Touch typing

Spectral Swallow

Oy. So my uncle is looking to learn how to do the 'touch typing'(the home row jazz) and I've downloaded at least 13 programs, but none that are worth anything. I'd like on similar to the one I learned to type on, the only difference between it and all the others I've tried, is it wouldn't let you advance until you hit the correct key. I found one like that on the net, but it was indefinite, it didn't have a clear end to the lessons. I know the one I learned on was DOS based, which I remember reading doesn't work on XP, but anyone similar would work, thanks a bunch all.

Deusfaux

....Mavis Beacon?

Yoshua

Get a typing manual used for a high school or college course in typing. Picking up a second hand one should be fairly easy and cheap. You can do the lessons in any kind of text editing program.

There's really nothing to it but practice and more practice.

Eat_Fire

four words.... "Typing of the Dead"

find it...

Iruka

If you have an older keyboard you wouldn't mind defacing a bit, get some tape (I used electrical tape) and blank out your keys. It sounds stupid, but it worked wonders for me, It turned AIM into the best typing program and Password entry of any sort to be the perfect quiz. No program really taught me to not look anyway, so that really got my mind into thinking theres nothing down there to help it. the keys get sticky after that, so I wouldn't do it on a laptop or anything. Just a suggestion.

Someone actually sells a blank key board, but tape is like 50 dollars cheaper, and removable when you're typing better and don't need it.

edit: and I second typing of the dead. Or Mario teaches typing, for nostalgia.

Spectral Swallow

The thing is he's like 52, and has never really typed before, so I think some of that stuff may be a bit much for him(though typing of dead could work if I could find a bloody keyboard). I timed him typing the message "Hi my na" and then he stopped, and it took a minute and fifteen. It was really really sad.

BoomShake

If he's never really typed before, I think he should look at what he's doing for a little while. As long as he's using all of his fingers and not hunting/pecking, then he'll be learning the keyboard layout. It needs to be burned into his mind before he can even dream of doing well with touch typeing and not looking. That's pretty much how I learned; those programs at school just served as a way of forcing me to look away when i had nobody to watch me, but that was after typing for a while at home (essays and such) with looking.

MichaelLC

Maybe print up some blank keyboard templates, and have him write in the letters. That should at least seperate his fear of the computer from his trouble with typing.

subedii

Eat_Fire wrote:

four words.... "Typing of the Dead"

find it...

Touch typing is a fundamental necessity in surviving the upcoming zombie apocalypse.

Chake99

http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/qwerty-warriors/

mrcheesypants

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=135657

I just tried it out and it's preaty complete. Seems like a good typing program for a 51 year old uncle.