Learning to touch type on a Mac

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.

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.

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)

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!! ;)

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!!! :)

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? 😇

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.

I struggle to feel the bumps built into modern keyboards. Luckily for peeps like me, there are Bump Dots. ☝🏻⌨

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.

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.

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.

@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! 😈

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.

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.

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.

I think for the number roe i just move my entire hand to it.

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.

Are you looking for something that works in Windows? In macOS? In both as in web-based?

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.

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

I neglected to mention you will want a hardware keyboard for this. 😳

As the subject says typer online is still available on the ph website.

https://typer.aphtech.org

I still feel the iOS app is a better choice, but whatever's clever. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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

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.

"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.

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