r/learntyping Jun 24 '20

๐—ง๐˜‚๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น / ๐—š๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ“ Why the recommended touch typing finger placements are suboptimal

340 Upvotes

I've analysed the widely-recommended touch typing finger placements against my own as well as the frequency of various bigrams (2-letter combinations) in the English language. I can't understand why some of the finger placements are 'recommended' (please tell me if you know!). Below are my justifications for my differing finger placements.

Widely-recommended touch typing finger placement
My finger placement (with differences highlighted)

JUSTIFICATIONS FOR DIFFERENCES TO RECOMMENDED PLACEMENT

C

  • Symmetrical with right hand (typing "m") - why would right hand be placed like that if it would be wrong for the left hand?
    • More comfortable given orientation of hands
  • For recommended placement:
    • Typing "c" requires movement/collision of middle and index fingers. Typing "cry" would require crossing fingers or wrist movement
    • The most common bigram containing "c" and another left-handed letter is "ce" (i.e. "ce" is the most common thing typed using just the left hand and containing "c") - which would be slower to type using the same finger (as is 'recommended')

B

  • The most common bigram containing "b" is "be"
    • Typing "be" with the recommended fingers (left hand) requires unnecessary stretching apart of the left index and middle fingers
      • The 'equivalent' finger stretch in the right hand ("bi") is actually shorter than "be" and "b" is the same length from both left and right hands on home row

Z

  • Symmetrical with right hand placement
  • More comfortable as recommended finger (pinkie) would cross inward hitting other fingers
  • (however, I think it is understandable to use either ring finger or pinkie for "z")

X

  • Same as "z"

4

  • Easier to reach with longer middle finger
  • Recommended placement would require slight crossing motion

6

  • Objectively closer to left hand

9

  • Easier to reach with longer middle finger
  • Symmetrical with left hand (typing "3")

0

  • Ring finger is objectively closer and is longer (hence easier to reach)
  • Pinkie is too short to reach without moving wrist (I'd like to see your hands if you can reach "0" with your pinkie more easily than with your ring finger)

- (hypen)

  • Same as "0" but I can understand using pinkie for this one because it is close enough (similarly to typing "1" - which, conversely, I could understand using ring finger for)
  • When typing text, I use ring finger because it doesn't need to stretch as much as pinkie (e.g. typing "long-term")
  • When typing numbers, I usually use pinkie because:
    • Wrists are already 'raised up' to reach number row
    • Allows my ring finger to only type "0" so typing something like "10-20" uses different fingers for "0" and "-"

Of course I understand that you can (and many do) have unique styles of typing with equal or better speeds than 'traditional' touch typists. I just want to know your thoughts on why these seemingly suboptimal placements (particularly "c", "b", "0", and "6") are 'recommended'.

FYI the best summary of English letter frequency counts I've come across: http://norvig.com/mayzner.html (interesting)


r/learntyping Jan 12 '26

๐—จ๐—ฃ๐——๐—”๐—ง๐—˜ ๐Ÿ’ป - ๐— ๐—ผ๐—ฑ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ UPDATE! Happy New Year Typists! New sub features! โญ

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7 Upvotes

Hello typists! ๐Ÿ’–

I know that this sub has been a bit more barren than the main sub but rest assured that I haven't forgotten about you all!

I gave the sub a much needed facelift and now there are newer features:

1) A dedicated guide (that will link you to ideal websites for learning how to touch type)

2) New flairs to better reflect post content

3) Emojis now enabled

More updates coming soon (like a dedicated written guide)

Thank you all for making the sub what it is!

Looking forward to seeing your progress this year ๐Ÿ˜Š

Best,

Vฮ›ะŸฮฃฦงฦงฮ› ๐Ÿ•ถ๏ธ


r/learntyping 3h ago

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐Ÿ“ˆ is this good or should i keep time to practice ??

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1 Upvotes

so i touch type , the biggest issue i have is that i sometimes fall back to the old habit of typing "y" with my middle finger + i dont know how to properly use ;'./, while touch typing + idk how to shift with right hand and only left for now .

- any opinions about the speed , accuracy + time or the consistency (i did less mistakes cu i was watching a viedo and all the mistakes was from g and y , also sometimes random stuff , but i didnt realise them as i was also watching a viedo )


r/learntyping 2d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Average 90-110wpm, should I correct my typing form?

3 Upvotes

I have the classic gamer typing method in which im mostly using my left hand's 3 fingers and my right hand's 2-3 fingers and wanted to ask if it would be better for me to relearn typing with correct hand placement. Although I am pretty quick with it with an average rate of around 90-110wpm without punctuations.

I am not a programmer or anything and mostly use my pc for gaming, maybe writing a research paper once every few months


r/learntyping 3d ago

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป (โ‰๏ธ) Can anyone suggest a video on the correct hand position while typing on a keyboard? Should I rest my wrists on the desk or not?

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3 Upvotes

r/learntyping 4d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Why is English 10k on monkeytype so hard.

0 Upvotes

I used to do those 30 second test with english 200 and would get 130 to 140 with 98-100% accuracy. Apparently those tests don't mean anything though so I'm switching over to English 10k on expert mode with 95% accuracy threshold and 60 seconds and now im getting 95-105 wpm, maybe 110 If I'm lucky. Is there supposed to be this big of a drop.


r/learntyping 9d ago

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป (โ‰๏ธ) Typing Numbers

4 Upvotes

hello guys , i am a beginner typists and i type only about 28 wpm on average , I have a question that might not even be a valid one . the question is :should i isolate each finger when reaching for further keys like numbers for example? , especialy with ring fingers , I noticed that in order to reach for keys like X , 2 , 9 I can't help but move the pincky with it , please help me on this one , and thanks


r/learntyping 11d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Typing speed

1 Upvotes

Currently my typing speed is 40 to 42 how I increase to 45 in 20 days any tips


r/learntyping 13d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ C key struggles

1 Upvotes

Hey all, I've been re-learning how to type over the last ten days (using typing dot com and keybr) so I fully understand why I feel much slower compared to whatever mishmash typing I've been doing for the last 30 years . I'm re-wiring.

But whenever I have to hit the C key with my middle finger it always feels off and even when I'm hitting it successfully there is hesitation and I feel certain that I'm going to miss.

It's a different feeling to all the other unusual keys for fingers I never utilised before, I never used my pinkies before and reaching further in with my index is new but I'm getting the hang of it. But C always feels so bizzare! My index yearns to hit it xD

So I just want to ask, should I keep trying to hit the C key with my confused middle finger since I've only been at it for 10 days I'll just GET there eventually? Or is it not that big a deal at all to drop it and smack that guy with my pointer?

I would like to try and build up speed, it is my end goal as I'd like to look into typing jobs eventually (and be good at typing games) but I'm trying not to rush the process.


r/learntyping 16d ago

๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐Ÿ“ˆ First try with dvorak

3 Upvotes

that's it, I'm trying to abandon qwerty, installed the dvorak keyboard today.
the past two years got rid of my bad habits, like typing with only with two fingers and staring at the keyboar while typing.

now it's time to take the next step. i'm planning to practice 20 to 30 min of monkeytype per day.

lets see how much time it'll take until I reach my current 50wpm with the "normal" layout


r/learntyping 21d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Need to fix some bad habits

2 Upvotes

So... been typing a looong while. Like 40+ years. I'm reasonably proficient @ touch typing, have been for some time. Not super fast, but proficient. But...

I know I have a few bad habits - primarily under utilizing the pinkies, and instead using the ring fingers for pretty much everything the pinkies should be doing, other than the home row. Pretty sure the index finger is covering a few keys it probably shouldn't as well. I only use the left thumb for space; the right thumb basically just sits there.

Like I said, I can generally get by well enough on typing tests and such that it's hard to really focus on fixing the above. Sites like keybr, monkeytype, etc. don't really focus on technique, as long as you hit the right key at the right time, they don't care.

The only one I've ran into so far that does 'force' the issue seems to be typingclub.com... but only on a few lessons. The ones where they make you hold one key down, usually with the offending finger that you would otherwise 'cheat' with, and then hit the other keys with the correct finger (pinkie, the other index finger, etc.).

Short of running through that specific block of exercises until my eyes and fingers bleed, are there any other sites/exercises that focus on fixing 'bad habit' techniques? Preferably ones that are a little less.... middle-school-ish in their presentation?


r/learntyping 22d ago

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป (โ‰๏ธ) What finger placement for all-caps abbreviations? (or words)

3 Upvotes

I know that to type a capital letter, youโ€™re supposed to hit Shift with your pinkie opposite of the finger used to type the letter. But does that still apply when typing an abbreviation, where you have multiple capital letters in a row? It slows me down a ton to switch pinkies and fingers when typing something like โ€œFJXโ€ where the letters are on alternate sides of the board. I canโ€™t tell if the slowness is because im still learning and thus normal growing pains, or if the typists have a different method for these abbreviations/words. Do you guys just use one pinkie for the entire thing?


r/learntyping 25d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Started a typing course, but I still do bad habits regularly.

5 Upvotes

Hi, I (22) want to learn how to type faster. I started the typing.com course and do roughly 15min a day trying to get used to the home row and undo my bad habits. Itโ€™s been good and Iโ€™ve been getting used to the keys, but Iโ€™m still in school and have essays and other stuff I type for my classes. The problem lies in that I have so much work that I often try to do proper form, but quickly abandon it because I am not used to it and revert back to how I normally type. I do that because I have deadlines I need to meet and my normal poor form is a lot faster than me trying to type the way typing.com teaches. I say all of that to ask, is there a point in continuing to try to learn how to type faster if I spend most of my time typing how I normally do, engaging in bad habits? Should I wait until I donโ€™t have classes so I can make the most out of typing.com and my journey to a faster and more accurate WPM? Thank uuu


r/learntyping 24d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Just starting out

2 Upvotes

I just started touch typing for the first time. I've also just switched from qwerty to colemak. I'm about 2 weeks in. My PB is about 33 wpm at 98%.

Do you guys have any tips for progressing please?


r/learntyping 25d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Cannot get Klavaro to work on Windows 11

1 Upvotes

I downloaded the .exe file from https://klavaro.org/download/ and the filename is klavaro-3.13-win-setup.exe

I tried installing multiple ways - running the .exe, running it as an administrator. I also tried using 7zip to unzip it, but it gives an error when I try to do so. I tried all this on another computer. When I run the installer, the installer completes, and creates a default shortcut on the desktop, but when I run it from that shortcut, nothing happens. Also, I keep the "run klavaro" option checked after installs, and the same thing, nothing happens.

Has anyone managed to get Klavaro working on Windows?


r/learntyping 26d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ How long is it gonna take to go from 13 wpm to 30 wpm?

1 Upvotes

i started learning type touch a week ago And my speed is 13 wpm , i get bored easily and im not too consistent , but i really want to get to 30-40 wpm. 1.How long is it gonna take me to get to my goal if i practice 5-10 mins daily? 2.What tips or advice do u have for me?


r/learntyping 29d ago

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Please help me improve my typing.

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9 Upvotes

I started learning touch typing recently, but my progress is not good.

The problems I observed are:

  • Even if I know which finger to use for a letter, I end up pressing completely different key
  • Sometimes my fingers fall in between two keys and click two keys
  • My fingers don't listen to my commands and randomly "misfire"

So I hope anyone can give advice to solve these problems or anything other you notice.

Also sorry in advance if the sentences look weird, English is not my first language.


r/learntyping Jun 21 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Suggestions for a daily typing routine with keybr/monkeytype integrated?

3 Upvotes

I recently made the commitment to learning how to type properly after being stuck at 70 wpm using my own incorrect method. I've improved to 50 wpm using keybr. I also read that monkeytype is good for increasing speed. Any suggestions for a daily routine to practice using both programs? I have quite a bit of time at work to practice and am trying to be efficient with how I use practice. I unlocked all keys on keybr but lowered the typing speed target to focus on 100% accuracy on each key so am doing that on keybr rn. All suggestions welcome, thank you!


r/learntyping Jun 18 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Converting to Home Row/"normal" touch typing

1 Upvotes

Hi there, I wonder if many of you are having this problem. I have been typing and using computers for a long time and have essentially developed a functional but inefficient way of typing. I have lots of bad habits and usually only use two or three of my fingers at a time.

That being said, my 90-100wpm is over 90% accurate, I have scored multiple 100% accurates in that range. Although it dips to 70-80wpm when I'm overthinking how banjaxed my typing is...

I want to pursue note taking roles to assist the deaf and hard of hearing. I'm considering switching to "normal" touch typing in order to advance my speed. I think I've topped out the speed on my method and it might not be enough to use as a selling point career-wise.

What would you do in my situation? Would you relearn typing from scratch or try to survive on/improve the ingrained method?

Thanks again.


r/learntyping Jun 18 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Stuck on 35 WPM for Months

3 Upvotes

Hello, I started learning 10 finger typing around 5 months ago because I noticed my typing is a lot slower than my thoughts . it took me a bit to get used to what finger is assigned to which keys. It has been two months since I moved up in speed. My focus is accuracy and I usually have around 94% accuracy but my speed has not improved in a while.

Any suggestions?


r/learntyping Jun 16 '26

๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ? โฉ From 11 Wpm To 27Wpm

8 Upvotes

Just wanted to thank everyone who gave me typing advice here. In less than 12 hours of practice, I improved from 11 WPM to 27 WPM!

One issue I'm still facing: when typing, the finger that is supposed to press a key often doesn't move, and another finger reaches for it instead. Is this normal when learning touch typing, or should I try to correct it immediately?

I'd also appreciate any extra tips that helped you improve speed and accuracy. Thanks again for all the help!


r/learntyping Jun 16 '26

๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ง๐—ผ ๐—š๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ? โฉ Improving accuracy then speed

2 Upvotes

I started learning touch typing about 3 years ago. But I just became able to hit like 90 to 100 wpm and then I stopped training since I thought that that was enough.

But now I want to become even better but I don't know how. Especially that I have a big problem with making a lot of typos when typing.

Any tips?


r/learntyping Jun 16 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ Stuck at 180 wpm.

1 Upvotes

i have been consistently typing at the 140 wpm mark if i actually try and go faster 170 wpm or 140 but i generally CANNOT go past 180 wpm why is this and how do i improve it

my stats best is 174 which was an easy phrase all letters close together

r/learntyping Jun 15 '26

๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป (โ‰๏ธ) Looking for (slomo) overhead cam typing

1 Upvotes

I am slowely getting the hang of typing with 10 fingers, but I find using modifiers to be a challenge. I would actually like to see how other people (who can type good) use and place their fingers. I was searching for a overhead cam setup, preferably a long session where lots of keyboard shortcuts are used. One I can watch in slo-motion. Anyone know of such a video?


r/learntyping Jun 12 '26

๐—ก๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ / ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ธ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—”๐—ฑ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐Ÿ†˜ 50% Touch typing

2 Upvotes

I know where all the keys are on the keyboard like muscle memory however I type solely with my index finger on my right hand. How do I learn to use all my fingers because I feel like I've been typing like this for years