How's your typing?

[roomby]

I'm wondering whether lots of people have learned to type because of computers. How many of you can properly touch type and how many use fewer than ten fingers? Did you learn to type before you used a computer? I taught myself to touch type when I was at Uni, so that I could get my essays done quickly, and it has been a v. useful skill to have. What's your story?

[maxximus]

that's funny!! i was just thinking this the other day , this is my first computer , had maybe 6 months,never typed. still a two fingered plunker but steadily getting faster. even manage to slip the odd extra digit in there occassionally, look out! one of the reasons i actually enjoy answering questions. i play poker online and you can talk to people, sometimes it's brutal trying to keep up ,hard to follow the game. quite the tool though , talking to people all over the world from your own home. really is amazing.

[mattie]

I learnt to type while on one of those government run schemes that you did in order to stay on the dole.

It was the only thing I learned and has proved useful since ( I typed this without looking at the keyboard BTW).

[n00dles]

I learnt to type at part-time day release college, many moons ago when I worked for Frigidaire. Always been a handy tool to have - pre computer days - little ol' manual typewriter for correspondence etc.

Must confess although I touch type, I do tend to cheat when it comes to the figures!!

It always amazes me when I see novelists' or journalists' hammering 19 to the dozen with just 2 fingers - so your not alone maxximus!!

[Oneeyedvic]

I learnt to type accidently - I had an O Level programming coursework that I had to hand in and just started typing. I was never taught correctly but when I went for a temp job at school holiday time (around 17 years old) the temp agency gave me a test and I found I had a speed of 50 wpm (words per minute).

I still look at the keyboard most of the time though.

My wife is a trained typist (and typing as opposed to word processing is a lot harder). She can look at me, hold a conversation and type - she aslo loves audio typing (from a dictaphone).

[andy-hughes]

I learned to type at college, a skill for which I am profoundly grateful.

When I started writing for music magazines, I used an old Coronoa full-size officce machine, it was a right monster!

Because I always liked my copy to be really neat - although I did use Tp-Ex, I would always try and make my first copy the one I sent in, in those days, it was by train on Red Star, or by the new-fangled 'fax' whcih was just coming out.

The habit has stayed with me - even now I can bang out five thousand words straight, with next-to-no-editing required, even though it is far simpler on a PC.

[KebabMeister]

We had modular studies at school during the late 80s and one of the courses we had to do was typewriting and we learnt to touch type correctly. It's had a lot of use since 1997 so I'm glad I learnt properly.

[aka pixi]

I learnt to type at college when I was 14 and had mainly office jobs involving typing since I left school, my son on the other hand always used 2 fingers to type until he started going on forums and using messenger, now he can touch type using all his fingers and is really fast too.