Before you start

Touch typing means typing without looking at the keyboard. Every finger has its own keys, and your hands always come back to the same place. Five minutes here makes the lessons much easier.

1 · posture

Sit comfortably

Sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor.
Keep your elbows close to your sides, bent at about a right angle.
Let your wrists float just above the desk instead of resting on it.
Put the screen at eye level, about an arm's length away.

and remember

Eyes on the screen. Looking down is the habit to break. The on-screen keyboard shows the next key, so you never need to.
Accuracy first. Speed comes by itself once your fingers know the way. Slow and right beats fast and wrong.
Little and often. Ten to fifteen minutes a day works better than one long session a week.

2 · home row

Find the home row

Your fingers rest on the middle row of letters. Left hand on a s d f, right hand on j k l ;. Both thumbs rest on the space bar.

Feel the small bumps on two of those keys, under your index fingers. They let you find home without looking: after every reach, your fingers come back here.

3 · finger zones

Every finger has its keys

Each finger types the keys in its own colour, in a slanted column above and below where it rests. Index fingers do the most work: each covers two columns. Thumbs press the space bar.

left pinky
left ring
left middle
left index
right index
right middle
right ring
right pinky

4 · reaching

Reach, then come home

To type a key off the home row, the finger that owns it reaches up or down, presses the key and goes straight back. The hand moves a little with it, but the other fingers stay over their home keys, so your hand never loses its place.

The animation shows your left index finger working its zone.

5 · capitals

The other hand holds shift

For a capital letter, hold shift with the pinky of the other hand, type the letter, then let go. A capital F is typed by the left index finger, so the right pinky holds shift.

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