Home Keys

One version of what “touch typing” is, is typing without needing to look at the keys.  A typist knows their position on the keyboard from muscle memory alone.  Usually, touch typing involves placing the eight fingers across the ‘home row’.

The home row keys are in the middle row and are the letters “a-s-d-f” for the left hand and “j-k-l-;” for the right hand.  On the left hand, the little finger rests over the “A” key, the ring finger over “S”, the middle finger over “D” and the index finger over “F”.  On the right hand, the index finger goes over “J” and so on.

Touch typing is thought of many to be the fastest and most efficient way to work on a computer.  Personally, I believe they are right if the user is very competent on the keyboard and use of shortcuts.

Until you are more used to the keyboard layout and touch typing, you should work with what is fastest for you personally (but don’t be afraid to try other ways).  When finished with this post, why not check out this previous post.

A lot of people I talk to that started to learn how to touch type, but gave up have told me they did so because they found the lessons boring.  But stick with the lessons, you’ll be surprised how easily you find typing afterwards, without thinking about it!  For now, I’d like to point out to you that if you are using a laptop/computer/physical keyboard, you may notice that on the letters “F” and “J”, there is usually an elevated tab.  Usually without being aware of it, my left and right index fingers automatically rest on these two keys and know they are in the right position because of this elevated tab.  The rest of my fingers automatically line up above the correct keys.

On a number pad (not the row of numbers above the letters), you may also see an elevated tab on the number 5 key.  This is also the case with some older mobile phones (back when they had buttons) and also some atm machines.  The index finger would automatically rest on this key and then the fingers will type from this position.

As I type, my fingers move and stretch in some cases, but they will always return to the home keys, with the index fingers above “F” and “J”

Try this out for yourself, even if you don’t touch type, rest your fingers above the home keys and randomly type from here, bringing your index fingers back to the elevated-tabbed keys.

I would recommend trying any of the many sites and packages that teach touch typing – it is well worth doing, and may seem boring, but stick with it!!