Touch-typing isn't ballet on keyboards, though it comes close if you're doing it right. Not there yet? No worries. There are two ways to improve your touch-typing skills, and you can start right now.

  1. Make it part of your everyday habit.
  2. Use an online typing tutor for deliberate practice.

Keybr is a typing tutor with smart lessons designed to put you through rigorous typing exercises. Keybr isn't alone in the ecosystem of apps that teach you how to type fast, but it has a few nice features that others lack.

What Is Touch Typing? How Does Keybr Help?

Touch typing is simple: type as efficiently as you can with all your fingers on the keyboard, and without looking down at the keys while typing. You have to rely on your muscle memory to tap the right keys, and it's this skill which makes a three-digit typing speed possible.

Keybr

Keybr has three core strengths:

1. Practice deliberately. The lessons on Keybr do not repeat the same order of keys. The software automatically generates random (but readable and pronounceable) words for you to practice with. For instance, you won't type nonsensical words like "jjkl" or "qwsd" -- you'll practice with more common words, such as "the," "that," "with," and so on.

2. Personalized lessons. Keybr uses the feedback from your performance to tailor each lesson to your skill level. It measures your typing speed for each individual key, and uses this data to generate random words putting emphasis on the weakest key.

3. Progressive improvement. Keybr introduces new letters into the typing sequence gradually depending on your familiarity. You start with a small subset of the alphabet, then graduate to a larger set of words as you improve.

Keybr makes your learning flexible. You can bypass the automatic mode in the settings and try with a larger set of alphabets or lesson length. Switch to the manual mode at any time and provide your own custom text to type out.

For fun (and some serious challenges), there is also a multiplayer type racing game. Join it when you get bored of the lessons. Keybr has other little features to offer:

Keybr - Features

Do Not Give Up!

From my own experience, I can say that typing fast is a lot like learning how to cycle. Both have one common link: if you want to go fast, you must now look down. And both take a fair amount of practice after which it is almost as if you were born with that skill.

Have you ever given up on touch typing? If not, what is the one tip that helped you type fast?

Image Credit: Pressmaster via Shutterstock