Why you need and how you can learn to type blind quickly
In connection with the increased interest in the blind recruitment lately, I would like to share thoughts and experiences on the topic. Much of this is not at all new and has already occurred on Habré, so I will try to somehow generalize and systematize the information known to me, and the opportunity to add unique content.
This is not necessary for those who spend little time at the computer. The rest, in my opinion, is a must.
When it comes to the benefits of blind typing, they usually talk about high speed dialing. Printing quickly means saving time, which is sometimes not enough. The advantages of high-speed printing are fairly obvious, but they are not critical for all. Some may quite reasonably say: “I don’t need to type quickly, because I don’t need to type large texts, and for correspondence and other domestic needs it’s enough to look at the buttons and press them with one finger” - and they will be right in their own way, because they are so comfortable. But the matter is not only in speed as such - there are two very important points concerning health, which for some reason are ignored.
The first one is our eyes. If you type a long text, all the time looking from the monitor to the buttons and back, then the eyes very quickly begin to tire. The reason is that the distance from the keyboard to the screen is usually different, there is a constant refocusing. In addition, the position of the eyes when looking at the keys is often close to the bottommost position, in which they are not easy to hold (this, of course, depends on the location of the keyboard). With poor lighting, the situation is even worse - there is a big difference in the brightness and contrast of the objects between which our gaze moves. As a result, they may just start to hurt their eyes first, and then (probably) their vision may deteriorate.
')
The second point is posture. When working at a computer, the correct body position is approximately as follows: the back is not bent, the neck is thrown back, and the shoulders are straightened. And if you look at the keyboard, then it pulls you to hunched over, lower your head, in general, earn scoliosis.
It is believed that you can quickly type only on some special "racing" keyboards, which is fundamentally wrong. High speed dialing is achievable (with about the same effort) on any sound keyboard, from netbook to advanced desktop. Moreover, changing from a standard office keyboard to a laptop and comfortably typing with its usual speed is a matter of several texts long with this paragraph.
Separately, mention should be made of ergonomic keyboards. Their key blocks for the left and right hands are slightly spaced and are at such an angle that the hands do not arch, but are a direct continuation of the forearms. The “relief” of the keyboard can also be changed (different buttons are at different heights and have different surface shapes) - this allows you to take into account the length and position of your fingers when typing. On such keyboards it is really more convenient to type, but they require habituation and, accordingly, weaning off, if necessary, using the usual one. Famous Ergonomic Keyboard - Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard
The dominant keyboard layouts used on 99.99% of computers are YCUKEN for Russian and QWERTY for English. How and why they appeared - now it does not matter, the main thing is that they exist, as well as others. Among Latin, it is primarily Dvorak (several variants) and Colemak , among Russians it is Typewriter , which differs from YTsUKEN by the position of punctuation marks and the letter E. It is believed that in traditional layouts the arrangement of letters is not the most optimal for blind typing, how alternatives partially solve this problem. However, the use of non-standard layouts does not suit everyone for obvious reasons. In addition to layouts for convenience, there are also phonetic layouts in which the letters of the two languages ​​are combined in consonance. They are intended primarily for foreigners.
The most common method is the usual ten finger. He is taught by numerous keyboard simulators, some of which will be discussed below. The essence of the method is that in the initial position the fingers of the hands (except for the large ones) are located above the keys " F S V A " and " O D G F " in the Russian layout "YTSUKEN" (" ASDF " and " JKL: " in English "QWERTY "), Large - above the space. The remaining buttons are pressed with the fingers, which is the easiest to reach them.
However, this method is not the only one. For example, there is an "alternative" ten-finger method, which seems to be more convenient than many. In it, the starting position is not “ F S IN A ” - “ O L D G ”, but “ S In B M ” - “ T O L D ” (index fingers in the bottom row, on the letters M and T). It is good because the hands are located more naturally, the hands are not curved outward (this is especially noticeable when the keyboard is close to the body). But there is a drawback - the load on the little fingers, which have to press a greater number of keys and drag on.
Both of these methods are based on the fact that each button is pressed with the same finger that is most convenient to press it with. Thus, you can achieve a very large, but not maximum speed - the fact is that if a sequence of letters pressed by different fingers can be typed almost instantly, then the letters of the same finger will have to be pressed sequentially, which affects the speed . An adaptive printing method comes to the rescue, which is usually individual for everyone: you should (ideally) press each button with the finger with which it is currently the fastest to press. In this case, the same letter can be typed with different fingers, depending on the previous and next letters. There are no specific rules and tutorials (at least, I did not find it). To master this method is probably not easy, but it allows you to achieve fantastic speeds (more than 600 characters per minute on average ).
In order to type texts, without looking at the keyboard, it is not at all necessary to go through Solo. It is not necessary to do anything specifically for this — simply typing texts without looking at the keyboard :) Sooner or later, there will be fewer errors and more speed. Do not look at the buttons at first is not easy - the eyes and strive to slide down and peep little letter. This problem can be solved in different ways - for example, buy a Das Keyboard , or glue all the keys with small squares of electrical tape, or simply mix them in a random order.
Nevertheless, the most effective way is to go through one of many simulators with lessons (preferably both in Russian and in English). Unfortunately, simulators exist only for standard layouts and the standard ten-finger method - therefore, those who have chosen the alternative will have to be content with method No. 1. All of the following applies only to standard layouts and the usual ten-finger method. The most famous simulator is Solo on the keyboard from Vladimir Shahidzhanyan. But it is not the only one, it costs money and, in my opinion, it does not have such advantages over free counterparts for which it is worth paying.
One of the best, if not the best, simulator is Vse10 (online, written in Flash). It has a simple and pleasant interface and a good base of lessons for Russian and English. Perfect for both absolute beginners and those who already know how to type blindly in some way.
There is also a great program Stamina with lessons and lots of fun texts. However, teaching children with its help is not recommended due to the content of the texts. True, at the site is available a special patch that fixes the problem :)
Learning to type blindly does not mean learning to type quickly. Often, the speed after passing all the lessons is even lower than the speed of “peeking” typing. In order to recruit quickly, you need to practice a lot. Print a lot of texts. Those who already have to do this can be confident of good results. Well, I recommend Klavogonka to everyone else (and to them too) - these are fascinating races with real opponents on typewriters, naturally by typing texts. There are many dictionaries, modes and pleasant things like tuning. You can’t think of a better way to quickly increase the printing speed - competitive motivation is very strong. Caution! This is also a strong timekiller :)
Another good simulator - Keybr.com . It is interesting in that it generates phonetically correct, but mostly meaningless phrases, which allows you to learn how to type without thinking. There is also a highlighting of "difficult" letters.
Who needs it and why?
This is not necessary for those who spend little time at the computer. The rest, in my opinion, is a must.
When it comes to the benefits of blind typing, they usually talk about high speed dialing. Printing quickly means saving time, which is sometimes not enough. The advantages of high-speed printing are fairly obvious, but they are not critical for all. Some may quite reasonably say: “I don’t need to type quickly, because I don’t need to type large texts, and for correspondence and other domestic needs it’s enough to look at the buttons and press them with one finger” - and they will be right in their own way, because they are so comfortable. But the matter is not only in speed as such - there are two very important points concerning health, which for some reason are ignored.
The first one is our eyes. If you type a long text, all the time looking from the monitor to the buttons and back, then the eyes very quickly begin to tire. The reason is that the distance from the keyboard to the screen is usually different, there is a constant refocusing. In addition, the position of the eyes when looking at the keys is often close to the bottommost position, in which they are not easy to hold (this, of course, depends on the location of the keyboard). With poor lighting, the situation is even worse - there is a big difference in the brightness and contrast of the objects between which our gaze moves. As a result, they may just start to hurt their eyes first, and then (probably) their vision may deteriorate.
')
The second point is posture. When working at a computer, the correct body position is approximately as follows: the back is not bent, the neck is thrown back, and the shoulders are straightened. And if you look at the keyboard, then it pulls you to hunched over, lower your head, in general, earn scoliosis.
About keyboards
It is believed that you can quickly type only on some special "racing" keyboards, which is fundamentally wrong. High speed dialing is achievable (with about the same effort) on any sound keyboard, from netbook to advanced desktop. Moreover, changing from a standard office keyboard to a laptop and comfortably typing with its usual speed is a matter of several texts long with this paragraph.
Separately, mention should be made of ergonomic keyboards. Their key blocks for the left and right hands are slightly spaced and are at such an angle that the hands do not arch, but are a direct continuation of the forearms. The “relief” of the keyboard can also be changed (different buttons are at different heights and have different surface shapes) - this allows you to take into account the length and position of your fingers when typing. On such keyboards it is really more convenient to type, but they require habituation and, accordingly, weaning off, if necessary, using the usual one. Famous Ergonomic Keyboard - Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard
About layouts
The dominant keyboard layouts used on 99.99% of computers are YCUKEN for Russian and QWERTY for English. How and why they appeared - now it does not matter, the main thing is that they exist, as well as others. Among Latin, it is primarily Dvorak (several variants) and Colemak , among Russians it is Typewriter , which differs from YTsUKEN by the position of punctuation marks and the letter E. It is believed that in traditional layouts the arrangement of letters is not the most optimal for blind typing, how alternatives partially solve this problem. However, the use of non-standard layouts does not suit everyone for obvious reasons. In addition to layouts for convenience, there are also phonetic layouts in which the letters of the two languages ​​are combined in consonance. They are intended primarily for foreigners.
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About touch typing
The most common method is the usual ten finger. He is taught by numerous keyboard simulators, some of which will be discussed below. The essence of the method is that in the initial position the fingers of the hands (except for the large ones) are located above the keys " F S V A " and " O D G F " in the Russian layout "YTSUKEN" (" ASDF " and " JKL: " in English "QWERTY "), Large - above the space. The remaining buttons are pressed with the fingers, which is the easiest to reach them.
However, this method is not the only one. For example, there is an "alternative" ten-finger method, which seems to be more convenient than many. In it, the starting position is not “ F S IN A ” - “ O L D G ”, but “ S In B M ” - “ T O L D ” (index fingers in the bottom row, on the letters M and T). It is good because the hands are located more naturally, the hands are not curved outward (this is especially noticeable when the keyboard is close to the body). But there is a drawback - the load on the little fingers, which have to press a greater number of keys and drag on.
Both of these methods are based on the fact that each button is pressed with the same finger that is most convenient to press it with. Thus, you can achieve a very large, but not maximum speed - the fact is that if a sequence of letters pressed by different fingers can be typed almost instantly, then the letters of the same finger will have to be pressed sequentially, which affects the speed . An adaptive printing method comes to the rescue, which is usually individual for everyone: you should (ideally) press each button with the finger with which it is currently the fastest to press. In this case, the same letter can be typed with different fingers, depending on the previous and next letters. There are no specific rules and tutorials (at least, I did not find it). To master this method is probably not easy, but it allows you to achieve fantastic speeds (more than 600 characters per minute on average ).
How to study?
In order to type texts, without looking at the keyboard, it is not at all necessary to go through Solo. It is not necessary to do anything specifically for this — simply typing texts without looking at the keyboard :) Sooner or later, there will be fewer errors and more speed. Do not look at the buttons at first is not easy - the eyes and strive to slide down and peep little letter. This problem can be solved in different ways - for example, buy a Das Keyboard , or glue all the keys with small squares of electrical tape, or simply mix them in a random order.
Nevertheless, the most effective way is to go through one of many simulators with lessons (preferably both in Russian and in English). Unfortunately, simulators exist only for standard layouts and the standard ten-finger method - therefore, those who have chosen the alternative will have to be content with method No. 1. All of the following applies only to standard layouts and the usual ten-finger method. The most famous simulator is Solo on the keyboard from Vladimir Shahidzhanyan. But it is not the only one, it costs money and, in my opinion, it does not have such advantages over free counterparts for which it is worth paying.
One of the best, if not the best, simulator is Vse10 (online, written in Flash). It has a simple and pleasant interface and a good base of lessons for Russian and English. Perfect for both absolute beginners and those who already know how to type blindly in some way.
There is also a great program Stamina with lessons and lots of fun texts. However, teaching children with its help is not recommended due to the content of the texts. True, at the site is available a special patch that fixes the problem :)
What's next?
Learning to type blindly does not mean learning to type quickly. Often, the speed after passing all the lessons is even lower than the speed of “peeking” typing. In order to recruit quickly, you need to practice a lot. Print a lot of texts. Those who already have to do this can be confident of good results. Well, I recommend Klavogonka to everyone else (and to them too) - these are fascinating races with real opponents on typewriters, naturally by typing texts. There are many dictionaries, modes and pleasant things like tuning. You can’t think of a better way to quickly increase the printing speed - competitive motivation is very strong. Caution! This is also a strong timekiller :)
Another good simulator - Keybr.com . It is interesting in that it generates phonetically correct, but mostly meaningless phrases, which allows you to learn how to type without thinking. There is also a highlighting of "difficult" letters.
Couple of tips
- When learning from the very beginning, it is necessary to ensure that the right shift and space is pressed. This should be done with the fingers of the hand that did not press the previous character. If you initially get used to pressing them with only one hand, then very soon it will become difficult to increase the speed.
- First of all, it is worth paying attention not to speed, but to the number of errors. The fewer errors, the greater the speed you can achieve. By the way, I recommend the "Error-free" mode in Klavogonka - if you alternate it with "Normal", the speed increase is noticeably higher.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/106256/
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