I've recently started trying to improve my typing speed, which has probably been held back by my somewhat unconventional typing style. Formal touch typing was never a part of my education, and while years of computer use eventually led to me being able to type without looking, I'm probably not as efficient as I could be.

Can you touch type - and with proper form? QWERTY, DVORAK or other layout?

I can't :3. I know how, but I basically never naturally do lol. I feel like part of the issue with touch typing for me, is keyboard spacing as I always find my right hand feels uncomfortably angled and cramped when I place them both on the home row :3. Something like a split keyboard would make it feel more natural I think

I can touch type most keys, though probably not with proper form. I have to look at some of the less common keys to find them with my fingers.

My schools did have formal typing classes but I wasn't exactly a star student. I think my typing speed at it's fastest was around 60 wpm, though I more commonly float around 40 wpm

Been touch typing Dvorak for about 25 years, qwerty for about 10 years before that. My hands used to feel tired at the end of the day, when I broke my wrist the occupational nurse suggested Dvorak, so when it healed I taught myself to type Dvorak. Probably a few weeks to learn, six months to get speed. (The advantage of a cushy government job). I can type all day now without problems. If you’re going to spend any significant time at a keyboard, I personally think it’s worth investing the time to learn to type properly, whatever layout you choose to use.

Yep.
Went to an all-boys Catholic High School and there were no technical programs (shop, auto, woodworking) bc they couldn't afford the programs, nor the space. Barely had a gym.
Anyhoo, 'options' were typing, bookkeeping, and Latin.
Took typing for 2 years, buddy and I would race-type song lyrics out of our heads (lyrics often weren't included in the liner notes).

Elton John - Razor Face - GO!

I was never able to touch type up through middle of high school despite typing papers and taking formal typing courses. Once I got into online PC gaming and also programming I got good at touch typing very fast. Is typing a skill you use daily? Natural practice beats forced if you already have the fundamentals down. QWERTY for me.

Yes, improperly on qwerty before I switched to (a cursed subvariant of) dvorak. Now I do it with proper form.

Yeah, managed to pick it up in a couple weeks, became more efficient over the course of a year or so. One thing that helped initially was learning on a keyboard with completely blank keycaps, therefore preventing me from cheating and just using my eyes.

I'm now still using the same keyboard, and can touch type flawlessly. However I still have trouble with number 6 :(. QWERTY.

Yep. One of the best investments I ever made tbh. It has paid so many dividends over time.

I've taken classes on QWERTY and have the right form, but I still need to look at the keys every once in a while.

Practice in online chat rooms has made it so I can type about as fast as I can think, which is good enough for me.

Yep. I learned to touch type through different kids typing programs back in the 90s. The one I remember the most was this game where there are two talking hands and you have to help them take back control of a city from this angry green blobby alien with a German accent. Apparently this alien's one weakness is typing.

Yes, no, QWERTY; I use the F and J nubs to center my hands but I dont't keep them in the "correct position" as was taught in my elementary typing class. Regular computer use lends itself to getting good at typing quickly. I only have to look for some special characters that I don't often use.

Yeah, ever since we learned it in middle school.

QWERTZ

How to tell us you're German without telling us you're German 😄

As a Belgian, we have AZERTY as standard, which is so much worse. I wish we could've followed the German instead of the French influence keyboard-wise.

Yes with one quirk. I don't use the right shift, just the left. Not sure why I've ended up this way, or if it's a common variation.

EDIT: looked it up. It's very common

I learned to touch type on QWERTY in middle school. I do it mostly conventionally except for some reason I never really used the right shift key. That locked in, amd I still don't. I just spread my fingers wide to capitalize letters on the left side.

For a data entry job I was taught to 10-key as well. It doesn't take long to learn, but it can save a ton of time.

What is your unconventional typing style?

I learned how to touch type qwerty by playing Mario teaches typing 2, which taught proper form. It was one of the video games I was allowed to play when I was a kid. However, I did learn a few things wrong.

I never learned how to use my right pinky for shift and use left pinky for every shift. I also don't know how to touch type numbers or symbols. I could probably learn that, but I don't have to use them very often, so it's hard to remember.

Touch type is without looking, right?

That I can do in multiple layouts. But none with proper form/finger placements.
At some point I was thinking of practicing it with workman layout.

I can hit about 110 words per minute on qwerty. About 1 a minute on Dvorak.

Yes, I had typing lessons for that when I was a kid. Learned on QWERTY and still use it to this day.
My form might not be completely proper (sometimes I use the "wrong" finger for a certain key), but it's pretty close to proper.

I took typing in school several times using QWERTY. I learned the IBM typewriters were really nice to type on, and what the "correct" way to type was. It didn't make any difference though at the time because typing speed was never the limit, it was thinking speed. Then in college I got into IRC and most things didn't need deep thinking and so typing speed was the limit so I learned to apply the "correct" way because it was faster which I needed. (I never did meet a worthwhile girl on IRC so it didn't do anything for me even though I now type faster)

I barely ever look down at my fingers unless every letter types out wrong, and they're misplaced on the keyboard.

Um. What?

Yes - QWERTY with proper form if you ignore the number row. No official education, just did some online tutorials at some point. Also my native language uses a different script so I technically know two QWERTY layouts and do about 80wpm in both which isn't terribly fast but ok for everyday use.

At some point I tried to learn one-handed touch typing and mostly gave up. I still remember the positions but it's so slow it's not worth it. If you already have a style that mostly uses one hand, it would probably be easier to learn.

I believe I can touch type properly on a QWERTY layout.

In Japanese, we have to convert kana into kanji as we type, so I sometimes make mistakes during the conversion stage.

I occasionally play a typing game called Sushi-Da for practice.

I was in the last class in my high school that was taught to type on an actual typewriter. So yes, I can touch type on QWERTY.

My wife (then girlfriend) took a typing class in college at my insistence that it would help her immensely. She agrees to this day that it was the best decision she ever made with regards to electives. I strongly suggest that everyone should take a typing class, be it free or paid.

I never use the right shift key for anything. Any time I need a capital letter, it's always the left shift even though that's not 100% correct.

I learned to touch type QWERTY in 7th grade (late oughts).
I taught myself to touch type Colemak two years ago. I liked it but quickly realized it was a waste of time because nothing else in the world uses it and i didn't want to give up QWERTY familiarity. lol

I learned to touch type on QWERTY in middle school. I do it mostly conventionally except for some reason I never really used the right shift key.

Same! Not sure how that came to be? Perhaps because right shift is too far away compared to left?

Try typing my username in Dvorak :)

I was under the impression QWERTZ was a German thing, seems it covers a much bigger area than that! Apologies!

I am old enough to have had a class in high school. On a normal keyboard, I can still hit 100 wpm with no errors. On a phone (which I don't use often), though, it's poke-poke-poke.

I can't NOT touch type. I need to see what I'm typing to know if I'm typing without mistakes. When I look at the keyboard, I make so many mistakes.

Yes. I was a video editor for years and part of that was subtitling without automatic transcriptions. I could keep up with most speakers and if I'm remembering correctly, the typing speed tests I took for fun were 150wpm+

It's definitely a skill I've taken for granted but it's paying off big now that I work almost exclusively in AutoCAD (which makes you type commands, not just keyboard shortcuts)

I didn't learn to touch type until I overpaid for a keyboard with blank keycaps. I didn't make much of an effort other than struggling to type without a way to check what keys I was about to press, but it seems to have mostly worked. As a consequence I never learned dvorak because qwerty was tough enough, maybe next month I'll switch 😅

My typing speed feels faster but it's probably not great for things I don't normally type, plus I haven't measured it

I formed my own way of typing before learning proper form. I touch type, but I swap which hand types the middle of the keyboard based on the word I’m typing and the letters around it. It’s not “proper,” but it works for me. I’m not the fastest typist, but I’m above average.

I also usually type on my phone screen without looking at the keyboard. Does that count as touch typing? Lol. I just took two typing speed tests on my phone and got 49–54 WPM.

Yes, I use Colemak DH, but can also touch type on QUERTY when needed (when working on my laptop).

I noticed that, while gaming helped me a little, it also taught me to put my fingers on the wrong keys (WSAD is not correct for typing), also QUERTY is really bad, I never tried to put fingers on the home row, because you barely use home row keys in QUERTY.

It took me two months of regular training to switch to Colemak but it was worth it. I type much faster and I feel like a skilled pianist when my fingers fly smoothly over the keys, and somehow I am even better with QUERTY now than I was before!

One of the most useful things we learned in school 100%

Proper form? Strictly speaking no, but I’m close. I learned on IRC, and can crank out an acceptable 90wpm - though that’s small potatoes compared to pros.

I too live in Belgium and azerty is absolutely the worst, i hace it sometimes at uni. Luckily i grew up using qwertz, later switching to qwerty.

I know where all the buttons are, but I have bad aim.

If I don't look at the keyboard, I hit the wrong letter.

Yes although not great. I use the traditional home row keys and I had typing classes in both junior high and high school. Tried divorak but im to lazy to learn a new layout especially since I need to look at the keyboard and new things will always use the traditional design. Touch typing is the thing I recommend to parents and kids when they ask about courses to take or such. Earlier the better really. I can't imagine typing without looking without haveing had typing classes. I don't look as a matter of course but I still look as is.

I never took a formal class and it's real weird to train now. But every now an then I try this typing game. There are a few different ones out there.

Typing Land

Yes. Qwerty. I can also touch type on my tablet using the onscreen keyboard which is helpful when taking notes while learning Spanish.

Oddly enough I've had a couple people who like to listen to me typing.

When I took a speed and accuracy test about 25 years ago I was around 35wpm and 95% I'm a lot faster now.

i didn't want to give up QWERTY familiarity.

That's the neat part: you don't!
Once you get comfortable with a different layout, then it's a second step to get comfortable switching. You will have issues for a while, but your brain will develop a switch quite quickly (it's much easier than learning Colemak). Once you have the switch, it's easy to use both layouts.

I work mostly on Colmak DH, but use QUERTY from time to time, when on my laptop.

The ONLY problem I have now is when my wife wants to use my computer... She doesn't want to try my fancy Colemak keyboard. (But it's more about it being a split keyboard with unmarked action keys in random places, than about the colemak).

Argh sometimes even, that's annoying! Luckily the changes are quite limited for non-symbol keys. Still I usually just add the qwerty keyboard layout if not present. This approach costs me the least time.

Maybe we were taught the left side first. And it worked well enough we never engaged the right.

Yes, learned how with a program on a VAX computer ('80s) using a VT100 terminal. I managed to get through high school and college by hunt and peck, though. Definitely not recommended.

I -can- do it, technically, with many mistakes and very slow, because it was forced on me in high school (around 2001), well after I’d refined my own typing style from chat rooms and instant messengers. I did it for that class, hated every second, and would go home to type the way I normally do, rather than practice it.

I type extremely fast despite using a mostly-sight-based, modified 2-3 finger hunt-peck. (As in one hand usually only uses two fingers, one uses three). I keep up with fast touch typers, around 90-95wpm, except when copying text verbatim (something I’ve never actually needed to do for any reason other than typing tests) so I have zero motivation to change what I do.

Yes, since before I was 10 (qwerty).. Learned it on an electric typewriter. Once a colleague switched two keys on my keyboard around as a joke. I hadn't noticed untill he told me about it three months later.