TypeCart is a free typing site that works in any web browser, so a class can start in the time it takes to open a page. Students don’t need an account to begin, the lessons teach touch typing from the home row up, and a one-minute test shows how each student is doing. This guide suggests how to fit it into your lessons.
Before the first lesson
- A computer with a keyboard for each student. Laptops, desktops and Chromebooks all work; tablets need a keyboard. Phones only show progress, since touch typing needs real keys.
- No installation and no sign-up. Students open typecart.app in the browser and start.
- Accounts are for ages 13 and up. Without one, each student’s progress stays in the browser on that computer. With a free account it follows them to any computer, which helps when students don’t always sit at the same one.
Try the first lesson yourself first: it takes about five minutes and shows what your students will see.
The first lesson: where everyone starts
Some students will never have touch typed; others type fast already. Two starting points cover both:
- Students new to touch typing begin with the basics, how to sit and where the fingers rest, then lesson 1, which uses only F and J.
- Students who type already take the one-minute placement test. It skips the rows of the course they already know, so they don’t sit through lessons that are too easy.
End the first session with a 1-minute typing test. Have students write down their speed and accuracy: it is the number they will beat later.
A typical session
Short, regular practice works better than one long session. Fifteen to twenty minutes, two or three times a week, is a good rhythm:
- One or two lessons (about 5 to 10 minutes). Each lesson brings in its new keys one at a time, with an on-screen keyboard and hands that show which finger to use.
- The short game after each lesson (30 seconds). It uses the keys just learned and gives students a reason to finish.
- A few minutes of [adaptive practice](/practice) once students know the letters. It finds each student’s slowest keys and gives them more of those.
- A 1-minute test every week or two, to see progress.
Students who finish early can repeat a lesson for more stars, try a harder level in the lesson’s options, or race the computer in the solo race.
Accuracy before speed
Students often rush. In the early lessons, a wrong key waits until the right one is pressed, so guessing doesn’t help; later lessons teach fixing mistakes with Backspace. Encourage students to keep their accuracy above about 95 % and let speed come by itself. The most useful rule in the room is don’t look at the keyboard.
Our guide on what a good typing speed is gives a rough scale, if students ask how fast they should be.
Following progress
Each student’s Stats page shows their speed and accuracy over time, their weakest keys and how much they typed each day. The lessons map shows the stars for each lesson.
There are no class accounts or teacher dashboards yet, so the simplest way to follow a class is to ask students to note their 1-minute test result and their furthest lesson in a shared sheet. If you would use a class view, tell us: it helps us decide what to build.
What is free
The lessons for the three letter rows and whole words, adaptive practice, the speed test, the solo race and Stats are free. Students without an account can do the home row lessons; a free account opens the rest of the letter lessons. Lessons for capitals, numbers and symbols are part of TypeCart Pro.