I used to be a hunt-and-peck typist. For me, first you have to build muscle memory for key fingerings, which key is pressed by what finger. Then you can start to get faster. Building a strong foundation first.
I would have this site open on one window: www.keybr.com
And this image on another for reference:
KeyBR has “levels” where you work on a specific set of letters first, until you’re fast enough and they give you the next set of letters, adding on to what you’ve already done.
Once you’ve completed all letters, you stop progressing and just type words with all letters.
For me, after my first completion of keyBR, I spent a day or so practicing at the “endgame.” After that, I’d restart the entire module from scratch, back to the individual letters. Rinse and repeat.
After about a month or two, I was already touch-typing.
Then I got really into monkeytype.com, and started typing faster and faster.
Print out a big image of your keyboard layout and hang it on the wall in your line of sight where you type. Never look at the keyboard, only look at the image on the wall. It won’t take long to build the muscle memory this way.
This sounds like a good idea. How about getting a cheap projector to project a keyboard visualizer for immediate feedback and practicing?
Personally, I don’t think its needed. You can look at the screen for immediate feedback of what you typed and there are typing practice games which certainly help with good practice.
May i suggest : Mario teaches typing 2
…or Typing of the Dead…
edit- need to be quicker on the draw https://lemmy.world/comment/24752216
A cardboard box:
I remember my parents in the 90s using a tea-towel over their hands and keyboard
Typing.com is how I learned and recommend people learn
Then I use typeracer to have some fun
Playing a MMO.
You will learn where every button is. Or die trying.
Mavis Beacon motherfucker!
this is what we used in the mid 90s. weird but worked.
one of the best things my parents did for us was make us learn to type
Mavis beacon
And put stickers on your keyboard. Start with a few on the home row and gradually expand once you don’t have to think about the location of the keys anymore.
They make games where you have to spell words quickly or you lose and that’s how I learned as a kid.
Like one where you’re in a spaceship and have to shoot lasers at asteroids that are coming at your ship. You have to spell the word that’s written on the asteroid to hit it with a laser.
Idk if any of them are free but they’re basically simple coded flash games so I’m sure you could find one on the internet pretty easily
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing! And Reader Rabbit. And Treasure Mountain (although that’s more math I think). Loved that shit as a kid.
https://www.keybr.com/ is a free 20 minutes a day practice tool that i tey to use daily. starts easy, then slowly ramps up to new letters for you to practice.
Older but Mario Teaches Typing https://playclassic.games/games/educational-dos-games-online/play-mario-teaches-typing-online/
When I was in high school I was playing WoW when Wrath came out. I was doing a lot of PUGs so there wasn’t any coordinated voice chat so I HAD to type in order to communicate, so that’s when I really learned to touch-type.
Every time you type a wrong key, hit that finger with a hammer. You’ll only need to do it once or twice before you’ve terrified all the fingers into only ever pressing the right keys.
1 Purchase The Typing of the Dead, the House of the Dead spinoff available for PC and Sega Dreamcast.
2 While TTotD is downloading or shipping go ahead and get some blacked out keyboard keys and install them.
Here’s the tricky part:
3 You have to learn to type or you will die.
