Learn to type like a professional

Symbols and numbers
Beyond letters, you will also need to learn how to touch-type symbols, capital letters and numbers. These are easy to pick up, though: the commonest punctuation marks are located at the ends of the home and bottom rows.

To capitalise letters, type the letter with the usual finger, using the little finger of the other hand to hold down the opposite Shift key. To type numbers, reach up from the home row to type using the number keys above the top row of letters, or use the number pad for input of longer strings.

The number pad present on some keyboards has its own home row: your right index finger should be placed on the 4, right middle finger on the 5, and right ring finger on the 6.

Like the main keyboard, reach up and down to hit other keys, returning your fingers to the home keys after each keystroke. Since there are fewer keys to learn, you should be able to pick this up quickly. The 5 key usually has a ridge to aid identification by touch alone.

Online exercises and games
We’ve explained the basics and all that’s required now is lots and lots of practice. To help, we have recommended some games and software to help you learn touch-typing.

A quick place to start is a browser-based typing tutor such as Typingweb. It isn’t necessary to register for an account, but if you do, you will be able to track progress more easily.

 

Click Start Typing and then, if you are not prompted automatically to register, click the Register Now link on the left-hand side. Then, fill in the registration form and click Register to finish.

Typingweb splits its lessons into beginner, intermediate and advanced courses and several further speciality lessons beyond that – just click the relevant ‘begin’ link to start.

In each lesson, the characters to be typed are displayed at the top of the screen; the coloured cursor moves along as you type and mistyped characters are highlighted in pink.

Typing more than one incorrect character in a row will cause the cursor to stop. To get it moving again, you will need to hit the correct key – it’s nicely done, and a fun, engaging way to practise touch-typing.

Next, start typing along the home row before moving on to other rows and short words. Accuracy and typing speed are displayed at the top of the screen. Underneath the typing exercise, on-screen prompts show the fingers to use for each key.

Your typing must be at least 90 per cent accurate to progress to the next lesson. There are speed drills and accuracy drills, and Typingweb keeps track of regular mistakes, so you can practise problem keys in a separate lesson.

Typingweb also offers a selection of typing games, including Typing Ghosts, in which you must type the labels affixed to ghosts to stop them attacking you; Magic Library, in which you type letters on books falling from above, and Type Revolution, which is based on the popular arcade game Dance Dance Revolution. These games help typing practice feel less like work and more like fun.

 

Alternatively, if you use the Firefox web browser, there are various add-ons that can be used to improve typing skills. Addictive Typing Lessons, for instance, lives inside Firefox, so it’s easy to dip into between browsing. To install it, visit Mozilla's add-ons page, click the Add to Firefox button and follow the prompts.

To make it easy to access at any time, right-click the Firefox toolbar (at the top of the screen), choose Customize from the pop-up window, find the Addictive Typing icon in the Customize Toolbar dialogue box and drag it to the toolbar. Now, to access the lessons, just click the little blue keyboard icon in the toolbar.