(no subject)

[bjornwilde]

A habit I need to break: Watching the keyboard instead of the monitor when I type. I am so used to hunting and peaking, that I've trained myself to watch the keyboard. Then, when I think to reread what I've written, 9 times out of 10, I see what I think I have written rather then what I actually typed.

Now that I am pretty familiar with the layout, despite what I tell myself, I need to watch what I am writing more. This should cut down my typos if I can make the shift.

Comments

[genarti]

I learned to touch-type in middle school, in computer class, and I am so thankful for that. They actually put boxes over our keyboards so we couldn't see our hands -- the lids of those boxes you get a ream of copier paper in, with a section cut out for your hands to go through. Probably unnecessarily dramatic and too much effort for your needs, but if you really want to test yourself, you could always toss a napkin or t-shirt or something over your hands and the keyboard to force yourself to look at the screen.

Mind you, I still do the thing where I see what I think I've written rather than what I've actually typed... Less with typos than with missing/substituted words, if I'm tired or in a hurry or have reworded a sentence a few times.

[bjornwilde]

Oh, that could be a good exercise. I'm trying to focus on the words as I type. So far this does reduce the typos and wrong words, though I do still catch myself looking to the keyboard when I can't get the right letter. ; p

It's also reducing the random spaces and capitalizations I've been seeing myself doing. It is much slower going than I am used to, but much more accurate!

[ceitfianna]

I've found that there are some typing games out there which are really useful. I had the same sort of training that Gen did with typing and so touch typing comes quickly to me. I still mess up sometimes because the speed of thoughts and words don't match up. But games like Typer Shark or ones where you have to type quickly are a good challenge since you have to look at the screen and not at your fingers.