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Comment by cjbprime | Hacker News Reader

I'm a fast qwerty typist (135wpm) who looked into steno but ultimately decided not to put the effort in to learning.

I was surprised to discover that learning steno theory is much like learning a new foreign language due to the use of steno word dictionaries, and it takes most learners a few years of full-time study to get fast. (Of course, like with foreign languages, a small percentage of learners are able to go much faster.)

I think I'd prefer to put effort into a chording system with more predictability and less memorization (I've heard that Velotype might be a good match). Or failing that, I'd rather learn an actual new foreign language :)

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I don't touch type as fast as you do (only 80-110wpm) but I too was tempted by the idea of faster typing. I have experimented with several chording keyboards and could never get past 15-20 wpm range. My problem is that I have been typing on QWERTY keyboards for decades and my limiting factor is not my typing speed, but my thinking speed. When coding, I hardly ever can go for more than a couple of minutes before I need to cross-reference something, flip to a different file, check another part of the file, etc. That is what really limits my output, not the actual typing speed.

People who have tried Dvorak keyboards find it difficult when they need to work away from their personal desktop / notebook. I got far more value out of simply learning to touch type well. That is never having to look at the keyboard - eyes on the screen at all times.

Have you tried practicing specifically to improve your typing speed on QWERTY keyboards? I started doing ~10 minutes of typing tests a day using MonkeyType[0] and KeyMash[1] and can now pretty reliably type 200+ WPM.

Lots of people try out Workman / Dvorak / Colemak, but I see very few top typists using custom keyboard layouts. You can definitely.

[0] https://keyma.sh/ [1] https://monkeytype.com/

Any advice on how to get from "fast for a normal" to "fast for a computer person" (like you)? I'm around 90wpm on a good day, but for the life of me can't break ~100.

Always used to piss me off... my ex typed ~120 while I typed ~70wpm. Both of us engineers. Completely demolished me anytime we fought over chat. ;)

No advice, sorry! It's a rare example (for me) of having a skill despite never having actively worked at improving it, and my touch typing form is not good even though the speed is high. I had a lot of classical guitar lessons as a teenager and that seems more likely to be related than anything else. Would be curious to hear whether the correlation with being an instrumentalist shows up for other people too.

Well, maybe one piece of advice for a small boost in speed -- I got into mechanical keyboards for a few years, and eventually had to conclude that full height keys slow me down a lot compared to cheap laptop chiclet keyboards, so eventually I swapped back to using those.

Hah, it's okay :) I'm the opposite -- a large number of the things I have some above average skill at, I honestly never worked at improving, it just... happened. So I empathize with "no idea how to share" :)

FWIW I also did 8 years of music as a kid (mostly woodwinds).

I don't look at the keys, and I _think_ my form is okay but I have no idea. I, too, never learned the "right" way, I've just been typing on a keyboard for ~75% of my life so over time it got faster.

One thing I notice when I compare my typing to people who are >90wpm is the sound is different. My typing sounds very "staccato", whereas you lucky fast people... it seems to sound quieter? smoother?

shrug face

This may not be your problem, but if you look at the keyboard while typing you need to stop. Other than that, you should look into using proper form. Make sure your fingers are resting where they should be when you're at rest. Make sure you're using the recommended fingers for each key on the keyboard. For example I used to press the Y key with my left index finger but it's quicker to press with the right index finger. Your keyboard can also make a big difference here. I don't have a recommendation on what keyboard to get but my typing speed suffers if I'm not using a good keyboard.

If you have some spare time, maybe try learning a new keyboard layout and be intent on learning the right fingering. I never properly learned to use all my fingers on QWERTY, but I picked up Carpalx[1] and with 1h a day of deliberate practice on TypeRacer and keybr.com[2] I managed to get to the same speed I've always typed on QWERTY (~70-90 WPM) after about a week. Since then I haven't really practiced that much and progress has definitely slowed down but I still "naturally" got slightly faster than I was (I occasionally reach 120 WPM) and I always do see a tiny improvement when I practice again. It's also interesting that due to using fingers differently I can easily mentally switch between "QWERTY mode" and "Carpalx mode", it's something I can feel, sort of like playing two different instruments.

[1] Sort of an obscure one, but there's a good reason to learn it! http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/

[2] A warning though, you may become addicted to these games :)

> http://mkweb.bcgsc.ca/carpalx/

Link is dead, but it's in archive.org. Thanks for that! Really cool. I love the idea of using a model driven approach. That link is gold.

Yeah, I considered learning dvorak in the early 2000s, when it was spreading like wildfire through my social group. I decided not too after having several friends gripe about the annoyance of typing on a qwerty keyboard after going dvorak.

But, it's 2021 now. I can't remember the last time I typed on a computer I didn't control! So maybe now it's time to switch to a custom key layout, entirely data driven by sampling my key presses over a few months. :)

> Link is dead

I actually visited it before posting (and did again now), but just a minute later I sneakily edited the "http" in because the first time I typed "https" and the website wouldn't load, could that be it? They've even added another layout to the "layouts analysis" page 4 days ago!

Btw, you don't need to have a 100% customized layout, you can use one of the pre-optimized presets.

Anyway, definitely try it out, the worst that can happen is you won't feel safe anymore leaving the house without a flash card with AutoHotkey.

> ... could that be it?

Yup! Apparently my browser is "helpfully" rewriting HTTP URLs to be HTTPS, what could possibly go wrong? facepalm False alarm, sorry...

I can approach 150-160, depending on the test. I think it's because I've been playing video games since I was 7 years old, before they had voice chat. In those early days, you did a lot of typing.

I imagine it is similar to any other skill though. Practice. I'm sure there are web apps. You'd just have to put in some time each day for a period and you'd improve.

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