How to Type Faster: Tips and Tricks to

Master the Keyboard

Living on the digital edge where typing is almost an everyday necessity,
learning the ways of proper keyboard usage are crucial. Not only are you able
to be more productive and get things done quicker with a keyboard, typing
faster can enable you to keep up with your brain; that little voice in your head
that has great ideas might only last for a few seconds before it’s forgotten.

In this article, we’ll give you 5 tips to get you started typing faster and
proper. Some of the tips are quite obvious ones, but we’ll provide you with a
few apps to help you practice and learn faster.

Recommended Reading: 50 Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts You Should

Know

1. Get Rid Of Bad Habits

Getting rid of your bad typing habits is probably the hardest thing to do.
You’ve probably been using the same typing method since you started using a
keyboard, right down to where you place your palms. If you’re an FPS (First
Person Shooter) gamer you’re probably used to placing your left hand on the
WASD keys and may have stronger fingers on your left hand than your right
(speaking from experience here).
Others may type only with two fingers, hovering over ten (or more) keys each,
always having to keep their eyes on the keyboard to get the right keys.
Although you might be typing fast with only half of the needed fingers, you
have to put down your foot (or your hands) and break that habit immediately.

2. Use All 10 Fingers

The next step is to relearn the correct finger placement on the keyboard. If
you take a closer look at your keyboard, you’ll notice raised bumps on each of
the  F  key and  J  key. This is to help you find the correct finger placement
without having to look at the keyboard.

Ideally, your index fingers should rest on the  F  and  J  keys and the other
fingers will fall into place naturally.

In the picture below, you’ll notice color-coded areas showing the keys covered

by each finger. You’ll notice that the middle fingers and ring fingers are used
for only a few keys on the keyboard, while your index fingers over the middle
section of the keyboard. Navigational, punctuation and function keys are
controlled mostly by the little finger.
If this confuses you, head over to websites like the TypingClub or Typing
Web where they take you through each step to familiarize yourself with the
keyboard. Some of their exercises only involve 2 fingers and as you go
through their program, you’ll slowly master the way of faster and proper
keyboard typing.

3. Learn To Touch Type

Next up: Touch typing. It’s when you type without having to look at the
keyboard. In fact, for seasoned typists, looking at the keyboard actually slows
them down.

To get there takes practice, and we’re not talking about hours here. It could be
weeks before you condition your fingers to take control of the keys ‘they’ are
responsible for. Even if it slows you down, do not revert to how you used to
type.

Now, try typing sentences without looking at the keyboard, and try to
remember the position of each letter. If you have to sneak a peek at the
keyboard, you can, but give the same word or sentence another run, this time
without looking at the keyboard. It takes a while but if you are determined, it
gets easier every day.

Eventually, you will know where each key is and from then on, it’s just a
matter of picking up in terms of speed.

4. Navigate With Basic Keyboard Shortcuts

It’s no surprise why Windows and Mac OS have many keyboard shortcuts.
Since both your hands are already on the keyboard, why spend time using a
mouse to navigate? You don’t have to remember every shortcut, just the more
common ones.

Common shortcuts below are mostly used in word processing

programs:

Shortcuts Descriptions

Ctrl  +  C Copy

Ctrl  +  X Cut

Ctrl  +  V Paste

Ctrl  +  Z Undo

Ctrl  +  S Save

Ctrl  +  F Search for word

Ctrl  +  A Highlight everything

Shift  +  Left Arrow  or  Right Arrow Highlight next letter

Ctrl  +  Shift  +  Left Arrow  or  Right

Highlight next word
Arrow

Navigate text cursor to next word without

Ctrl  +  Left Arrow  or  Right Arrow
highlight
 Shortcuts Descriptions

Home Go to beginning of line

End Go to end of line

Page Up Scroll up

Page Down Scroll down

You can also use shortcut keys while browsing the web. Here are some
shortcuts you could use to navigate in web browsers.

Shortcuts Descriptions

Ctrl  +  Tab Switch to next tab

Ctrl  +  Shift  +  Tab Switch to previous tab

Ctrl  +  T Open new tab

Ctrl  +  W Close current tab

Ctrl  +  Shift  +  T Open previously closed tab

Ctrl  +  R refresh current webpage

Ctrl  +  N Open new web browser window

Backspace Go back one page

 Shortcuts Descriptions

Shift  +  Backspace Go forward one page

Finally, here are some common keyboard shortcuts for more general
(Windows) navigation.

Shortcuts Descriptions

Alt  +  Tab Switch to next opened window

Alt  +  Shift  +  Tab Switch to previous opened window

Alt  +  F4 Close current window

Using these shortcut keys will require the little finger a lot as many of the
modifier keys like  Ctrl ,  Alt  and  Shift  are closest to your little finger.

5. Practice With Apps

Practicing typing on a keyboard need not be stressful (although it may feel like
it at times). You can practice with a lot of typing games. Here are a few
websites where you can learn how to conquer the keyboard and have fun at
the same time.

TypeRacer

TypeRacer is a simple and fun game where each player is represented by a

car. You’ll be given a passage of text from a book or lyrics to a song, you then
type it out to move your car in a ‘race’ with other players. Whoever finishes
typing the passage first wins.
Keybr.com

Keybr generates readable random words where some words are spelt
incorrectly to help you remember common letter combinations better rather
than typing random letters. It’ll give you statistics to tell you which area of the
keyboard you are weaker in. It also offers words in different languages as well
as different keyboard layouts.

Touch Typing Study

The exercises in this site get you comfortable with the finger placement by
repeatedly asking you to type those letters with the correct finger. It is also
offered in different languages.

Learn Typing

Learn typing is a basic looking website that has a ton of explanation good for
beginners learning to touch type. Once you’ve gone through the basics, there
are also more advanced exercises which you can do.