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Comment by DrPhish | Hacker News Reader

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DrPhish·

Best way to learn to touch type:

1) Buy a sliding under desk keyboard tray

2) Leave it under the desk while you type. Don't slide it out

3) a few weeks/months of pain

4) perfect touch typing

You will be shocked how often you were unconsciously looking down at the keyboard as you typed

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They sell little stickers you can put over your keys to blank them out so you don't peek. My parents told me when they learned to type in school on a typewriter in the 60s that they had typewriters that came with only unlabeled keys.

I think the best way to learn to touch-type is to actually replicate typewriter-style touch typing exercises: get a source document, put it up somewhere convenient to your workspace where you can comfortably look at it but not your monitor or keyboard at the same time, and type from that into a text editor or word processor window (something that doesn't autocorrect as you type, so if it has that feature, disable it.) Time yourself on a particular work, and go back and verify that its error-free once you are done.

Rinse, repeat.

Or a blank keyboard (e.g. Das Keyboard). That was why I bought it, and is what eventually helped me stop peeking at the keyboard.

If only das shipped a keyboard with an ergo layout. Gimme an MS Ergo 4000 or Sculpt with Cherry MX switches and I'll give you $300.

http://keyboard.io are doing some interesting things. If you're in the US, they're doing a cross-country tour soon.

Great point, peripheral vision helps you find the location of a key instead of getting it from memory. Also, typing blind helps you learn how to be sure of where you are in the sentencem I'm actually typing this without looking and it's easier and faster than with my eyes open.

> 4) perfect touch typing

But will it be perfect fingering?

or just add a non-sliding shelf under your desk to remove the temptation from sliding

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