qwerty

[StillStunned]

No, but I'm not likely to try it. Slamming my fingertips into a hard desk 20 thousand times a day sounds like torture.

That's an excellent point, and one that I hadn't considered. Although to be fair I don't think they're intended for regular use, just a portable option for people travelling.

But I have a nice rubber and cloth mousepad that runs the entire width of my keyboard, and that would probably be quite comfortable for typing on.

 

[alohadave]

If someone needed that, seems like they'd just get a stenotype like a court reporter. 300 wpm is no joke-- that's like Boomhauer fast. Typing with chords.

I know it's a learned skill, but it feels like magic.

 

[jehoram]

The story of QWERTY is interesting. The original typewriters had keyboards with the most common letters in the main row, lesser common above and least common below. Typists became so skilled and went so fast that they jammed the old manual key levers. The keyboard was redesigned to slow them down and now we are stuck with it.

That's an urban myth, sorry to say. Here's the Straight Dope on the subject:

https://www.straightdope.com/21341398/was-the-qwerty-keyboard-purposely-designed-to-slow-typists

 

[Melon_Morph]

Despite being around computers from a young age, I didnt learn to touch type until I was an adult. Funny enough, I could "hunt n peck" with 2-4 fingers just about as fast as I can touch type, even now, after years of exclusively touch typing.

If anybody wants to learn to touch type, I suggest keybr.com

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I learned to type on a manual IBM in my high school typing class and got an electric Smith Corona (cartridge type) in college. I could do about 32 to 35 words per minute to avoid errors. Some of the girls in the class (who got to use one of our few IBM Selectrics) could do over 100 wpm. I used some of those memories when writing "A Matter of Trust," the story of an engineer who meets a professional transcriber.

On the computer, it's a lot easier to make corrections so I've gotten up to 52 words a minute without errors in speed tests but most of the time I think I still do the same 32 to 35 words a minute as 40-something years ago.

Assuming, that is, that I have 32 to 35 words per minute to write. Too often, the words don't flow that fast!

 

[nice90sguy]

I had Mavis Beacon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Beacon_Teaches_Typing

(When I say I had Mavis Beacon, I meant... nm)

OMG I just found out she wasn't even real....

 

[StillStunned]

I had Mavis Beacon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Beacon_Teaches_Typing

(When I say I had Mavis Beacon, I meant... nm)

OMG I just found out she wasn't even real....

Yeah, but most of the women I've had weren't real either.

 

[MillieDynamite]

One-hundred-twenty words a minute, touch typest. Off the top of my head, maybe eighty words a minute.

 

[nice90sguy]

Off the top of my head, maybe eighty words a minute.

Wow, impressive, for no fingers...

 

[MillieDynamite]

No, that wasn't my meaning. I'm a touch typist. I mean, I type 80 words per minute with my fingers when I'm writing without looking at something already written or typed. D'oh! Have to spell out every little thing don't I?

 

[nice90sguy]

You don't HAVE to spell it out, but don't let that stop you spelling it out with dancing bananas

 

[joy_of_cooking]

The problem with steno machines is they're meant for transcription of speech, not text entry. You type an entire word in a single chord, using a mapping that's mostly but not entirely standardized between stenographers. It's common, for example, for stenographers specializing in depositions on technical topics to have private shorthand for the jargon they encounter.

And you mostly can't enter punctuation, which makes it rubbish for writing prose or programming (that being the main occupation of keyboard enthusiasts, as far as I can tell).

 

[enbiji]

You don't HAVE to spell it out, but don't let that stop you spelling it out with dancing bananas

Your dancing banana makes me sQWERTY

 

[nice90sguy]

Your dancing banana makes me sQWERTY

I laughed, and now i'm ashamed

 

[enbiji]

The problem with steno machines is they're meant for transcription of speech, not text entry. You type an entire word in a single chord, using a mapping that's mostly but not entirely standardized between stenographers. It's common, for example, for stenographers specializing in depositions on technical topics to have private shorthand for the jargon they encounter.

And you mostly can't enter punctuation, which makes it rubbish for writing prose or programming (that being the main occupation of keyboard enthusiasts, as far as I can tell).

I actually did not know any of this. Thanks

 

[enbiji]

I laughed, and now i'm ashamed

You should be. Such a NAUGHTY boi

 

[Kumquatqueen]

The problem with steno machines is they're meant for transcription of speech, not text entry. You type an entire word in a single chord, using a mapping that's mostly but not entirely standardized between stenographers. It's common, for example, for stenographers specializing in depositions on technical topics to have private shorthand for the jargon they encounter.

And you mostly can't enter punctuation, which makes it rubbish for writing prose or programming (that being the main occupation of keyboard enthusiasts, as far as I can tell).

Entire syllables as chords, mostly, but lots of specialist terms will get encoded as pairs of letters or chords. Which means if you're using a steno as a speech to text reporter to provide real-time text output, you need to meet them beforehand and ensure they know all the names and acronyms likely to be used.

Still faster and more accurate than respeaking and editing, which is how they mostly provide live captions/subtitles now. But a trained steno costs more, even though there was a glut of them on the market when Parliament and courts switched to recording and just editing the transcripts produced. Most have retired.

 

[alohadave]

I had Mavis Beacon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Beacon_Teaches_Typing

(When I say I had Mavis Beacon, I meant... nm)

OMG I just found out she wasn't even real....

Betty Crocker and Anne Landers weren't real people either.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Entire syllables as chords

You're right, sorry. I get words and syllables mixed up sometimes because they're closer to the same thing in Chinese.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Betty Crocker and Anne Landers weren't real people either.

Despite there being a pic of Betty Crocker on the back of our cookbook! Franklin W Dixon and Carolyn Keene were committees of authors, too.

TIL that the author of Ann Landers, and author of Dear Abby, were twins!

 

[alohadave]

Despite there being a pic of Betty Crocker on the back of our cookbook!

I watched a video about 'her' the other day. The picture was a composite of some of the women who answered questions. Fun fact, she started out hocking flour, and it expanded to general cooking and housekeeping as women sent in questions.

 

[VallesMarineris]

Just wondering how many of you can actually touch-type, like, properly?

Let me refocus this thread and add another dimension to it.

I touch type pretty fast, not like the reported speed demons here, only about 60 words/minute, but I have a superpower: I can carry on a conversation while I'm typing something else. I use it sometimes in meetings to take notes. Some people find it intimidating. They'll stop our dialogue and ask what I'm typing, probably thinking I'm recording their words. Nope, I say, just writing down ideas and other stuff. That's maybe worse, because it means I don't need to use all my brain to keep up with them.

Can anyone else do that?

 

[Britva415]

Just wondering how many of you can actually touch-type, like, properly?

I type so fast I got told once it sounds like paper tearing.

 

[Britva415]

On a related note, does anyone here have any experience with one of those infrared projection keyboards?

No, but I imagine it's a lot like touch-typing on the screen keyboard of a large enough tablet to accommodate 10 fingers, which I do sometimes.

 

[Britva415]

Can anyone else do that?

Sometimes, not every time.

If I have to type what I'm hearing, then no. But if I just have to hear the conversation while typing something else, sometimes I can.