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touch-type

 
Dictionary: touch-type   (tŭch'tīp')
 
intr. & tr.v., -typed, -typ·ing, -types.

To engage in typing or type (a document, for example) without having to look at the keyboard, the fingers having been trained to locate the keys by position.

touchtypist touch'-typ'ist n.
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WordNet: touch-type
 
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The verb has one meaning:

Meaning #1: type without looking at the keyboard


 
Wikipedia: Touch typing
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Touch typing is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys. Specifically, a touch typist will know their location through muscle memory. Touch typing involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard (the home row) and having them reach for other keys. Most computer keyboards have a raised dot or bar on either the F/J keys or the D/K keys (or the keys in the same position, for non-QWERTY keyboards) so that touch-typists can feel them when their fingertips are correctly over the home row.

Typing zones on a QWERTY keyboard for each finger (taken from KTouch)

Contents

History

Frank Edward McGurrin, a court stenographer from Salt Lake City who taught typing classes, reportedly invented touch typing.

On July 25, 1888, McGurrin, who was reportedly the only person using touch typing at the time, won a decisive victory over Louis Traub (operating Caligraph with eight-finger method) in a typing contest held in Cincinnati. The results were displayed on the front pages of many newspapers.[citation needed] McGurrin won $500 ($11,400 in 2007) and popularized the new typing method.

Whether McGurrin was actually the first person to touch type, or simply the first to be popularly noticed, is disputed. Speeds attained by other typists in other typing competitions at the time suggest that they must have been using similar systems.[1]

The most common other form of typing is "hunt and peck" (or two-fingered typing), which is slower than touch typing because, instead of relying on the memorized position of keys, the typist is required to find each key by sight and move fingers a greater distance. Many idiosyncratic styles in between those two exist – for example, many people will type blindly, but using only two to five fingers and not always in a systematic way.

Some of the suggested ways of improving typing speeds in touch typing are:

  • Ensuring a correct posture
  • Exerting only the correct amount of force required (i.e., not to bang on the keys)
  • Taking frequent breaks to relax and improve accuracy

Touch typing training

Touch typing can efficiently bring an average speed typist to 60 words per minute (WPM) fairly quickly and at the same time increase accuracy by great amounts. Upon learning to touch type, comfortable typing speed is expected to be achieved within a week, and full speed within a month by regular daily practice.[citation needed] Many free websites and free software provide easily accessed typing tutors.

Other touch typing methods

Some typists prefer a slightly different method: The left little finger is used for the keys ´ 1 2, the ring finger for 3, the middle – 4, the left index finger is responsible for 5 and 6. On the right side of the keyboard: index – 7 and 8, middle – 9, ring – 0 and the little – all other keys on the right side of the upper row.[who?] Probably these two methods reflect the layout of the typewriters from early days when some of them have no 0 and/or 1 keys.

Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro, circa Q4 1999.
The Kinesis Advantage keyboard

There exist special ergonomic keyboards designed for both typing methods. The keyboard is split between the keys 5 and 6 or 6 and 7.

Some specialized high-end computer keyboards are designed for touch typists. For example, Das Keyboard provides blank mechanical keyboards. A trained touch typist should not mind using a blank keyboard. This kind of keyboard may force hunt and peck users to type without looking.

See also

  • Keyboards:
    • Das Keyboard, a mechanical blank keyboard designed to enable touch-typing.
    • Model M keyboard, the most widely known "clicky" keyboard, favoured by touch-typists


References

  1. ^ Liebowitz, Stan; Margolis, Stephen E. (1996-06), "Typing Errors", Reason, http://www.reason.com/news/show/29944.html, retrieved on 2007-02-14 

External links


 
Translations: Touch-type
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Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - skrive i blindskrift
v. intr. - skrive blindskrift

Nederlands (Dutch)
blind typen

Français (French)
v. tr. - taper au toucher
v. intr. - taper au toucher

Deutsch (German)
v. - blind schreiben

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - δακτυλογραφώ τυφλά

Italiano (Italian)
dattilografare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - datilografar sem olhar para as teclas

Русский (Russian)
печатать вслепую

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - mecanografiar al tacto
v. intr. - mecanografiar al tacto

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - skriva med touchmetoden

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
用按指法打字, 按指法打

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 用按指法打字
v. intr. - 按指法打

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - (키를 보지 않고) 타자하다
v. intr. - (키를 안보고) 타이프를 치다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 10本指でタイプする

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يضرب على ألأله ألكاتبه بطريقه أللمس, يضرب لمسيا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮כתב כתיבה עיוורת‬
v. intr. - ‮כתב כתיבה עיוורת‬


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Touch typing" Read more
Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved.  Read more

 

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