriter in grade school--using an ancient, manual typewriter that folded up into a wooden case--before I went blind. No idea why. It was in a remedial class with two other students. They had to get the school janitor to spray the ribbon with WD40 to reactivate the ink... "How now brown cow." "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane." Over and over and over. I forget the other sentences.
Bump Dots
I struggle to feel the bumps built into modern keyboards. Luckily for peeps like me, there are Bump Dots. ☝🏻⌨
Bumps
I agree entirely about most modern keyboards having piddly little bumps that are hard to feel quickly.
I am using the Logitech MX Keys keyboard and it has really nice pronounced bumps where you'd expect them. I did buy some lock dots which I think are the same things you two are on about, and I have one on f5 and oddly one on 9 because I kept messing up brackets when coding. I've still not quite trained my brain to understand it instinctively though.
Same principal
Loc Dots are just smaller. Kinda like a stick-on Dot 1 in conventional Braille. Bump Dots are just bigger and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
I have 4 places marked on my MacBook Pro; F and J, of course, but also F4 and F8, because, I'm dirty like that.
True story.
For what it's worth
Hey Grieves,
In my 20 years of formal education, the two most useful classes I ever took were typing (high school) and how to write term papers (Summer school after graduating). In college I was a double major -- history and music -- both heavily requiring typing and correct finger position. From undergrad through decades of practicing law, I typed text and/or practiced my flute for hours every day.
Therefore, please believe me when I say, you will do just fine (time and effort required) if you do the following:
1. Keep your fingers lightly touching the home row at all times except for the finger that reaches to press a key that's not on the home key.
2. If you have trouble feeling the f and j keys, add glue to form a larger bump on them. Repeated dot-coats of nail polish also works.
3. Practice typing using vo-k, escape to exit. With keyboard help toggled on, VoiceOver will tell you which keys you are pressing as you press them. a. Make up sentences and focus on typing them freely with vo-k, noting which keys cause the most trouble for you.
b. Emphasize practicing words that include those troublesome keys in your vo-k practice sessions until you feel accurate and comfortable.
4. Pay attention to what part of each key you are pressing, i.e., center or edge. If you are making errors, slow down until you are comfortable and consistent in pressing the center of each key. Do not speed back up until you do feel comfortable pressing all keys in their center, and do not speed up beyond the point of hitting key centers. Obviously, it's very tempting to let your finger fly all over the place, but that's the problem -- they are flying all over the place. You don't want them to fly all over the place. You want to build muscle memory so that you are always hitting every key in their center when you press them. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about. I've played french model flute for decades. French model flutes have a small hole in the center of some of their keys. If you don't press them precisely in their center, you don't plug those small holes, and if you don't plug those small holes, the flute doesn't sound good. Why did they design the flute that way? Not for the sound. They designed the flute that way to be sure the player used correct finger position. Correct finger position is immensely important to playing the flute well. It's the same with typing.
5. Your palms should rest on the desk or keyboard tray table surface. Your fingers should be curved so they are pointing almost vertically down. You should press down with the tips of your fingers, not the flat fleshy part of your fingers.
6. Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither will your typing be. Endless time on the keyboard is required to build accuracy and speed. Ask anyone who constantly uses their keyboard well for work. If you are making mistakes, you absolutely have to slow down and stay slowed down until you are no longer making mistakes. You have to relearn your muscle memory, or you will never correct the muscle memory that's making the mistakes and that's forcing you to make corrections afterward. Nothing happens by itself. You have to force yourself to use correct technique before you can be accurate, and you have to force yourself to stay accurate before you can increase your speed. In the short term stay accurate period. In the long term, you will be able to slowly allow yourself to slowly increase your speed.
At my best, I type around 160 words per minute. My grandmother used an old manual mechanical typewriter as a legal secretary. she typed better than 200 words per minute. If your typing rises above 100 words per minute with 5 errors or less for every 100 words, pat yourself on the back. You'll be typing a lot better than the average keyboardist.
Blind People Dots
I've made dots with sticky labels and a slate/stylus, but I can feel the ones on most keyboards. I doubt the dots are there for blind people.
One thing that throws me for a loop is switching to a keyboard that has a different key travel or has smaller keys, usually a laptop's keyboard. A lot of time, I just plug my full-sized keyboard into a laptop, and my typing accuracy and speed goes way up. Keys that require only the slightest touch cause problems for me, and I can't stand the feel of mushy keys that don't have a click to them. Like I said, I first learned on a manual typewriter that swung hammers like a piano.
Typer Online and keyboards
This is the one that I learned on. It's the old talking typer, but online and free and accessible from many different platforms. It works nice in Chrome. https://www.aph.org/product/typer-onlin
I would advise against bump dots for all but the most essential of keys. They will severely restrict finger movement and make pressing the keys more difficult: forcing you to lift fingers higher than expected, magnifying key wobble, leaving residue from the adhesive on the keys, etc.
Typing Club does work, but I have only used it with NVDA and Chrome. It's also rather fiddly for anything but QWERTY. I had to contact their support directly to switch an option over for doing Colemak and Dvorak.
Personally, the thing that made the biggest difference for me (besides typing lessons) was an ergonomic keyboard. I switched from your typical desktop keyboard to a Keychron v10 with an Alice layout. The split really helps reinforce typing techniques by making it easier to hit correct keys and harder, and often uncomfortable, to type keys incorrectly. You can get even crazier keyboards with tenting, ortholinear keys, and split designs if you want.
Dots & Keys
@OldBear,
I think the reason the F and J have a raised bump, is the same reason the #5 on a numeric pad has one. I think its to help align one's hand(s) accordingly. Just my 2 cents.
@Jenna Pepper,
I'm stealing your keyboard. You have it. I want it. So gimme! 😈
Rocky's Audio Typing Tutor
It's an ap for windows it uses your screen reader and sapi, it's good although it doesn't help with spelling.
I'm not sure if it lets you know about finger position but it does have a help file in the app its self so it might.
Here's the link: http://www.rockywaters.co.uk/
Press 2 until you hear the title of this post and then down arrow to the download link.
I hope you enjoy.
@Brian
Yes, I was hinting at the bumps being for sighted people. They are not supposed to look at the keyboard when typing, or the voice of a scowling teacher will yell at them in their head. I don't remember there being bumps on the F and J of typewriters though.
touch typing>
I think everyone who touch types has their own solution to this. What I do, since I learned to type on a nonfunctional typewriter, is align my fingers with the homerow keys, and move my hand up to reach the row above. For example, if I have a, S, D, F lined up, i just move my hand so Q W E and are and under my fingers. Unfortunately, I have a habit of poking at the number row, rather than actually typing; for some reason I donb't feel comfortable moving my hand, with fingers properly aligned, to yet another row.
Key staggering and the number row
That's likely a result of key staggering making vertical finger movement more difficult. When you touch type, your hands move either up and left or down and right when hitting keys above and below the home row, respectively (most of the time). This exists as a vestige of typewriters with mechanical linkages to the type head.
When it comes to the number row, I feel your pain. It took me a long time to get comfortable stretching to reach those. An Alice layout keyboard makes those slightly easier to press, however some people go as far as buying a 40% keyboard and programming the number row (and function row) into a layer on the row above the home row (aka the qwerty row) to reduce finger reach and also opting for an ortholinear layout where all the keys are aligned in a perfect grid to get rid of that staggered movement. Some people eschew even a mostly-complete alpha cluster for something like a Corne keyboard with only 36 keys.
That said, the cheapest (and best) solution is to practice practice practice. Touch typing is all about muscle memory. While learning it is a painful experience for us, it is well within the capabilities of most blind users. Also laptop keyboards kinda suck. The island/chiclet design of most means there are smaller gaps between the keys, making them harder to tell apart. I'd recommend getting an external keyboard for a laptop if you can. All Apple keyboards use this chiclet/island design, though the magic keyboard for the desktop has slightly more travel... assuming my technical info is still up to date
This is interesting.
I think for the number roe i just move my entire hand to it.
Keyboards, dots, typing style
I learned to type on a manual typewriter, and the first computer I used was a print ball teletype that spat out a continuous feed from a roll of paper. Both took considerable pressure to trigger a key. Light touch keyboards never worked for me. I developed my own style of hunt-and-peck typing, which worked for me until my eyesight degraded to the point where it didn't, and I went through the painful transition of learning to touch type. Thumbs up, Mr Grieves. Good move.
Anyhow, I like keyboards that feel solid. The Microsoft Intellitype was my favorite for years, a good solid keyboard with a split ergonomic layout. Then they ruined it with a redesign, as Microsoft somehow manages to do with nearly all their products. At the time, I found an excellent alternative from Fellowes, but that keyboard is presently out of stock on Amazon. Glad I got mine when I did.
I have seen over-bump-dotted keyboards. I'm sure the assistive tech trainer had good intentions when he applied them. So many dots the poor user couldn't remember which dot meant what. Crazy. Keyboards are tactile by design and don't require key dots beyond the F, J, and numPad 5, and maybe some way to differentiate the function keys. A good typing tutor program will teach you to find all the other keys from there.
It will be a rough couple of weeks, Mr Grieves. But it's the right decision.
Accessibyte
Finally thought I would try the 14 day free trial now I’m on Christmas holiday and have a bit of time.
And… no prizes for guessing…. the form doesn’t work. I get an error telling me to complete a reCaptcha that isn’t there. I sent them a report, and the contact form did have a working reCaptcha. No doubt they will be away for Christmas now and my moment will be gone.
(Bangs head against the wall)
Or maybe I just need to try it for a couple of days and bite the bullet and pay something if it is ok.
The video did auto-play unhelpfully when I went to the site which I don’t think it did last time, or maybe because I was using DuckDuckGo. It looks like it might be designed for a younger audience, but guess I can swallow my pride if it does work.
I also think it might not be web based as the form seemed to be trying to get me to download something. That is probably better given how random Safari can be.
PC or Mac?
Are you looking for something that works in Windows? In macOS? In both as in web-based?
In an ideal world
I'd prefer a Mac app. But I'll try a web thing if it will work. I do not have a huge amount of confidence in Safari, though, so I don't want to spend the whole time battling to get the browser to work properly.
But failing that I guess I could try something in Windows. But it's my work laptop so Im a little less keen on installing stuff on it. Plus I am even more incompetent with Windows than the Mac, if that's possible to believe.
I'd also try something on the iPhone if there is something more exciting than Touch Typer. I think this sort of thing is maybe a bit of a stretch for a phone but I'll give anything a go if it's not too expensive. I did have a few focus issues with Talking Typer but it mostly worked. It was just very boring and didn't really give much guidance.
Ironically
I did not even consider an iPhone app that might give you what you need. In fact, now that I am considering this, iPhone might be the way to go for you.
American Printing House
So the APH web-based typing tutor that no longer exists, actually does exist; on iOS.
Give these links a try, Mr Grieves.
Talking Typer:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/talking-typer/id992103463
Talking Typer YouTube Tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTmYIwqjP44
Goes without saying, but...
I neglected to mention you will want a hardware keyboard for this. 😳
@Brian
Yes, that's the app I was trying, but somehow my mushy brain came out with Touch Typer instead of Talking Typer. I think it is more designed with a classroom in mind. It works and is accessible enough, but the lessons are very dull - you get a one liner telling you what to do and then it's the same words in the same order every time. There's a single game that just mixes up random words together as well, which I did use when I was trying to get to grips with the Hable One.
I'll maybe try it again. I think one of my biggest problems is fighting the instinct to type the way I have been for 40 years. It's not so bad sometimes, but I'd love to push up the accuracy a bit, which is why I wanted to go this route.
Typer online is still vailable arn the APH website.
As the subject says typer online is still available on the ph website.
APH Typer Online
https://typer.aphtech.org
I still feel the iOS app is a better choice, but whatever's clever. 🤷🏼♂️
talking typer
So I have been trying this off and on recently. I guess it's ok although not terribly exciting. My typing is now much slower and less accurate but I am trying to put it into practice. Hopefully if I can keep up with it then it will end up being a good idea.
Practise sentence
OldBear and the rest,
The practice sentence I remember typing on the typewriter in high school was:
'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.'.
mani
Prepare to be slow
I know you've got a killer modified hunt and peck method that has been awesome for years. To resist using it, consider wearing a sleep shade. Posture, too - touch typing will allow you to sit up straight and stare straight ahead.
Touch typing will slow you down, way down. You've got to be prepared for that pain. With a week or two of dedication to touch typing, you ought to reach 50 wpm, which is about as fast as I ever got with my ad hoc method.
Old method
I can't see the keyboard so no fear of cheating that way. My old way was quite quick but only sometimes accurate as my fingers would be all over the place.
I think I struggled to start learning both this and a screen reader because I was trying to do both separately from my day to day computer use but I think the only way is to just jump in and hope that dog gets out of the way as quick s that pesky fox.
I think I was also getting a bit hung up on perfecting each lesson before moving on. But I think maybe it's better to race through them so I can start to practice as soon as possible.
Anyway thanks for everyone who has given advice on here. It is all much appreciated.
Protip
"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
The reason this sentence is used in touch typing lessons, is because it uses every single letter of the English Alphabet. So a good method for testing WPM is to type out that sentence as many times as you can within 60sec.
Another suggestion
Also, try a mechanical full-sized keyboard. I have a DAS keyboard and the clickity-clack of every key feels very reassuring. I can never get the same speed on the laptop keyboard which feels so mushy and lifeless. :)
mani