How to Touch Type
Touch typing is the skill of typing legibly on a keyboard without having to look at it. What was once a skill attributed to secretaries, now a necessity in our web-connected world. Here’s how to learn touch typing without taking a secretary’s course.
Hand Placement
Touch typing functions on the principle of muscle memory. By having your fingers “fixed” on certain home keys, you memorize how the other keys are placed based on how far they are placed from the home keys. In the touch typing method, your fingers should be based on these keys:
Left Hand
Left pinky finger: A
Left ring finger: S
Left middle finger: D
Left pointer finger: F
Left thumb: Spacebar
Right Hand
Right pinky finger: Colon/semi-colon key
Right ring finger: L
Right middle finger: K
Right pointer finger: J
Right thumb: Spacebar
Using this configuration, your fingers are now placed in the manner where they can reach the other keys in the shortest time possible. Use specific fingers in striking the following keys for faster and efficient typing:
Left Hand
Left pinky finger: Q, Z, A, Shift Key, Tab Key and Caps Lock
Left ring finger: W, X, S
Left middle finger: E, C, D
Left pointer finger: T, R, G, B. V, F
Right Hand
Right pinky finger: Colon, Quotation Mark, P, Enter Key, Shift Key, Question Mark and other keys on the rightmost side of the keyboard.
Right ring finger: L, O, Period Key
Right middle finger: I, K, Comma Key
Right ring finger: L, O, Period Key
Right pointer finger: Y, U, H, N, M, J
Number Keys
The number keys are spread out horizontally over the keyboard, and you will need different fingers to reach each one. Typically, the fingers you use to strike the number keys are the fingers you use for the function buttons. Here are the appropriate fingers to use for the number keys:
1: Left pinky finger
2: Left ring finger
3: Left middle finger
4 and 5: Left pointer finger
6 and 7: Right pointer finger
8: Right middle finger
9: Right ring finger
0 and anything to the right of 0: Right pinky finger
Practice
The key to mastering touch typing is practicing. Typing the phrase “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy” dog” over and over is a good practice as the phrase employs all the letters of the alphabet.
Discipline yourself in bringing back your fingers to the home keys when typing. Look at the screen as you type, not at the keyboard. You’ll get used to it and master it in no time.