

How I got to learn to type - Tihauan
http://tihauan.iwillread.com/2009/10/dear-sirs-i-am-typing-this-to-you.html

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mtoledo
I've recently moved from qwerty to dvorak for similar reasons. Even though
it's not yet been 2 months of dvorak training, I score around the 60wpm in
typeracer.

One of the reasons I decided to try it was the same 8hrs a day excuse. I now
have a hard time imagining going back to qwerty like someone that touchtypes
has with going back to look at the keyboard.

Ps. I never understood why vi navigation is done with hjkl instead of jkl; -
if you touchtype the classical way, it means you navigate with 3 fingers
instead of 4.

Edit: correcting typos. I'm typing from my iPhone :)

~~~
thristian
I also switched from QWERTY to Dvorak, as an excuse to learn to touch-type -
after a decade or so of typing QWERTY in my own seven-or-eight-finger style,
there was no way I'd ever be able to override such ingrained habits. I've been
using Dvorak constantly at home and work for several years now, and I just
clocked myself at 77wpm on TypeRacer - not that impressive, but then I find I
spend more time thinking and editing than typing anyway. :)

Also: in those TypeRacer trials, I found my right hand doing a lot more work
than my left-hand - possibly because my left hand stays on the vowels and my
right-hand is jumping about all over the place. Why oh why couldn't Dvorak
have put R and L somewhere more... convenient? :(

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mtoledo
Just to be clear, I was already a qwerty touch typist before, so I just moved
for the layout efficiency.

I don't dislike the r and l placement on the right hand. I do sometimes feel p
should belong on the right hand tho.

------
pbhjpbhj
I first did typing at school in an IT class (c. 1990) where most felt it was
useless. I didn't realise how important it was, I think the teacher did, she
was very prescient.

At Uni in 1994 I realised how important it was going to be and taught myself
to touch-type. I think it was a little easier starting as I learnt piano from
when I was 11 years old.

I don't type a lot day-to-day. My <http://play.typeracer.com/> unpractised
score was 50wpm at 96.2% accuracy (oh yeah and that site is good example of
unregistered users mentioned a couple of days ago
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=910829>). Though I found it a little hard
as normally I'll type a few paras and then use spell-check whilst I proof read
so the modus was a little forced.

\---

 _there are plenty of touch typing resources only a bing away_

First time I've heard MS Bing referred to like that!

~~~
iron_ball
Yeah, when I saw that, I thought, "how much did they pay him?"

