Could it be just a matter of use? I learned to type on a manual typewriter in school and averaged 55wpm
Later I switched to an electric typewriter and shot up to about 70wpm
But after years of use on an electric typewriter I could never get used to the manual one again, and when I had to use a manual typewriter I fell way back down again.
On my computer I am about 50wpm. The touch of the computer keyboard is much lighter than that of a electric
Wireless keyboards are all but usless for anyone over 40wpm. It seems the speed of 40wpm is too fast for the wireless mechanism to cope.
Where are you going to find a “professional typist” nowadays? The closest you’ll come are transcriptionists. If you want a super-fast transcriptionist you’ll have to pay more than for an $8/hour administrative assistant.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I get carpal tunnel. When I type on a keyboard, I just move my fingers and wrists with my arms at an angle / . If I were to take out my huge IBM typewriter (I can’t remember what model right now) I would have to move my fingers, forearms and shoulders not to type but to roll the paper forward, etc. There’s just more action involved.
:smack: Programming probably wrecked my typing skills too. Even in COBOL, you’re not typing complete sentences and paragraphs. I enter short stuff, like - Move Zeroes to WS-Rec-Cnt. That’s a lot different than compound sentences.
Same is true of my ten key adding machine skills. I used to be be very quick and accurate. I don’t bother using the touch method with a computer num pad. My hand doesn’t fit correctly. Hit the numlock by accident, and you’re screwed. It’s easier for me to look when I use the number pad. I have seen ladies at work do it by touch.
QUOTE=yabob;12040988]However, if we go even earlier, you have teletype keyboards.
I actually learned to touch type decently in high school. My first experiences with FORTRAN on model 33 teletypes wrecked all that - partially because of the nature of the keyboard, partially because programming meant typing large numbers of odd characters and control keys that traditional typing techniques didn’t account for.
[/QUOTE]
In economic theory, you can buy anything from the cheapest piece of crap to the bestest thing ever built and anything inbetween depending on what you want to spend.
My life experience has been that once someone gets good at making something dirt cheap but workable, it drives most of the others outa business for the most part.
I just remember this. On the SyFy channel show, “Warehouse 13,” one of the characters using a typewriter instead of a keyboard to type on the computer. Do such typewriter keyboards exist outside of the prop room?
I got 98 wpm with no errors, on a Razer Lycosa keyboard.
I was slightly surprised, since it’s been years since I tested my typing speed, and I’ve never had much reason to shoot for high WPM counts anyway. I do a lot of programming, and quite aside from the fact that punctuation and whitespace tend to dominate, it’s the thinking part that takes the time, so there’s not much need for fingers that can fly across the keys. Even when I’m writing other things – emails, message board posts, technical documents, fiction – I usually spend more time thinking than typing. Bursts of rapid output occur, but are brief.
I’ve never been trained as a typist, either, and I’m pretty sure I’m doing it completely wrong. (Home row? What’s that? :p)
Here is a real Selectric-style keyboard that I designed many years ago. I had a dozen or so prototypes run off by Micro Switch.
It has the same elevation, key feel and layout (with an additional top row for computer-specific keys) as the Selectric. The Shift Lock key latches down just like the Selectric, and either Shift key releases it. Don’t ask what it cost, even in 1979.
Using the Mavis Bacon Typing Tutor, I tested at 95 wpm and my wife tested at 110 wpm. I was using a standard Apple keyboard and she was using whatever came with her Dell.
On her steno keyboard, she’s tested at over 250 wpm, but that’s different
I learned to type on Apple IIe’s back in the day, and I hated those keyboards. I also typed on my mom’s manual typewriter back then too, and I was always the slowest typist on it. Personally I type the fastest on the low rise keyboards like what you’d find on a laptop. I like how quiet they are too. Those IBM AT keyboards are a crime against nature with their constant ping-ping-ping gha!
Minor threadjack; Does anyone know of a robust low rise keyboard that can take a lot of abuse? I seem to kill keyboards.
That can’t possibly be true. I just took this typing test and got 72 words per minute with zero mistakes, typing on my crappy laptop keyboard. I’m sure I could have done over 80 if I hadn’t backspaced a few times to correct typos.
I’m not a professional typist, although I do spend all my day working on a computer.
Oh yeah, court reporters / live closed-captioners are specially trained and don’t even use normal keyboards. I’ve seen the things, they have fewer keys that cluster several commonly used letters together. It’s pretty intense stuff.
