Welcome to my 100th post!
I have to confess that typing is not my strong suit. Oh, I’m not terrible or particularly slow but I use a modified HNP that is not pretty or elegant. It does get the work done, though. My typing speed is somewhere around 35 words per minute. It occurred to me that typing is an integral part of writing these days.
Speed = $$$
The cold, hard reality is that the faster you can accurately type, the more money you can make. Suppose you could type at a lightning fast (but not impossible) 90 words per minute. You have a client that needs 10 – 500 word articles. That can be an all day time sucker if you’re a hunt-n-pecker or it can be a two hour gig. I’m no mathemagician, but even I can figure that one out.
So, here are 10 online free typing tutor sites. Enjoy!
- Dance Mat Typing – OK folks, hide your pride under the sofa cushions and open your mind. This one is from the BBC and is aimed at elementary school kids. Colorful and full of graphics, it starts you from the very beginning with the home row. The Brit accent of the primary “cow” teacher is a hoot! This one truly is my fav.
- Power Typing.com – Lots of different exercises here. You can practice qwerty style keyboards or dvorak. It is very straightforward and seems to be geared more towards just practice.
- Mr Kent’s Typing Tutor – No frills here. Very simple and straightforward typing tutor that provides fairly detailed results from each session.
- Typing Web – Nice interface and attractive site with lots to do. You have to register, which is a bummer – but it’s not too complicated
- Good Typing - Another havta register site but it really is worth it. Bunches of tutorials and tests and a decent interface.
- Type Faster – Technically, not an online site because you have to download the program, but hey, it’s free! The program has: A clear indication of which fingers to use; A 3D typing game;Typing statistics and the option of practicing the least accurate/slowest/custom keys; Keyboard is not a fixed size; Multi-user support; Completely free with full source code availability.
- Alfa Typing – Great tutor with tons of support. Used by k-12 schools around the US. Yes, it’s another havta register site.
- Nimble Fingers – Well, the trial version is free so I’ll include them here. Pretty good information about all aspects of good typing technique.
- Pete’s Online Typing Course – Hey! I love Pete. Good sense of humor here, tons of lessons and a good interface. Check this one out.
- Free Typing Games – Some folks learn better in a gaming format. It’s a regular arcade over here.
There you have it
I hope you have as much fun checking out these typing tutorials as I had researching them.
Take the time to brush up your typing skills, you’ll be glad you did.
I suppose I’m blessed that I took “Keyboarding” I and II in college! I don’t really time myself but I type pretty quickly and even when I mess up, I’m pretty fast about fixing it and moving on. That’s a huge blessing, I suppose. Of course, I think time and practice help you pick up speed as well. I know that’s been true for me.
You’re doing a fantabulous job, George–we can read at any speed so it doesn’t matter how fast you type (unless it’s those ole speedy writing gigs you mentioned… Ugh.)!
*smiles*
Michele
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Congrats, George!
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Congratz on your 100th post.
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Michele,
That’s a good point about the whole reading aspect of things.
I sure wish I had taken keyboarding, but I’m gonna do that dance mat tutor listed until my fingers fall off!
George
Great post George, and so true. Without your typing skills it can take quite a while to get things done. Having completed a secretarial course straight after finishing my school education I can definitely say it was one of the best things ever. Also 10 years in hosptial administration helps to keep the fingers moving too. I don’t know what I’d do without my typing skills, being able to type and not have to look at the keys is just something that comes naturally now and yes with client work it really can make a huge difference. Thanks for the list of typing course though I am passing them on to my mother who is working on making some online income too.
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Trina,
Thanks for coming by and the congratz as well!
Cheers
George
Kush,
Good to see you here.
I also like what you’ve been up to lately – warm wishes for big success!
George
Amanda,
Yay! Always good to see you here.
I’m glad these may help someone. Again, I wish I had taken some keyboarding courses. But now I’m well on my way.
George
Aw, George, don’t feel bad that you didn’t take Keyboarding. Like you’ve shown here today, there are sooooooooooo many options for speeding up your typing and you know, you have such a creative way with words you could keep our attention (or any of your readers’ attention) no matter what! We can always improve ourselves and try to make more $$$ but the important thing, I think, is that your words rock!
*smiles*
Michele
Michele,
Thanks for the rockin’ comments and the kind words. I’m telling ya, the Tumblemoose community is the absolute best. I love posting because each time I feel like I’m making a connection with the folks who come by. As you know, it’s a lot of work to keep a blog fresh and alive, but because of the TM clan, it doesn’t feel like work at all!
Thanks again.
George
You’re welcome, George!
Oh, and congrats on the 100th post!!! (I just noticed that. DUH! *slaps self on forehead*)
*smiles*
Michele
George,
Doing my best to be successful and I see you doing the same. Keep up the good work.
Thanks
KushMoney
KushMoney´s last blog post..Profit From Adbrite eBook Updated!
Well . . . last typing test I took for the school district where I worked clocked me at somewhere around 64 wpm. Problem is, I can’t think fast enough to type as fast as I can type. Then there’s that pesky problem of sentence structure, grammar, and generally making sense . . . not to mention checking facts for articles (or researching them when I don’t know what I’m talking about, which is often).
On top of that, I submitted a piece to a literary journal the other day and found out I have to go back to that old-school typing thing of double spacing between sentences. That just throws water on everything!
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Terry,
Point well taken. Increasing my typing speed is not going to increase my thought formation. I’ve gotten so used to doing things the way that I do. It may be tough to teach this old dog any new tricks – we’ll see I guess.
Double darn those double spaces!
George
Hi George! 100 posts, wow! Congrats on the milestone.
I happen to be one of those absurdly fast typists (around 90 wpm like you mention), but I agree with Terry…doesn’t increase my thought process or mean that I don’t have to take a bunch of time to edit later. My speed does serve to impress the folks I work with, though, as they listen to my tap-tap-tappity-tap. So it’s worth bragging rights, if nothing else.
Here’s to the next 100 posts!
Thanks for the congrats, Tricksie
There is nothing more awe inspiring than to hear someone racing along at 90wpm. It’s a symphony for the ears, IMHO
George
I learned typing on an IBM Selectric back in the day. Had to learn how to manually center, put in foot notes, etc.
THE VERY NEXT YEAR THEY MOVED TO WORD PROCESSING.
Yes, I meant to shout that, I am still bitter.
I find my typing skills are incredibly useful during the day when I literally have maybe 3 minutes to get an email out or tweet a few things. Being able to read fast is extremely useful, too.
Tracy´s last blog post..I am grumpy and grumbling this April Fool’s Day
Happy 100th! Gonna share the link with my 10-year-old son who claims he types too slow, yet he hates writing by hand. He’d rather watch anime and cartoons online than do typing games, but what the hey? Thanks for the links.
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Hey Tracy aka: Lil’ miss day late/dollar short
Just think, a fair percentage of the population does not even know what an IBM Selectric is!
Heading over to see why you’re grumpy on 04/01/09
George
Yay! Hi Meryl!
I gotta tell you, the 3rd through 5th graders had a GREAT time with that one from the BBC.
Be sure and let me know what the lad thinks!!!
George
Woo! Post 100! Congrats. I’m becoming a regular reader so this is exciting.
I need a little help with my typing too. I still can’t keep my eyes off the keyboard even though I type fairly fast.
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Brittany,
Thanks! That’s so awesome to hear.
I’m a keyboard looker, too. Might have to get a shadow box to put oer the darned thing!
George
Dammit! We’re living in the future now right?
I was promised flawless voice recognition software by now so I would never have to learn to type with more than 2 fingers.
Some scientists are just not lifting their game.
Oh, and I also want my flying car please.
Patrick
Patrick @ Very Evolved´s last blog post..Lies, damn lies, and science
Patrick!
Actually I hold the patents to all of those.
I’m waiting for my black helicopter to arrive to take me to the patent office so I can sign the final docs.
How have you been? Sorry I’ve been absent – heading over to Very Evolved today, my friend.
George
A belated congratulations on the 100-post milestone being reached.
The list is a nice one, I will admit. I tried the dance mat one on the BBC website, and from what I could tell, I was moving a little too fast for them to recognise my key presses. Which is a shame.
I think my WPM count is around 60-80 depending on how awake I am, and twisted fingers sometimes cause some pain that slows down my typing speed after ten minutes or so of constant writing.
I’ll be honest though and say that while these typing exercises and whatnot tend to be useful, I’ve found _the_ most effective way to learn how to touch-type is simply to *do* it. Sure, you’ll have to keep hitting the backspace key when you first start, but eventually you’ll learn the patterns your fingers need to move in when you type. (It’s funny watching my own typos sometimes – I might start on a key to the left of the first letter, and the rest of the word is spelled wrong in exactly the same manner – the key to the left of the one supposed to be used.)
These exercises, though, do help to teach you a fair number of the patterns though.
Matt
Thanks for the congrats, Matt.
As far as the typing goes, yeah you’re right. I know I just need to spend the time doing it and I’ll get over the hump. I seem to find all sorts of nifty reasons whay I can’t at the moment – gotta get this done now, don’t have the time, too tired, bla bla bla.
George
You’re welcome. And really, I wouldn’t worry too much over being able to touch-type. Sure, faster typing has its benefits, but I think it can be something that comes with time.
No real ‘training’ is needed I think: Just look at the screen when you type. That’s how I learned. If you make mistakes, then you can correct them easily enough… Perhaps in blog entries and the like – the more casual writing – don’t let yourself look down from the screen. That’s how I did it.
True enough, my typing was very slow and filled with countless errors as I typed, but very quickly, my speed increased to what it was when I used to look at the keyboard, and now has probably surpassed that speed.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
Matt