Typing Tips and Tricks

Location, location, location – that’s the key to the real estate world, and also the key to touch typing. You need to have your hands positioned correctly on the keyboard, and your fingers have to know exactly where all the letters are without your eyes having to help them along. When your hands are properly placed over the home row of the keyboard, you’ll be able to type in the fastest, most efficient way possible. The Fast Typing Tonics exercises in Typesy help you with specific practice routines to get your hands and fingers used to working on the home row, the top row, and the bottom row, or all three rows together. You’ll get exercises designed to strengthen your right hand and your left hand, separately or in combination. You can practice these skills on your own as well, just by coming up with lists of words or phrases that focus on certain areas of the keyboard, or particular combinations of letters that give you problems. Remember, the more you practice, the more quickly your fingers will get the “muscle memory” that is essential to fast and accurate touch typing. Here are some practice words that target different areas of the keyboard: TOP ROW WORDS typewriter proprietor perpetuity repertoire territory potpourri etiquette propriety prototype pirouette puppeteer HOME ROW WORDS alfalfas flasks salads glass alas falls glad galls LEFT HAND WORDS tesseract cataract stewardess aftereffect exacerbated reverberate vertebrae exaggerate segregate wasted RIGHT HAND WORDS lollipop limply polyphony milky million homily…

If you’re left-handed, congratulations! You join Albert Einstein, Barack Obama, and Bill Gates, among others, in a select group of approximately ten percent of the population. Note: If you aren’t already celebrating International Left-Handers Day, put August 13th on your calendar now. As a left-hander, you’re probably familiar with the down side of being in the minority, and are used to dealing with desks, scissors, cars, and everyday conveniences that, well, aren’t as convenient if you don’t have a right-handed orientation. On the other hand, you’ve got the advantage over those right-handers because your left hand will generally be stronger and more flexible, making it easier to use that hand to touch type. That will help you increase your typing speed, because many of the most common letters, including A, S, E, T, R, and D, are typed with the left hand. It will also help you with those difficult words that include a Q or an X or a Z, all of which are also typed with the left hand (and which generally are the most difficult words to type). But even with this keyboard advantage, don’t forget that touch typing depends on both hands! To make sure that your right hand works as well as the left, try practicing your typing skills with this list of words that are typed with right side of keyboard only: lollipop monopoly polyphony jumpily pool holly homonym lumpy million kimono pippin pompom unholy hippo nylon nymph onion puppy union monopoly minimum opinion…

Right-handed people tend to have a weaker left hand, but a good touch typist needs to have equal strength in both hands, since both are used equally in typing. The Typesy software system focuses on making sure that both hands have equal agility, flexibility, strength through a series of exercises that focus on each hand and every finger. If you’re not using Typesy, you can still practice on your own to build your left hand strength. Try typing out this list of practice words that only use the left hand on a standard QWERTY keyboard. stewardesses reverberated desegregated beater breeze actress debase dessert beverage addressed cataract aggregate stargazer aftertaste exaggerated stared swerved greet detest crease abracadabra cabbages watercress database afterwards Another way to equalize the abilities of your hand is to use your left hand for things you’re accustomed to using your right hand for. Hold your toothbrush in your left hand. Use your left hand to brush your hair, or point out the window, or dial the numbers on the telephone. It will seem awkward at first, but as your mind forms stronger connections between the actions and the nerve impulses, it will be easier. If your left hand is significantly weaker than your right, you might consider getting a small rubber ball to squeeze in your left hand to build up muscle strength. Be careful not to overdo the exercise at first, and stop exercising if you feel your hand start to cramp. Even simply tapping the fingers…