What is touch typing? Definition and a five-minute tutorial
What touch typing means, which finger goes on which home row key, why it is worth learning, and a five-minute tutorial you can start today.
Guide
What helps when you learn touch typing: timing, how to structure practice, speed, and ergonomics. The articles build on research and list their sources.
How long does it take to learn touch typing?
How many hours and weeks touch typing takes, why short daily sessions beat long ones, and when you get back to your old typing speed.
Is touch typing still worth learning?
What research says about touch typing versus self-taught typing, who gains the most from switching, and what the slow phase will cost you.
The home row: where every finger belongs
Where your fingers rest on a US or UK keyboard, which finger types which key, how to use Shift, and how to fix the most common mistakes.
How to type faster: what the research says
What studies of real typists show about speed: why fewer errors pay off, how rollover and reading ahead help, and how to practice above your pace.
What is a good typing speed? WPM explained
How words per minute are calculated, what studies say about typical typing speeds, and why accuracy and your own trend matter more than rankings.
WPM and characters per minute: what the numbers mean and what employers expect
How to convert WPM to characters per minute, how gross and net speed differ, and which typing speeds office job listings usually ask for.
Typing ergonomics: wrists, elbows, keyboard
What studies say about wrist angles, elbow height, and keyboard position, and how to set up your desk so that touch typing stays comfortable.
Touch typing keyboard layout: US, UK, international
Which keyboard layout for touch typing? How US, UK and US-International differ: where @, £, € and quotes are, how dead keys work, and the Mac.
Free typing tutors compared: our recommendation
We recommend typando: a free course with no account and no ads. Plus Tipp10, TypingClub, keybr.com, Monkeytype, typista, and AgileFingers compared.