Digits

The digits sit one row further away than even the top letter row, so the hand has to rise a little to reach them. The columns stay the same: every digit belongs to the finger whose column it falls into.

a s d f → 1 2 3 4

Digits are the one place where most typists really do look down, and also the place where looking costs the most: the eyes leave the screen and when they come back you have lost your place in the text.

When there are many numbers at once, a separate numeric keypad is faster. For single digits inside text the number row wins, because the hand does not have to go anywhere else.

Practise

• Left little finger
• Left ring finger
• Left middle finger
• Left index finger
• Right index finger
• Right middle finger
• Right ring finger
• Right little finger

The drill uses only digits, in no particular order, so the hand cannot rely on the next digit being a neighbour of the last one.

Touch typing lessons

Introduction

• Where speed comes fromFast typing is not about fast fingers but about overlapping movements and learned sequences.

Home position

• The home rowEight keys the hand never has to leave. Every keystroke starts here, and the finger comes back here.
• Home row wordsThe first real words, typed without moving a single finger off the home row.
• The extra index finger keysG and H are the only home row letters that make an index finger step aside.

Letters

• The top rowThe finger goes up and slightly left to the key above its home key, the hand stays where it is.
• The bottom rowThe most awkward of the three rows, and for that reason the one most worth drilling.
• The little finger keysThe little finger has the most keys and the least strength.
• All the letters togetherThree rows at once, in real words. This is where typing actually begins.
• Same-finger sequencesTwo letters typed with one and the same finger are the slowest thing in typing, and worth a drill of their own.
• One-handed wordsWords typed entirely with one hand. This is where the weaker hand shows itself.
• Alternating handsWords where the hands change over after every letter. This is where the rhythm comes from.

Capitals, punctuation and digits

• Capital lettersA capital always uses the Shift key on the opposite hand. That is the whole rule.
• PunctuationA comma or a full stop is part of the word, not something beside it.
• DigitsThe number row is far away and you cannot see it without looking down. The only thing that helps is a fixed finger for every digit.

Speed and accuracy

• Frequent letter pairsSpeed comes from a pair becoming one movement, not from a single keystroke getting faster.
• Frequent wordsA couple of hundred words cover a large part of what you will ever type. They are worth a drill of their own.
• An even rhythmAn even pace beats bursts and pauses, even when it feels slower.
• Accuracy before speedA wrong letter costs more than a slow one. In the game too.
• Whole sentencesA capital at the start, a full stop at the end, and everything you have learned put to work at once.

Touch typing