Blog

If you can touch type, this means you can:

• type a handwritten or typed hardcopy document into an electronic document on a computer, with good accuracy. You’ll be looking at the document you are typing, and at the computer screen to fix errors as you go. You won’t need to look at the keys
• type what you are thinking as you think (e.g. your train of thought), thereby creating whatever document you need, whether that be a letter, report or book. You’ll be looking at the computer screen as you type and fixing the errors you notice on the screen. You won’t need to look at the keys.

If you are a fast touch-typist, you can type as quickly as you think or as quickly as people speak (e.g. at a meeting) while watching the computer screen and making sure it’s reasonably accurate. Typing as fast as you think, or speak, isn’t going to be completely accurate but it is important to document as much as you can in the allocated time. Corrections and editing can be done later.

If you can touch-type, you have the potential to become a very fast typist. All you need to do to increase your touch-typing speed is practice and commitment.

What if you can’t touch-type?

If you can’t touch-type, you really should learn. Why?

• If (like most people) either your work or your life involves using a computer, you need to be able to touch-type to be good at your job and/or your life.
• Touch-typing is a skill that gives you the potential to type very quickly.
• Touch-typists are more efficient at writing, self-editing, editing, communicating online or doing anything that involves using software.

Nowadays, most kids under 15 or 16 have grown up ‘online’. They type passwords and fill out forms online. They need to type quickly to keep up with the others in chat rooms and social media channels, and they usually want to watch the screen while ‘talking’ (typing) to their colleagues. So kids  who spend a lot of time on computers naturally become touch-typists and improve their typing speed as they go.

If you would like to learn how to touch-type, have a look at this brief review of some of the online courses on offer: Top Ten Reviews – touch-typing

If you can touch-type and would like to increase your typing speed, go to: How to increase your typing speed.

Proofread by Dee Sansom, On Time Typing, Editing and Proofreading

Image:  Copyright SW Kane.