
A Keyboard with Blank Keycaps Made Me an Expert Typist - bojanvidanovic
https://bojanvidanovic.com/posts/a-keyboard-with-blank-keycaps-made-me-an-expert-typist
======
triangleman
More accurately: "Learning to touch type made me an expert typist. Also I
bought a keyboard with blank keycaps."

I get that you could cheat if you had a regular keyboard, but if you're
learning to type, why would you do that? And even if you do cheat and look,
you could still practice the hand movements.

With that said, I learned to touch type in 1-2 weeks with _The Typing of the
Dead_ on a Sega Dreamcast and this keyboard:
[http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/39589/Dreamcast-
Keybo...](http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/39589/Dreamcast-
Keyboard-\(UK\)/)

You can find the game on Steam today (updated with new crowd sourced text
options)

w/r/t HHKB: I have the "Lite" version and I could never get into it. Fn-keys,
other key placements were too unnatural. Anyone want it?

~~~
benglish11
>but if you're learning to type, why would you do that

Sometimes people don't try hard if there is no fear of failure. Removing the
key labels makes it harder to cheat and forces you to do it the right way.
Some people will rationalize in their head ("oh it's just this one email I am
typing, I am so far behind I can't afford to be slowed down"). I can see this
method being effective by "forcing" people to learn to touch type.

~~~
m463
> ... cheat ... rationalize ...

uh, I think you are putting the wrong slant on things, like people are
cheating losers.

I have been touch typing for years, but I probably look at my keyboard from
time to time and _do not know I do it_.

If you asked me where the B key is, I would have to look. If you asked me to
type banana I would do it without looking.

I have caught myself looking, like a passenger in my own body, maybe to orient
myself when crooked, I'm not sure. But typing is so automatic that my
conscious brain is not even involved in the process.

~~~
bitslayer
I am not a touch typist, far from it, but I have been typing for so long that
I too couldn't tell you how much I look at the keyboard. For awhile I almost
convinced myself that I had somehow stopped looking down because I never
seemed to notice it. But I definitely still look at every key I type.

------
hellotomyrars
I learned to touch-type at a young age and can comfortably type 90-110 WPM.

Personally I agree that people, especially people who are expected to use a
computer for their job, probably should know how to type, and as a result it
should be part of primary education.

I think having blank keycaps though is kind of silly, personally. Especially
given the keyboard the author has gone with. If you sat me in front of that
keyboard I wouldn't know where to begin due to its size and layout.

It's a fun novelty and if it works for them more power to them, but I only see
more frustration than anything. I don't need to look at the keyboard to know
what I'm typing, especially on my normal keyboard, but it's nice to have the
option.

(I'm the odd-man out when it comes to keyboards though. I don't have a
preference for mechanical keyboards and I truly don't understand the
love/passion for ~60% keyboards. I really don't get why anyone would want
_less_ keys.)

~~~
alpaca128
> I really don't get why anyone would want less keys.

For the same reason many people prefer keyboard shortcuts over moving the hand
back and forth between mouse and keyboard.

My main keyboard has 42 keys; that's enough for all letters, most common
symbols and modifiers. Everything else is quickly reachable by holding down
one of two "FN" keys.

Why? Because this way I can input anything without even moving my hands or
wrists. And as both FN keys are directly below my thumbs I don't suffer from
any delay when typing any special symbols or numbers. In fact my typing speed
has stayed exactly the same, possibly even with increased accuracy because my
hands are always guaranteed to be in the correct position for every
input(outside the period of getting used to the layout of course).

So for me personally it's a number of advantages without a single drawback,
except maybe the fact I now find standard keyboards really cumbersome and
awkward to use.

~~~
evook
Well the problem arises if you use more than a few shortcuts.

If you start having keybinds like ALT + CMD + (F1..F6) you _really_ dont want
to have to press an additional FN Keys. I found 4 key shortcuts not viable in
the long run if you have to press them multiple times a minute.

With that said:

> So for me personally it's a number of advantages without a single drawback

The objective drawback is the expandability of your shortcuts because you are
artificially limited in your options of key combinations. For me that would be
a no go. Though I am close to 500 shortcuts in my 3 main applications alone,
excluding i3 or KDE globals. I only use a mouse to browse the web.

~~~
alpaca128
If you have to regularly enter 4 key shortcuts you can just define a few
macros in the firmware and be done with it. I haven't been in a situation
where I absolutely couldn't input some combination. Some shortcuts are
awkward, sure, but I rarely need those.

If I had to regularly use 4 key shortcuts I'd go insane no matter what
keyboard.

Edit: Then again I don't (yet) have 500 shortcuts, but if software doesn't
support rebinding those that's not a problem with the keyboard imho.

~~~
evook
Those keybinds are mainly custom macros and scripts.

Some project specific some more general. The project specific keybinds range
from do test deployment and run tests to grab the latest test results format a
text variant as well as pdf, archive and send them out to everyone who needs
them. The general ones range from tell my AC/heating that I'm heading home
from office to open my local weather forcast on Screen #2.

IMO there's no good reason to omit possibilities for aesthetics. Though as
often as I thought about it I am not going to use a stream deck since I know I
couldn't live without one after a few weeks and don't want to be bothered to
carry it with me while traveling.

~~~
alpaca128
> IMO there's no good reason to omit possibilities for aesthetics.

My point is that it's not for aesthetics but comfort. For aesthetics I
wouldn't use vertical stagger or a split layout.

With a 40% keyboard you can enter everything without moving hands or wrists at
all and more important keys are moved right below the thumbs so I can use Ctrl
and Shift without twisting my hand.

All said and done I still think that the standard keyboard layout is actually
not a bad choice either, and is sometimes underrated. I just think that some
more experimental boards manage to be just as productive while removing some
ergonomical weaknesses.

------
Raed667
As a developer, my process is ~70% thinking and debugging, and less than 30%
actual typing.

I never understood the fascination with typing optimization, it is not like
I'm a stenographer. But maybe I'm missing something.

~~~
aspyct
Touch typing isn't only about speed. It's also about health and RSI,
especially if you use an ergonomic layout like a Dvorak.

For me it made a difference, and I went from feeling pain after an hour of
typing, to being able to type all day without the slightest issue.

~~~
Avamander
It's also about accuracy and being able not to look at the damn keyboard when
typing.

My thoughts "flow" from my mind to my computer without extra effort or
mistakes. That seems to be the biggest win to me.

------
Milank
I have a German layout keyboard atm (don't ask), and I barely even notice it.

~20 years ago I invested a lot of nerves into learning touch typing, so now
I'm flawless with it.

But, let's talk about problems with touch typing - wrists for example. If you
don't know touch typing, you move your hands more often, to do stuff. E.g.
copy/paste, with touch typing, it's pinky + index finger all the time. Without
touch typing, it's, for example, left index + right index. Or something else.
Point is, you are not making the same moves all the time.

If you do, you develop RSI. For me, ALT + TAB was the problem. After ~15 years
of touch typing, I started feeling first discomfort, and then pain in the
wrist. Took some time to discover what's the problem, so now I'm aware and
taking action, exercise, stretching, changing layout, switching to split
keyboard, etc.

Touch typing is good, but be careful. Make breaks regularly, stretch your
hands, invest in the ergo equipment. Think upfront, react before the problems
occur. Better safe than sorry.

~~~
codeknight11
More people need to realise this and be cautious of such fads. I got caught up
into the whole touch-typing hype and continued typing in that awkward posture
for 3 months straight more than 12 hours a day and didn't stop even when my
hands, shoulders and neck started hurting due to the awkward posture that's
caused by touch-typing.

I am in the worst pain of my life right now. Absolutely regret it. Sure the
error rate is slightly higher and you type slower. Atleast you won't be f*cked
with RSI.

~~~
aikinai
I’m really confused by this whole thread and just want to clarify. “Touch
typing” just means typing “correctly” right? As in with your fingers on the
home row and reaching to type fluently?

Honest question, how is it that there’s debate about this and comments from
people (on Hacker News in particular) about intentionally learning it
recently? Maybe I just haven’t noticed, but I feel like everyone I know below
a certain (not even very young) age knows how to touch type, even if they’re
not particularly tech savvy.

Regarding this parent in particular, are you saying that hunting and pecking
is better and typing from the home row is a fad?

~~~
Izkata
> I’m really confused by this whole thread and just want to clarify. “Touch
> typing” just means typing “correctly” right? As in with your fingers on the
> home row and reaching to type fluently?

Yeah, "touch-typing" is incorrectly used to refer to home-row touch-typing by
people who hadn't learned another style.

I use a totally different one, with my left hand resting on roughly shift-a-
w-d and my right on j-i-o-; which requires little to no twisting to reach
every key. I think I'm also more likely to lift my hands than home-row typists
I've seen - those keys are just resting positions between typing bursts, not
actually where I move my fingers back to while typing. The whole thing is
based on the edges of the keyboard, rather than the nubs on the f and j keys.

------
kanobo
I'm surprised that people who use the computer every day can't touch type, is
this a post-iphone/touch generational thing? Back in my day one lucky
classmate was rewarded with a session of Mavis Beacon teaches typing
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Beacon_Teaches_Typing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Beacon_Teaches_Typing))
if we behaved extra well in class.

~~~
KMag
I remember an old manager, who was probably born in the mid 1960s giving our
team's intern (around 2008) a hard time because it was taking her time to get
used to QWERTY again because she spent the previous 6 months in France on an
AZERTY keyboard. I can't be the only one who noticed that he looked at his
hands noticeably more than anyone else on the team while typing, even the
intern he was giving a hard time. I think it just takes a lot of motivation to
learn to touch-type if you didn't grow up with ubiquitous computers. My
manager was so used to looking down at his hands that he didn't even notice he
did it.

There's a golden window for touch-typing where most people in the U.S. grew up
typing on computers constantly (especially IMing in multiple windows
concurrently) and before smartphones arrived. It's nearly impossible to keep
up with multiple IM windows without lots of typing and spelling errors unless
you're at least close to touch-typing.

I grew up on a Mac, and it took me way too long to get used to using the
delete key on a PC. (I think very few Mac users make much use of Fn-Delete to
get PC-like delete functionality.) Typing habits die hard.

~~~
thedanbob
> There's a golden window for touch-typing where most people in the U.S. grew
> up typing on computers constantly (especially IMing in multiple windows
> concurrently) and before smartphones arrived. It's nearly impossible to keep
> up with multiple IM windows without lots of typing and spelling errors
> unless you're at least close to touch-typing.

This is what I was thinking when I read the article. I grew up on IRC, ICQ,
and multiplayer games with text-only chat. That last one in particular, you
learned to type fast or live with a horrible K/D ratio.

------
ubermonkey
Do people take typing in high school anymore?

I'm old (50), and did, during my sophomore (10th grade) year. That year
(85-86) was the last year my high school used actual typewriters for the
class; the room had 35 IBM Selectrics, and the din of the motors was INSANE.
When the teacher wanted to talk, she would literally wave a flag, and we'd
turn them all off so we could hear her.

The next year, they switched to computers -- but, it being Mississippi, they
were IBM PC jrs, primarily of note now for having a wireless keyboard. Unlike
bluetooth keyboards of today (including the one I'm typing on), these did not
work so well. But the room was quieter.

Anyway, we had no paper or covers or blank keycaps. I guess some folks
could've been "cheating" or something, but in that class there was a real
sense that doing so would be dumb. Unlike in, say, an required academic class,
there was no undercurrent of "I don't really need to know this" \-- pretty
much everyone, from honor roll kids to C- students, was in there to learn to
type. By then, it was already SUPER clear how important this would be for any
white-collar job, and so...

~~~
otterpro
I took typing in high school, with IBM typewriters as well. For 50 minutes, we
typed away, starting with fingers on the home rows. I learned to type business
letters, notes, and even use proper spacing. By the way, we were taught to put
2 spaces after period. Typing class was one of my favorite, with no homework,
and just 50 minutes of typing away every day.

~~~
unbalancedevh
I'll never be able to get used to just putting 1 space after a period, and it
really bugs me when editing a sentence deletes one.

~~~
drudru11
At a job I had, they gave people a book titled: Your Mac Is Not A Typewriter

One of the big things was the single space rule.

Interesting thing tho. Many years later I read on Steve Losh’s blog that he
uses two spaces after every period. Why? So he can just do a simple search to
move through sentences.

------
toyg
I did not get any touch-typing lesson as a kid (the Amiga 500 keyboard felt so
massive...), so I developed a pretty fast 6-finger technique that helped me
into my early 30s - I was considered a very quick typists in chats and the
likes, but writing code was still error-prone. At one point I saw a colleague
touch-typing properly, and I felt so envious that I decided to do something
about it. I started doing lessons but somehow always ended up peeking.
Eventually, 5 years ago, I moved to COLEMAK, and that forced me to learn
proper form. I can now push 60 to 80 wpm on regular text with no effort.

I still struggle somewhat with special characters, because of my short
pinkies. I am currently experimenting with alternatives (see
[http://blog.pythonaro.com/2020/06/better-access-to-
special-c...](http://blog.pythonaro.com/2020/06/better-access-to-special-
characters.html) ) but I've never been good at layer-switching and it makes me
still pretty slow.

~~~
StavrosK
60-80 is slow to average, though, no? I had the same issue as you with coding
sigils, and "proper" touch typing didn't help at all, so I just remapped [] {}
to Tab+hjkl and the parentheses to the shift keys, which helps more because I
don't have to stretch.

~~~
wartijn_
It's off course hard to find the average typing speed of everybody who types,
but Wikipedia says this:

> An average professional typist types usually in speeds of 50 to 80 wpm,
> while some positions can require 80 to 95 (usually the minimum required for
> dispatch positions and other time-sensitive typing jobs), and some advanced
> typists work at speeds above 120 wpm.[4] Two-finger typists, sometimes also
> referred to as "hunt and peck" typists, commonly reach sustained speeds of
> about 37 wpm for memorized text and 27 wpm when copying text, but in bursts
> may be able to reach much higher speeds.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute)

~~~
StavrosK
Huh. I type at 100 wpm and am the slowest of a group of a few friends, the
others can do 120-130 wpm. I guess that skewed my perception.

~~~
bkanber
You and your friends are probably programmers (or similar) and have been touch
typing for decades. It's always easy to forget the selection bias of self-
organizing groups.

------
bjoli
I switched to Dvorak on a keyboard without changing the key caps. That has
about the same effect. It took me 2 days of staring on a colour coded map
(each finger had a different colour) taped to the top of my screen before my
brain just went "ok. I got this now" and I went from about 25wpm to 80 in 20
minutes. Such a weird experience. 4 days after switching I was back to 110wpm
where I left qwerty, and now I am at 120 in one-minute bursts. About 90
sustained.

I switched mainly because I was a nerd poser in high school, but also because
I had some warning signs of carpal tunnel syndrome. No issues since.

~~~
allknowingfrog
Oh man, I did a similar thing in grad school, but I made the mistake of trying
to keep both layouts in my head. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I
couldn't seem to do it. I finally committed to Dvorak and it has scored me
some nerd cred over the years.

Interestingly, numbers and symbols continued to trip me up, and they are one
of the few areas of overlap between QWERTY and Dvorak. I finally switched to a
blank keyboard and that did seem to help.

~~~
bjoli
I have moved several symbols to an extra layer under the right alt (or "alt
gr" as it is called in the Swedish layout), and that helped a lot. I can type
parens without leaving the home row, which helps my scheme programming by
about a billion percent.

------
janvdberg
Last month I set out to learn proper touch-typing (after 25+ years on
computers).

And though I type more accurate now, which brings a certain kind of
satisfaction, I'm also slower (I seem to plateau). According to Typing Trainer
I was "Fast" (self-taught, many errors) and now "Average" (proper, less
errors).

However nice this is for my backspace key I still would like to improve. Maybe
I need to practice more, but I don't think a keyboard like this will help
because I already never look at my keyboard.

I _have_ thought about becoming better by using a device that would attach
wires to your fingers (or a glove) that correspond with keys, and the keys
will only register when hit with the right finger (I find myself cheating
now/falling back to old ways when I want to go fast). Something like this
should exist, right?

~~~
AdrianoKF
I'm in the same boat as you! Just started working on proper touch-typing a few
weeks ago, as I sometimes found myself being ashamed of my self-taught
~7-finger typing system.

Commenting primarily to see what others have to say about your idea, since I
can notice that sometimes when I don't pay full attention I tend to use my
"old" mental keymap and cheat a little bit.

~~~
dabeeeenster
Im in exactly the same boat. I was thinking something like this might be so
radically different that it breaks my bad habits?
[https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/](https://www.zsa.io/moonlander/) Not cheap but
I would pay a lot to be able to forget how to type and start from scratch,
properly...

------
zmmmmm
An interesting new take on this is that there are a bunch of productivity apps
emerging which give you awesome giant monitors and workspaces in VR - but the
catch is, your keyboard now is not visible any more. So you really _have_ to
learn to touch type to use these effectively. I am a pretty good typist but
being forced to type in VR and reach every single key without even having the
option to look is really taking it to a new level. It's especially noticeable
that even though I don't look at my fingers, what I do observe in my
peripheral vision outside VR is quite important to my accuracy. So there is
still a lot of learning to do.

~~~
webgoat
What VR headset are you using? I've considered switching to a VR monitor setup
but I feel that the quality of existing headsets is too low to compete against
an actual monitor and having a screen with text that close to the eyes for
several hours will accelerate the accumulation of eye damage most developers
already receive.

~~~
zmmmmm
I'm using an Oculus Quest. I can't say I would recommend it if you have that
concern yet. It's usable but I only do so in specific contexts especially
where either I really want to focus, or having an unnaturally giant screen is
useful. So I wouldn't really do more than an hour or two at a time myself. But
with another generation of improvements in the display tech I think it'll
cross an important threshold. There are people who use them all day but I
personally wouldn't.

------
httpsterio
I think it's pretty generous of the writer to consider 70-90 wpm an expert
typist.

I've never spent any actual effort of learning any techniques and I can easily
get 120 wpm on almost any basic keyboard and up to 140 wpm on my main keyboard
at home (which happens to be a regular gaming keyboard by logitech).

Blank key caps seems more like a gimmick than actually helpful and personally
I couldn't drop the arrows either. I know Vim bindings are all fun if you IDE
supports them, but you can't really navigate around the OS comfortably if you
have to hit Fn + your faux arrows every time you want to move the focus
around.

~~~
kohlerm
With layers as supported by [https://docs.qmk.fm/#/](https://docs.qmk.fm/#/)
you won't need dedicated arrow keys (put them on the home row in a different
layer), nor would you need to switch to vim necessarily. That is at least my
experience.

------
Pyrodogg
I think being able to touch type for the sake of typing efficiently is only
the beginning.

In a sense, it's a mark of a heightened brain-computer interface. It's a
freeing feeling when you don't have to use your sight for direct motor control
error correction.

This is why I'm such a fan of programs with extensively configurable
hotkeys/macros, tiling window managers, and (when constrained to Windows)
Autohotkey.

Much more than typing wpm improves if you're familiar with your keyboard. It
gives you a much tighter loop between your executing your intentions and
affecting the computer.

This can be used for seamlessly executing macros or hotkeys in programs,
switching window focus with barely a thought in a tiling window manager. Force
multipliers.

------
redelbee
I learned touch typing with the help of a cardboard box instead of a fancy
mechanical keyboard with custom key caps. I think this is a more economical
way to learn, unless you really like mechanical keyboards and want an excuse
to buy one (or another).

Get a box that covers your keyboard and leaves room for your hands. Cut a hole
for your hands. Place the box over your keyboard, insert your hands, and start
typing without being able to see the keyboard.

Of course this is more difficult if you only have a laptop because the screen
is also obstructed.

I type around 100 WPM today with the same touch typing technique I learned as
a child. I still have labeled key caps, even on my own fancy mechanical
boards.

~~~
dan1234
For laptops, you could also just stick some paper squares on the keycaps.

------
tudorizer
Blank keyboard user here (custom ones from WASD Keyboards). I felt no
difference between this and a regular keyboard, mostly because I was touch
typing anyway. Programming is surely more thinking than typing, but once
you're in the flow, it helps to just write away and the keys simply vanish.

Unfortunately the new Macs have really borked the typing experience, which was
the main reason why I purchased the blank keyboard.

There's something about reducing the friction between your mind and the
problem that I find fascinating, even though the bandwith of the "fingers on
keys" channel is still rather low (unless you go all out bionic fingers like
that schene in Ghost in the Shell).

Another, maybe fictional, reasoning to get a blank keyboard was to be able to
type properly even with a VR headset on.

There's only one major drawback in my experience: position in front of
keyboard. Sitting on the sides or typing side-ways (like in some pair-
programming situations) becomes difficult, even if you follow the home keys.

------
msisk6
I took a typing class back in high school in the 80's and it's probably the
most useful class I ever took. I've been touch typing with the skills I
learned on an IBM Selectric for over 30 years now with no RSI and a decent
typing speed.

However, earlier this year I had an accident and lost about an inch off the
middle finger on my right hand and that's really messed with my typing. That's
the 'I', 'K', and ',' finger and that's made code and vim usage a bit tough.
;)

------
broodbucket
I just use blank keycaps so people are less likely to suddenly decide to use
my computer for something.

~~~
vladvasiliu
I live in France and I've found that having a QWERTY keyboard has pretty much
the same effect, even for people who look at the keys when they type and even
though my computer is set up to use the keyboard as QWERTY (so pressing any
key does what the key says).

------
ytjohn
I used a similar method when I wanted to improve my touch typing. I did learn
typing in school, but I still found myself constantly looking at the keyboard.
This was way back in the PS/2 keyboard days and I had one of the ubiquitous
Model M keyboards. The caps were removable with a butter knife, but I didn't
like typing on capless keys.

What I did was rearrange the letters. I left all the symbol and special keys
alone, but moved the letters, leaving only the F/J index keys in place. Now
looking at the keyboard became counterproductive. If I ended up forgetting
where a letter was, I would have to watch the screen and try different finger
movements till I found it.

~~~
codr7
My brother used a regular qwerty keyboard to learn dvorak, which comes with
the added bonus of internalizing a sane layout.

~~~
raihansaputra
Yeah I did the same thing to. Went into CS for university and found myself
stuttering over typing when programming. Ended up learning dvorak over a
semester and never looked back.
[http://learn.dvorak.nl](http://learn.dvorak.nl) is golden.

------
kasperni
I used a Das Keyboard Ultimate when I was younger. The best thing about it was
that when people were over. They would always end up giving me control over
the selection of music. Because very few people can actually type without
seeing the letters.

~~~
metaphor
Similar experience. In the dorms (single room assignment, bathroom shared with
a suitemate), I was one in maybe a handful who threw down for private
broadband service with legit throughput and was willing to share. Friends
would bother me all the time to hop on for stupid shit. When the OG Das
Keyboard launched, I picked one up (still have it today and still works,
although caps lock light won't illuminate unless pressure is applied to the
top-right corner where the light is positioned). The random visits stopped
shortly thereafter, except for one girl who grew up on the same island as I
did and was determined enough to bring her own keyboard for the
privilege...and other fringe benefits.

------
biztos
Surprised nobody else mentioned this, so I will show how old I am. :-)

I learned to touch type in the early 1980's in California. On manual
typewriters with blank keys.

For the first month or so we were required to follow lessons that were on a
wall in front of us, so looking at the keys and back was practically
impossible. There was also a key chart on the wall for reference.

Once we had the basics of touch typing down, we would work from lesson books
propped up next to the typewriters.

Correction was not an option: if you made a mistake you could start over or
lose points. I would start over.

This didn't make me an especially _fast_ young typist but it did make me an
accurate one. After learning this way I did a lot of writing on the glorious
IBM Selectric and got fast.

Since the typewriters had no markings whatsoever on the keys, and I went to a
small school with no money for special kit, I assume this is just the way
typing was taught in America for some time, and around the 1980's they started
teaching it less and/or differently.

Now, a million years later, I still love manual typewriters. All this computer
work has made me a fast but somewhat sloppy typist. The "delete" key changed
the incentives.

~~~
fortran77
I took a similar course, in High School in the 1970s, where we learned how to
type in a room full of manual typewriters with blank keys.

------
codetrotter
When I switched to using Dvorak a decade ago, I did so using a keyboard that
came with two skins; one printed, one blank.

I used the printed skin at first but then decided I wasn’t learning the layout
fast enough. So I switched to the blank skin “cold turkey”.

It was impossible to type anything at first, because I didn’t really know
where any of the keys were. So for absolutely every character I’d press each
and every button until I found the correct one. But it only took a couple of
days of this before my muscle memory began to learn where the keys were. And
then as I kept using it I got better and better at touch typing Dvorak and
finally it became second nature.

My original keyboard that I did this with was the TypeMatrix 2030 USB. I’ve
stuck with Dvorak ever since. In 2017 I switched to a programable mechanical
keyboard and made my own TypeMatrix-inspired Dvorak keyboard layout for it. I
bought the one with blank key caps, naturally ;)

Said custom layout for my programable ErgoDox EZ Shine can be found here:
[https://github.com/ctsrc/ergodox-ez-shine-
dvorak](https://github.com/ctsrc/ergodox-ez-shine-dvorak)

------
K2h
Cheating made me the above average typist I am today.

You see, around 1995 our class had transitioned to 286 computers and the
instructor wasn't that familar with the software. The student next to me and I
figured out that if you hit the [ESC] key just before ending each days
mandatory typing test, you could take the test again - something we did when
we knew we had made a mistake. We worked harder than anyone else to get
perfect scores each day because we found a way to hack the system. We typed
and practiced more, but we felt we cracked the code. She ended the class
around 80 WPM, and I finished 2nd place at ~75WPM.

Other students would possible get a light tap of the ruler on their hand if
they were looking at their hands (yes, in 1995!) and for serious repeat
offenders not committed to learning touch typing a cardboard box showed up and
was placed over the keyboard, so you couldn't see you hands.

Typing (good enough) has been a serious life skill, easily in top 10 skills I
developed in high school - possibly top 5.

------
Digit-Al
That's, basically, how I was taught to touch type. The teacher would put
little blank white stickers over the letters on the typewriter (yes, I learned
to type on a typewriter) so we couldn't cheat and look at the letters.

Too many years of not really typing "properly" mean I am no longer a great
touch typist, but the muscle memory is still mostly there.

I learned to type over 30 years ago.

~~~
taneq
We had a little cardboard hood thing that went over the whole keyboard and
covered our hands.

I started wanting to switch to a blank keyboard when I realised that I never
look at my hands when I'm typing anyway. Finally got a Das Keyboard S as a
present a few years ago and it's been awesome. These days I forget it's
unusual until someone else sits down at my computer and looks bewildered. :)

------
alfiedotwtf
I did this by accident in high school... a friend had metallic pearl paint and
I thought it would be really cool to paint my keyboard with it. Only after I
connected this hot looking keyboard to my PC did I think "how the hell am I
going to type on this".

... and that's how years later I'm on an all-black Ergodox in Programmer
Dvorak :upsidedown:

------
Tistel
I bought a blank das keyboard with this same idea years ago. It mostly
collects dust. I used complex passwords because of work habits. Getting stuck
on password entry and the fear of too many failures, account locked. Stressed
me out. I don’t recall ever trying two keyboards (one for pwrds etc), might
give it a go again.

------
actuator
I used a Das keyboard with blank keycaps for a long time. Surprisingly while
typing I would rarely make a mistake and if I did I would correct it in the
flow. But when it came to typing special characters out of the flow, I used to
have difficulty for some reason.

------
jimbob45
Went from 70 WPM to 150 WPM playing TypeRacer on a school keyboard. It was the
only game I wouldn’t get banned for playing.

IMHO, the biggest chunk of my time spent is knowing what to write, though. I
think time could be better spent becoming a better writer than a better
typist.

~~~
stunt
I didn't tried too hard, but, I couldn't get faster than 110-120 with standard
QWERTY finger placement. I assume you had to use a few tricks to get faster
than that which I never tried.

------
oliver101
After 20 years of QWERTY I could sort-of touch type but it’s very hard to
unlearn bad habits and position your hands properly.

The best decision I made was to switch to DVORAK. I was very unproductive for
about a month.

Training involved blank key caps and a small print out of the layout above my
monitor. The result is I type much faster, with fewer errors, and I never look
down (usually pointless since your keyboard will be qwerty labelled anyway!)

EDIT: doesn’t have to be Dvorak but the point is switching layouts forces you
to learn from first principals: feeling out the keyboard notches (F and J keys
on standard US) and going from there

~~~
uglycoyote
Very similar to my story. But I'm curious, why would you need to use blank
keycaps to learn Dvorak? I have always just typed on a regular QWERTY keyboard
with software remapping to make it Dvorak. In that case, looking down at the
keys while trying to learn is useless (except for the M and the A key!), so
you learn not to do it just as you would with blank keycaps.

Overall I'm pretty happy that that I learned Dvorak and feel that my typing is
much better than it ever was with Qwerty. However I'm always hesistant to
recommend that other people follow the same path. There are numerous downsides
to Dvorak (or any non-standard layout)

* I have kind of un-learned Qwerty. When I have to go to someone else's machine at work (game dev studio) to diagnose a crash, Qwerty feels very foreign and I look like an idiot when I go to type (looking up and down, making lots of mistakes, and generally typing like an old uncle who has never used a computer). This is a bit less of a problem now that Covid has hit and we are all working remote and screen-sharing instead of visiting each other's physical machines.

* Family members get annoyed when they come to a computer and it is on "Dvorak Mode", and they don't know how to get it "back to normal". Having separate accounts helps with this, though I have had some Dvorak software that sometimes annoyingly "leaked through" to other user accounts, switching the settings for my wife

* Shortcuts are a pain. Some software (particularly things like 3D modeling packages) have tons of shortcuts and they are all well thought out around the idea that you have a QWERTY keyboard (the important shortcuts will be in the left hand, like mode-changing keys on QWER so that you can use a mouse with your right hand). It sort of sucks when you go to use those softwares and the hotkeys are all over the place. This even applies to the normal Cut/Paste/Copy hotkeys. I have software-remapped those so they are in the same location as QWERTY (on Windows, using Autohotkey) but that causes secondary issues where Ctrl-K shortcuts are unavailable because the V key is K in the Dvorak layout and I'm using that for pasting. vi/vim is also weird on Dvorak, but I stay away from those anyhow.

* It is hard to know where keys are when not in the "touch typing position". This kind of goes along with the last point about shortcuts. Since my physical keyboard is QWERTY, I cannot look at it and know where are particular key is. And all of my training in Dvorak is muscle-memory so I only know where the letters are by feel and not by knowing which QWERTY key they are mapped to. Consequently, trying to press a specific letter hotkey when my hand is not in the standard "home row" position is a bit of a guessing game. This is a problem in situations like using a 3D software where you are mostly mousing and only poking at hotkeys here and there. Obviously getting a labelled keyboard would solve this issue, but there are other downsides to that as well. (confusing other family members with my strange keyboard, paying extra for a niche product and having more limited choices)

If you can get past all of those issues... Dvorak is fantastic!

~~~
oliver101
Ok I admit, the blank keycaps are just to look cool.

> I have kind of un-learned Qwerty. When I have to go to someone else's
> machine at work (game dev studio) to diagnose a crash, Qwerty feels very
> foreign and I look like an idiot when I go to type (looking up and down,
> making lots of mistakes, and generally typing like an old uncle who has
> never used a computer).

This 100%. Was helping a colleague to debug, started typing... "you know what,
I might ask someone else"

------
dahdum
I've been touch typing since high school, but I did switch to blank key caps
and 60/80% mechanical formats about 15 years ago. The benefits I saw were:

I'd still occasionally glance at Function/Number keys, that was fixed within a
week or two.

Switching keyboard languages/layouts was easier, no longer had incorrect
labels to glance at (and generally annoy me that they were "wrong").

I remove as much clutter from my workspace as possible - blank key caps just
look tidier to me.

60% keyboards reduce the distance my hand travels to use the mouse by a _lot_.
I find that much more comfortable.

------
barrkel
When I learned to type back in the 1990s, I used Tipp-Ex (a correction fluid,
an opaque fast-drying white liquid) to cover up the keycap letters on my
keyboard, to force myself to move away from four-fingered typing with
occasional keyboard glances.

It wasn't enough though. What pushed me over the edge though was switching to
Dvorak. That forced me to learn. I can type Qwerty, just extremely slowly, but
the only place I ever need to use a Qwerty keyboard these days is the touch
keyboard on my phone.

~~~
ShinyRice
> but the only place I ever need to use a Qwerty keyboard these days is the
> touch keyboard on my phone.

Can't you just set your keyboard on your phone to Dvorak? If yours can't, I do
know of a few third-party ones that can, at least on Android.

~~~
BigJono
Not OP but I don't imagine that would be very useful. The input method is
completely different, so the muscle memory is completely different. Switching
from Qwerty to Dvorak on phone just means you have to re-learn touchscreen
typing all over again as well.

Also while Dvorak is objectively better for physical keyboards, Qwerty is
objectively better for swipe touchscreen keyboards, for similar reasons to why
it was better for typewriters. The more space between common character pairs,
the better swipe keyboards word prediction works.

------
wodenokoto
I feel like “proper” finger placement on the home row forces your wrist in an
awkward position and aligns with everything I’ve been told gives you injuries
from typing.

~~~
stunt
I've got RSA Type 2 and Trigger-finger four years ago and I was told if I
continue like that I may not be able to use a keyboard for a very long time.
It started with lots of pain and discomfort and then got worst with trigger-
finger. What a nightmare!

I had many years without touch typing and when the pain started, I was already
doing touch typing for more than 3 years. But, neither me nor the doctor
couldn't blame touch typing for it. I was told any repetitive movement can
cause it. Perhaps touch typing does kick in. But, the main cause was lack of
any exercise with hands. I was only using my hands on my keyboard for a very
long time.

I'm still doing touch typing. I actually stopped physiotherapy exercises for
my hands shortly. Instead, I started to do sports and normal exercises to keep
my muscles healthy. I've also switched to a split keyboard (Kinesis Advantage
2) with some customization on the layout to tweak it for coding. Seriously one
of my best purchases ever. Since then I actually invest on my work equipment
and office tools. Good monitor, proper desk and ergo chair. They last forever,
and it's way cheaper than breaking your body.

------
baylessj
I also found that blank keycaps improved my typing ability when I built an
Ergodox clone. I agree that the blank keycaps played a role in reducing my
desire to look at the keyboard, but I think the columnar layout of the Ergodox
played a much bigger role in encouraging proper form. When each finger's keys
are in a proper column it becomes more important to use the right finger to
press a given key, IMO.

~~~
alpaca128
I have also noticed this effect with the layout; I find the common staggered
layout on keyboards encourages people to use the wrong finger for a couple
keys, especially with fast typing speeds where you intuitively start
optimising movements.

An ortholinear layout makes those keys only easily accessible with the correct
fingers, and overcoming that part of the muscle memory was the hardest part of
the switch for me.

And what's even better is vertical stagger according to finger lengths; this
increases comfort when typing significantly in my experience, especially on
very small keyboards.

------
Aser
When I learned to touch type a few years ago, I found it really useful having
the letters on the keys so that when I messed up I could look down and make
sure my fingers were in the right places and get going again quickly.
Eventually after a week or so practicing, I had the hang of it and no longer
needed to look at the keys. So I'm not really sure what blank keycaps
achieves.

~~~
piptastic
I use a blank keycap keyboard. There are little raised dots on the F and J
keys to find your placement without looking down.

Two reasons to use one: 1) security - slows down most people when “borrowing”
your computer. 2) looking cool and being able to joke that it used to have
keycaps but you type so much that they all wore off

------
varbhat
I wanted to be typist who types fast without seeing the keyboard (remembering
the layout was point. Also, feeling of keyboard as another part of body was
joy).

So,back in March,i finally decided to start Touch typing. First thing was
about layout. I read that QWERTY is not good layout (it was not made for
computer era), so i searched alternatives. I finally settled with Dvorak.

First rule to learn touch typing is that you should never ever look at the
keyboard. Gist of Article too says the same. One advantage for me was that
even if i looked at my keyboard, keyboard layout was different, so it was not
much use.

So,i started learning touch typing. I used gtypist and typingclub to practice.
Some keys were tricky to remember. I used relative positioning to help me
sometimes too. References were needed sometimes. So,i printed layout and kept
it to refer if i felt it was necessary.

So,after typing for a month,i learned touch typing. I think that rather than
taping your keyboard, make determination not to see keyboard. You could also
choose better layout if it could matter with your typing.

~~~
toastal
I did the same my first winter break of college years ago. I think I'd
preferred I had learned Colemak or Workman, but the benefit is much smaller so
I never bothered (it's a great layout for thumbs though).

However, this is precisely why I buy and use QWERTY keyboards. When I'm first
installing a machine or I'm dropped into ash because of a hard drive issue or
that new shiny game has the layout set up for QWERTY instead of reading the
current layout, I know I can always look down to get my bearings long enough
to swap the layout/control or do that quick debug.

------
nkrisc
I think a great way to learn something is to have a reason to learn it. I
learned to touch type when I was 9 years old and playing StarCraft online.
Plenty of motivation to type fast and without looking at the keyboard when
playing a real time multiplayer game.

I don't think I'd fare well with black keycaps though. I still have trouble
remembering which number key is which symbol.

~~~
RMPR
Almost the same here I learned touch typing because I wanted to handle many
chats on Facebook, when the web interface was all they had.

------
bartschuijt
I tried to increase my typing speed and accuracy numerous times but it
remained a disaster nevertheless. The biggest improvement was when I switched
to the Colemak keyboard layout. For anyone struggling with typing fast and
accurately I suggest you give it a try. The first few weeks will be tough but
once you get "it", you will never go back.

------
bmb2305
This reminds me of a joke we’ve made with a colleague many years ago. We all
made jokes with each of us. He was a two finger typist and we’ve made a joke
to him and reordered some keys on his keyboard. He became crazy when typing
his password wrong again and again and again.

In the end we’ve rolled laughing on the floor including him and it made a good
memory.

------
boomboomsubban
For many of the posters in this thread, did your schools try to teach you
proper typing and you could just meet the requirements with your personal
methods? I had a couple weeks of typing classes on decade old Apple 2's from
~3-6th grade, and I'm wondering if that wasn't common or I'm too old/young for
this or what.

~~~
xtracto
I had a 1 year course of typing in 1st grade secondary school (12y old). At
the time (1994) we used mechanical typewriters and a cloth keyboard cover. We
did pages of typing and if you got 1 char wrong you had to repeat the full
page.

At that same time i was programming games in Basic and C, so i knew i was
going to benefit from it (the majority of kids thought it was a girls'
class... this being an all male school).

Fast forward 30 years i am a happy 100wpm typist. And when I see programmers
struggling to find keys I just wonder how more productive they would be if
they didn't have to think about it.

------
pjc50
The cheap way to do this is to take one of those $5 keyboards that pile up in
every desktop-owning household and a can of car spraypaint. Or at least that's
what a friend of mine did in the 90s. To match the spraypainted tower case.

(Do a test on the underside first; some paint solvents are bad for some
plastics)

------
Jestar342
Blank keys helped me to (touch) type more efficiently, I was already able but
I did find myself often looking at the keyboard anyway so I fancied buying a
Das Keyboard Ultimate (also partly for the geek factor).

I now use a variety of keyboards but often opt for 60% keyboards as I am more
concerned with ergonomics than I am touch typing. I _would_ go for a true
ergonomic keyboard like an Ergodox or Dactyl but they aren't very compatible
with my mobile working and it would be a real pain everytime I hopped onto a
colleagues keyboard or similar (or expected colleagues to use mine).

One thing I am keen to try out and that the OP might want to consider is
Ortholinear keyboards. That diagram color coding the keys for fingers is a
perfect demonstration of why non-linear keyboards are not best suited for our
hands.

------
emodendroket
Great if it worked but you don't need hundreds of dollars of special equipment
to learn to touch-type.

------
segmondy
I suppose they don't teach typing anymore. When I was in high school, the
typing class was a prerequisite before one could take any computer classes. I
was very miserable in that class since I just wanted to play with computers,
very grateful I got to take that class. If you can't type without looking at
your fingers, it's really worth the investment of taking a few months to learn
to type. As a benefit, I suppose good finger placements helps with a relaxed
hand. I have been using the computer daily for 25yrs with the crappiest and
cheapest keyboard one could find and don't have the problem of thumb and
finger pains that seems to plague my peers.

------
dkarl
You can also cut small pieces from the sticky end of Post-It notes to cover
the letters on your keyboard. You'll have to replace a few along the way, but
you'll be touch-typing soon enough. You don't need a durable solution.

------
implicit
I switched to the Dvorak keyboard layout sometime in the early 00s.

I've never owned a keyboard that was actually physically labelled for Dvorak,
so I _cannot_ type if I can see my fingers. The lies printed on the keycaps
throw me off every time. :)

------
sawaruna
Buying an HHKB and typing 70-90 WPM does not make one an "Expert Typist"

------
dvfjsdhgfv
If you really care about entering large amounts of text into a computer
quickly, dictation is the way to go. If you care more about quality rather
than quantity (e.g. when coding), speed doesn't matter that much.

~~~
kohlerm
With regards to coding, yeah maybe speed of entering text doesn't matter that
much, but IMHO speed of navigating around and changing text might still
matter. Being able to "blindly" edit the text IMHO makes a difference. Also
usually as a developer, in my experience writing non-code text (email, chat
etc) is still taking a lot of time

------
kureikain
I can touch typing but I only used 6 fingers and a lot more on 4 fingers. That
puts a lotof load on my fingers and I'm in process of trying to type with 10
fingers. Will this help me?

For some background, I train myself to be left handed as in I started to use
mouse by left hand, writing on left hand to help my right hand recover. But
nows it's my fingers

------
stonekyx
I also use an HHKB at work. At the beginning it was because I use Vim a lot,
and the HHKB's ctrl key placement is so perfect for Vim (and Emacs) users, but
I immediately found that it's just so comfortable typing on it.

Later I also got a customizable controller board from TMK [0], so that my HHKB
now also functions as a mouse, moving mouse cursor with h/j/k/l keys, without
any software assistance.

[0]
[https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=12047.0](https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=12047.0)

------
throwaway5d3c
My keycaps are mostly blank (varies with frequency of key use) due to the
shear amount of typing I've done on my KB, which has lasted me a surprisingly
long time (10-15 yrs).

I would say I reached "expert" status long before that happened though. I
attribute this to doing so much typing for the past few decades.

I think the reason so many people have trouble with keyboards is that they
have no formal training (e.g. a typing class in school), and do not regularly
use them because their phone/tablet is the primary computing device.

~~~
deathanatos
> _and do not regularly use them because their phone /tablet is the primary
> computing device._

… maybe someday, but I think it's a bit premature? Phone keyboards were
terrible, involving hacks like T9 to make them tolerable for the longest time.
Smart phones haven't been around _that_ long; the iPhone wasn't introduced
until mid-2007. That's only a little more than a decade, so unless you're
close to 20, you're going to remember / have learned on something else.

And it takes very little practice on even a basic keyboard to outpace a mobile
"keyboard"'s input rate.

~~~
taneq
A good T9 typist is probably faster than a regular phone keyboard even now
(gesture typing is, I'd guess, a little faster though) and is tactile so you
don't have to be able to see the screen / keyboard.

> And it takes very little practice on even a basic keyboard to outpace a
> mobile "keyboard"'s input rate.

Yeah, but you have to care enough to do that. (And also have a physical
keyboard available.)

------
dusted
The year was 2000, and the 14 year old DusteD had just watched Hackers (1995)
for the sixth billionth time, and decided the only way forward was to paint
his computer like they did in the movie! That included his keyboard, he learnt
how to type after that.

Today I have a wasd keyboards model with blank white keys and red cherries,
looks fantastic and always a fun conversation starter at LANs and in the
office :)

Before that I had the Filco Majestouch Otaku with blue cherries, but
unfortunately it broke.

------
rtbcodes
I did this but I learned with the Dvorak keyboard layout. One of the best
decisions I've made. I did not do it bc i thought Dvorak would be faster or
better, I just needed to type better and learning on a regular keyboard with
Dvorak made me learn blind. Muscle memory for life!

I used this site: [https://learn.dvorak.nl/](https://learn.dvorak.nl/) tried
to do it every day for 30 mins or so when i first started learning.

~~~
rtbcodes
Also, good job and congrats on learning to type well!

------
dkersten
I used a blank keyboard to learn Colemak. I wouldn’t call marks an expert
typist, but I’m definitely more fluent than ever before and typing is more
comfortable than ever before.

~~~
dkersten
Just to be clear: that typo (marks instead of myself) was made on an iphone
onscreen keyboard, not touch typing in colemak ;-)

------
AnonHP
I’m not a touch typist because I never had the chance to learn it formally.
But I did learn to type quite fast on my own, reaching at least 60+WPM on
physical keyboards. I’ve been doing this for quite sometime and I have my own
pattern for specific fingers for specific keys.

What resources would you recommend to learn proper touch typing (on a US
English QWERTY keyboard) while getting rid of current habits (I saw the Typing
Club recommendation in the article)?

------
mwilliaams
When I was in high school, one day I cleaned my disgusting keyboard by taking
it apart and cleaning beneath the keys. When I reassembled the keyboard I
intentionally mixed up all the letters, numbers, and punctuation. Like a blank
keyboard it kept me from “cheating” and taught me touch typing. And it was
hilarious whenever someone else tried to use my computer. They’d usually give
up after a few seconds of staring at the keys.

------
drran
Just scramble keycaps on keyboard. No need for blank keycaps.

~~~
opan
Normal OEM profile keycaps are not all equally shaped. The heights are meant
to be staggered. You'd want something like DSA profile, blank or not, if
you're planning to change stuff around.

------
liquidise
I’ve owned a blank WASD board for years. Im no expert typist but i’ve had a
similar experience to the author.

Anecdotally it serves as a layer of computer security i didn’t expect. Friends
of mine (IT pros, graduate students, programmers, etc) who make their
livelihoods on computers throw tantrums completing simple tasks with it, such
as typing “youtube” into an address bar. Entering their passwords is
particularly impossible exercise in my experience.

~~~
thom
At a company I worked for, there was a security policy that if you left your
machine unlocked, someone could send an email on your behalf offering to buy
the entire company donuts. You were expected to make good on the offer.

The only person immune to this was a Dvorak user (who I believe also had the
additional security layer of using Emacs as a mail client).

~~~
Raed667
A colleague of mine was the "victim" of this a couple of times. After that he
had some sort of script that would lock the laptop if you type "croissant".

~~~
taneq
That is such a wrong yet effective solution to the problem.

------
kohlerm
I fully agree that blank keycaps are the way to go! I learned touch typing
only very late in my (software engineering) career (almost 20 years into it).
I decidedto directly start using COLEMAK using custom keyboards (Ergodox,
Iris). Blank caps just make more sense on this setup, because you do not need
custom COLEMAK keycaps and also because you are not looking all the time at
the keyboard to find the right key.

------
theli0nheart
I recommend everyone who wants to type fast to at least give something like
this a try. When I was in high school, I spray-painted all of my keycaps
black. I took the keyboard outside, put down some newspaper, and sprayed.

One thing I didn't consider was that the keys would all become sticky, so a
fair amount of action was required to get the keys to press down. I type
pretty consistently at ~100wpm today.

------
roland35
Back in first grade in the early 90s we had a computer lab class where the
teacher taped a handkerchief over the keyboard and forced us to learn touch
typing. At the time it seemed ridiculous (and sweaty!) But looking back I am
glad I learned touch typing early! I currently type around 100 words per
minute which is enough for me where it isn't a bottle neck any more.

------
viktor4006094
That's how I learned to touch type as well. Or actually, I learned to touch
type before I got blank key caps but I still had a bad habit of looking down
at my keyboard to _make sure_ that the letters were where I thought they were,
and getting blank keycaps got rid of that bad habit in like a week. The only
issue was learning all the symbol keys which took a little while.

------
jeffbee
You can also just put a towel over your hands until you learn it.

The best thing I got out of typing club was an objective means of evaluating
keyboards. I learned that my fancy keyboard wasn’t really serving me like I
thought. Objectively, the best (fastest) keyboard I have is the plain-seeming
one built into my PixelBook Go. The worst one, by a mile, is my MacBook Pro
“butterfly”.

------
bashwizard
There are actually devs that can't touch type these days? That's quite
fascinating.

I can't imagine having to look at the keyboard while typing.

~~~
bojanvidanovic
Author here. If you start noticing, there are a lot of devs typing casually.

------
makach
Wait, are there printed letters on my keyboard?

Jokes aside. I learned touch type in 5th grade, but knew on beforehand where
all the letters was placed. I never thought about it, but I do use *parts of
touch when I type. My fingers are always resting on asdf and jkl. I write
~70wps with this technique, I wonder if this is as fast as my mind is capable
of coming up with sentences?

~~~
gruez
>I write ~70wps with this technique

70 words per _second_?

~~~
test1235
Yeah, where each word is a single letter. Also, a space is a word.

~~~
makach
wpm thank you for pointing it out^^

------
rgoulter
I've noticed that when I type QWERTY-layout, my fingers don't necessarily
maintain that suggested discipline with the columns. With words like 'really',
my left hand will move over so that my index finger can type the 'y'.

If you've got the time to spare, though, I'd suggest learning the Dvorak
layout for a more comfortable typing experience.

~~~
bentcorner
I do the same thing typing "really". I also do things like use my middle and
ring finger on my right to type something like "pop".

How long did it take you to learn dvorak?

~~~
xvedejas
Learning colemak took me maybe a month for proficiency. I'd recommend it as
more ergonomic and easier to learn compared to Dvorak; minimizing changes from
qwerty was an explicit part of its design process.

~~~
Gehinnn
You should check out neo2! It might be specific for the German language but
it's six layers make it super efficient for programming.

------
darkerside
I can't even comprehend how people could program without touch typing. It's
like doing handiwork without powered tools.

~~~
phito
Right? I've also had multiple co-workers (programmers!!) who do not use any
keyboard shortcuts. Drives me crazy.

------
kentosi
So as much as I'd love to try the HHKB, my main issue is that I use IntelliJ
in my dayjob. It looks like out of the Ctrl, Alt and Command/Win keys I'll
have to pick 2.

Are there any HHKB users here willing to share their tips on how to get by?

Note: I already use a 60% mech keyboard and am more than happy to swap arrow
keys for Caps Lock + hjkl.

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retox
Something that helped me when learning, if you make even one character mistake
at the end of a word while touch typing delete the whole word with
CTRL+BACKSPACE and rewrite it as many times as it takes to get it correct. If
you want to be more strict with yourself delete several words and start from
there.

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beaker52
I love keyboards. And debating the need to switch to colemak. And changing my
IDE to use Input Mono, finding that latest colour scheme I saw in that blog,
rotating my monitor vertically, oooo look, ergonomic mice -- wait, I'll look
at those once I've finished switching to vim, and _then_ I'll do some work.

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major505
I learned to type when I was young. My mom was a old school scretary for the
CEO of a compnay, so she had the formal training.

She made me learn to type when I was young in one of those old ibm selectric.

So now I can type really fast, but I still look at the keyboard from time to
time.

Fun fact: my mom finished Type of the Dead in her the first try.

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kipchak
In school when learning to type we had keyboard covers that looking now seem
to be called "speedskins", that went over the keyboard and kept you from
peeking. It looks like they make them for Macbooks as well. They never quite
fit right but were overall fairly effective.

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refracture
Years ago I bought a Unicomp Model M blank. It was neat in a 'it freaks
everybody out who sees it' kind of way, but between the horrendous noise of
those keyboards and not being one to look at my keyboard when typing anyway...
it has found itself relegated to storage.

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xwdv
I use a blank keyboard but not for the reasons of touch typing. I use it so
when people sit at my desk and go to type they realize they don't know how to
touch type so they just fuck off and leave my computer alone. It's a signaling
kind of thing.

------
growlist
I have a Filco Majestouch with blue switches and I love it. It took a while to
get used to the key press which I expected was going to be somehow tighter,
but now I'm used to it and it's great. I haven't gone as far as custom
keycaps.

------
Tsiklon
Interestingly enough the HHKB has a bunch of keys exposed through using the
function key that the blank keycap version doesn't appear to expose -
home/delete/pgup/pgdown/scrlock/PrintScreen/Arrows

~~~
MarceColl
That's not true, my blank keycap HHKB has those keys as expected

~~~
Tsiklon
I think I misspoke there; the keyboard is going to function the same
regardless of which model is chosen, blank caps or not. I didn't mean to imply
that the keyboard didn't have reduced functionality.

What I had meant to say was, that without the legends on the face of the keys
it would be less discoverable for a new user who has purchased the keyboard to
discover the arrow keys, pgup etc.

I mention this because the author of the article mentions that the keyboard
doesn't have arrow keys. However I see in hindsight that this was in reference
to the keyboard not coming with a dedicated set of keys, as opposed to the
functionality not being present at all.

------
lando2319
Nail polish works the best. I like to paint over all the keys not just the
letters.

------
prmph
I never learned to properly touch type, but over the years I have developed
muscle memory regarding where each key is located. So while I may never be as
fast as a proper touch typist, I believe I get pretty close.

------
unixhero
Side question: What's your favorite battleship class keyboard?

[https://deskthority.net/wiki/Battleship](https://deskthority.net/wiki/Battleship)

------
acd
I had a friend who told me dont look down at the keys. That worked to, no
special keyboard required :). You could also temporary cover keys up with post
it notes until you have memorized them.

------
danbolt
I type without looking at the keyboard, but I think I kind of naturally
“learned” from wanting to express myself quickly on MSN Messenger as a tween.
Did anyone else have the same experience?

~~~
lawl
yeah, i do the same, i don't look at the keyboard, but i definitely don't
properly touch type.

I do ~80 wpm with my system, and around ~30wpm when properly touch typing. So
I'm always annoyed by my slow typing when touch typing and usually give up
trying to learn it. And yes I know, learning it properly would probably make
me faster than my ~80 wpm because I'd actually utilize all my fingers, but
going down again first feels so bad.

------
whoopdedo
The way I became a touch-typist was with a time limit. Specifically, the time
limit on dial-in BBSes. When given 20 minutes before being forced off the
line, I quickly learned how to type faster.

------
ainiriand
I learned to type playing a MUD. I forced myself to not look at the keyboard
and run all the commands with proper type technique.

It worked quite well, I never measured my speed but it is quite faster than
before.

------
learc83
I used stickers to cover the keys of my little sister’s keyboard and pointed
her to the BBC’s typing website when she was in 3rd grade. She learned to
touch type in a week or so.

------
pagutierrezn
I learned 35 years ago with a book from my father (using a typewriter of
course). At the time, it was considered a good practice to cover the keycaps
with black tape.

------
daffy
Blank keyboards also look better, especially these:

[https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/](https://www.modelfkeyboards.com/)

------
maxekman
I learnt Dvorak on regular Qwerty keyboards many years ago. Very effective for
not looking! Highly recommended if you want to learn another layout.

------
1MachineElf
I recommend blank keycaps to beginners r/dvorak. The learning curve is very
steep but also is rewarding after enough sustained effort.

------
martincmartin
Any suggestions for typing practice programs / web sites, that include the
special characters needed by programmers?

------
yangzx
I had exactly the same blank cap HHKB, which only makes me angry (when I
couldn't found the punctuations I wanted)

~~~
KMnO4
I have black keycaps with very faint grey letters on the front (not top). It
gives the same aesthetic but if I ever forget a punctuation I can tilt my gaze
a bit lower and find it.

------
francislata
Does anyone know where's the best place to buy the HHKB in Canada? Amazon's
price is a bit expensive! Thanks!

------
snack_man
How soon does everyone think we'll have a better/faster input mechanism than
typing? What will it be?

------
aj7
At Lefferts Junior High School, in Brooklyn, a keyboard with blank keycaps did
NOT make me an expert typist.

------
WalterBright
I'm getting there gradually as the painted letters wear off my keyboard :-/

~~~
opan
PBT keycaps don't have this problem, although if you don't already have a
mechanical keyboard, it'd be a bit of an investment.

------
kstenerud
I learned touch typing on a typewriter in high school, but I never used it.
After 25 years in the industry, I know that a typing speed over 30-40 wpm just
isn't important for software development. Typing occupies maybe 10-15% of my
total software development time.

~~~
Timpy
The sysadmin at my company is notoriously terrible at written communication,
especially his code. He uses unintelligible variable names; sometimes it's so
bad you would think you're looking at minified code. When I was lamenting
about reading his code to the senior dev he told me, "Oh yeah, sysadmin is a
two finger typist". Ever since then I've correlated his code issues with his
typing styles. One time over some after work beers he was criticizing the
touch typing classes he was forced to take in college, saying it did not
improve his wpm and he quickly resumed his own style. Now that we're in
quarantine and most of our communication is written, I think about him facing
head down toward his keyboard rapidly two-finger-striking away while I stare
at the "now typing" bubble next to his name in chat.

~~~
kstenerud
Sure, if someone is typing < 30wpm it gets tedious to chat, but bad code
readability comes from not caring about others rather than typing speed.

------
hthec
It seems like typing "beginning" is still quite hard.

------
snack_man
The old MBP with removable keycaps made me learn Dvorak

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pantulis
this was an old trick when learning touch typing on typewriters. At the
classroom there were machines with blank keycaps, or only the ASDF row.

------
ayushchat
Fascinating!

~~~
bojanvidanovic
Thanks.

