touch typing this article is about the method of typing for keyboard on a touchscreen see virtual keyboard for keyboard on a phone or pda see thumb keyboard typing zones on a qwerty keyboard for each finger home row keys are circled index fingers are placed on f and j and remaining fingers fall as shown fingers then match their colours on the keyboard an alternative method for the top row is described in the section other methods split keyboards often support this alternate method touch typing also called touch type or touch keyboarding is typing without using the sense of sight to find the keys specifically a touch typist will know their location on the keyboard through muscle memory touch typing typically involves placing the eight fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard the home row and having them reach for other keys both twohanded touch typing and onehanded touch typing are possible frank edward mcgurrin a court stenographer from salt lake city utah who taught typing classes reportedly invented touch typing in 1888 on a standard keyboard for english speakers the home row keys are asdf for the left hand and jkl for the right hand the keyboard is called a qwerty keyboard because these are the first six letters on the keyboard most modern computer keyboards have a raised dot or bar on the home keys for the index fingers to help touch typists maintain and rediscover the correct position on the keyboard quickly with no need to look at the keys more recently the ability to touch type on touchscreen phones has been made possible with the use of specialized virtual keyboard software for touch typing history learning to touch type do you not find he said that with your short sight it is a little tiring to do so much typewriting i did at first she answered but now i know where the letters are without looking arthur conan doyle a case of identity 1891 original layouts for the first few mechanical typewriters were in alphabetical order abcde etc but the frequent jams suffered by experienced typists forced the manufacturers to change the layout of the letters placing keys that are often pressed in a sequence as far as possible from each other this allows engaging the second printing bar of the typewriter before the first falls down increasing the speed of the mechanism equal distribution of the load over most of fingers also increased the speed as the keys of the mechanical typewriter are more difficult to press the calculations for keyboard layout were based on the language being typed and this meant different keyboard layouts would be needed for each language in english speaking countries for example the first row is qwerty but in french speaking countries it is azerty though mechanical typewriters are now rarely used moves to change the layout to increase speed have been largely ignored or resisted due to familiarity with the existing layout among touch typists on july 25 1888 mcgurrin who was reportedly the only person using touch typing at the time won a decisive victory over louis traub operating caligraph with eightfinger method in a typing contest held in cincinnati the results were displayed on the front pages of many newspapers mcgurrin won us500 equivalent to 12580 in 2012 usd and popularized the new typing method whether mcgurrin was actually the first person to touch type or simply the first to be popularly noticed is disputed speeds attained by other typists in other typing competitions at the time suggest that they must have been using similar systems in 1889 bates torrey coined the words writing by touch in his article to learn to write by touch that is with only an occasional glance at the keyboard sit directly in front of the machine keep the hands as nearly as possible in one position over the keyboard the most common other form of typing is search and peck typing or twofingered typing this method is slower than touch typing because instead of relying on the memorized position of keys the typist is required to find each key by sight and move fingers a greater distance many idiosyncratic styles in between those two exist for example many people will type blindly but using only two to five fingers and not always in a systematic way start position with fingers on the home row standard finger placement on a qwerty keyboard advantages speed touch type training can improve any individuals typing speed and accuracy dramatically the accepted average typing speed and routine practice is required to maintain a high typing speed and accuracy reduced switching of attention a touch typist does not need to move the sight between the keyboard that is obscured with fingers and may be poorly lit and other areas that require attention this increases productivity and reduces the number of errors disputes over advantages there are many idiosyncratic typing styles in between novicestyle hunt and peck and touch typing for example many hunt and peck typists have the keyboard layout memorized and are able to type while focusing their gaze on the screen one study examining 30 subjects of varying different styles and expertise has found minimal difference in typing speed between touch typists and selftaught hybrid typists according to the study the number of fingers does not determine typing speed people using selftaught typing strategies were found to be as fast as trained typists instead of the number of fingers there are other factors that predict typing speed fast typists keep their hands fixed on one position instead of moving them over the keyboard and more consistently use the same finger to type a certain letter to quote doctoral candidate anna feit we were surprised to observe that people who took a typing course performed at similar average speed and accuracy as those that taught typing to themselves and only used 6 fingers on average though it should be noted that such claims only come from one single study and the study does concede that it might be impossible for the nontouch typists to reach the high speed of 120 wpm also the study agrees that since touch typists dont really need to switch focus between the screen and the keyboard they are more likely to maintain better concentration training a touch typist starts by placing their fingers on the start position in the middle row and knows which finger to move and how much to move it for reaching any required key learning typically includes first printing exercises containing only letters on or near the standard position and then gradually mastering other rows it is important to learn placing fingers into the start position blindly as the hands are frequently raised from the keyboard to operate the line feed lever in the past or more recently the computer mouse the keys f and j frequently contain some surface features that allow the typist to recognize them by touch alone thus removing the need to look down at the keys to reset the fingers at the home row the typing speed can be increased gradually and speeds of 60 wpm or higher can be achieved the rate of speed increase varies between individuals many websites and software products are available to learn touch typing and many of these are free learning touch typing can be stressful both to the fingers as well as the mind in the beginning but once it is learned to a decent level it exerts minimal stress on the fingers typing speed generally improves with practice while practicing it is important to ensure that there are no weak keys typing speed is typically determined by how slow these weak keys are typed rather than how fast the remaining keys are typed if a stage is reached where irrespective of the amount of practice typing speed is not increasing it is advisable to let some time pass and continue serious practice thereafter as typing speeds typically tend to increase with time even when no serious practice is done home row microsoft natural keyboard pro circa 1999 the home row is the center row of keys on a typewriter or computer keyboard on the most common type of english language keyboard the qwerty layout a s d f and j k l are the home keys on the home row the middle row of the keyboard is termed home row because typists are trained to keep their fingers on these keys andor return to them after pressing any other key that is not on the home row some keyboards have a small bump on certain keys of the home row this helps returning the fingers to the home row for touch typing for instance to type the word poll on a qwerty keyboard one would place all of ones fingers on the home row the right hand should be covering j k l with the thumb on the space bar while the left hand covers a s d f the typist will then use their little finger to reach for the p key located just above the semicolon and then return the pinky back to the semicolon key from which it originated the ring finger located on the l key will be moved directly upwards to press the o key and then back finally the same ring finger will remain on the l key and press it twice experienced typists can do this at speeds of over 100 words per minute this provides for quick easy access to all of the keys on the keyboard repetitive stress injuries typing regularly can put a user at risk for repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis proper posture can greatly reduce risk of injury other methods the kinesis keyboard a method taught since the 1960s and perhaps earlier the left little finger is used for the keys 1 2 the ring finger for 3 the middle 4 the left index finger is responsible for 5 and 6 on the right side of the keyboard index 7 and 8 middle 9 ring 0 and the little all other keys on the right side of the upper row probably these two methods reflect the layout of the typewriters from early days when some of them had no 0 andor 1 keys there exist special ergonomic keyboards designed for both typing methods the keyboard is split between the keys 5 and 6 or 6 and 7 some specialized highend computer keyboards are designed for touch typists for example many manufacturers provide blank mechanical keyboards a trained touch typist should not mind using a blank keyboard this kind of keyboard may force hunt and peck users to type without looking similar to braille keyboards used by the visually impaired dvorak simplified keyboard an alternative english keyboard layout advertised as optimised for comfort and speed categorytyping software software that is designed for teaching users to touch type 