The home row: where every finger belongs

The home row is where your fingers rest between keystrokes. On US and UK keyboards, your left hand sits on A, S, D and F, your right hand on J, K, L and ;. From there, each finger reaches its own keys and comes back. This fixed starting point is what lets you type without looking.

The starting position

Put your left index finger on F and your right index finger on J. Both keys have a small bump you can feel. The other fingers settle next to them: on the left, the middle finger on D, the ring finger on S and the pinky on A. On the right, the middle finger rests on K, the ring finger on L and the pinky on the semicolon. Both thumbs rest lightly on the space bar.

Curve your fingers slightly so that only the fingertips touch the keys. Keep your wrists straight and in line with your forearms, as the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends for keyboard work. Desk height, elbows and keyboard placement are covered in Typing ergonomics: wrists, elbows, keyboard.

These eight keys are the same on US and UK layouts. UK keyboards have one extra key in the home row, #, to the right of the apostrophe, and your right pinky covers it as well. Mac keyboards keep the letters in the same places.

Make it a habit: each time you sit down, find the bumps first and let the other fingers follow.

Which finger types which key

The keys are arranged in slightly slanted columns, and each finger covers its own column from the number row down to the bottom row. The index fingers work hardest, since each of them covers two columns.

The pinkies also take the keys at the outer edges: Tab, Caps Lock and the left Shift on the left side, the apostrophe, Enter, Backspace and the right Shift on the right. The number row follows the same columns, with 1 to 5 for the left hand and 6 to 0 for the right. In the typando trainer, the on-screen keyboard shows each key in the color of its finger, so you can check the assignment at a glance.

Move only the finger that types, and bring it back to the home row right after the stroke.

Shift, AltGr and the space bar

Capital letters use the Shift key of the opposite hand. For a capital A, which your left pinky types, hold the right Shift with your right pinky. For a capital J, use the left Shift with your left pinky. That way, the hand that types the letter stays in position.

UK keyboards add AltGr, the Alt key to the right of the space bar, for extra characters. AltGr with 4 gives you €, and AltGr with E gives you é. On a Mac, the Option key takes this role. Which symbols each layout offers is explained in US, UK and international keyboard layouts compared.

Either thumb may press the space bar; use the one that feels natural. Backspace and Enter belong to the right pinky, which stretches out for them and returns right away.

Always use the opposite hand for Shift, even if it feels slow at first.

Why a fixed position helps

The home row is more than a tradition. In their study of everyday typing, Feit, Weir and Oulasvirta linked good performance to a fixed finger for each key and to little movement of the whole hand. The home row provides both. Every key belongs to one finger, and your hands always return to the same anchor. Whether touch typing makes you faster than a self-taught style is a separate question, answered in Is touch typing still worth learning?

One question is still open. No randomized study has compared starting with the home row against starting with the most frequent letters, and some courses take the second route. Our lessons begin with the home row because it gives your hands a fixed reference point from the very first minute.

Whichever order a course follows, give every key one finger from day one.

Common mistakes and how to fix them

Many beginners run into the same few habits:

• Looking at your hands. It feels safe, but it keeps you dependent on your eyes. When you are unsure, look at the on-screen keyboard instead, which shows the next key.
• Drifting hands. After a few lines, your fingers may sit one key too far to the side, and every letter you type is off by one. Feel for the bumps on F and J whenever you pause.
• Pressing too hard. A light, quick stroke is enough. Pounding the keys only tires your fingers.
• Mixing up the middle keys. G, T and B belong to the left index finger, while H, Y and N belong to the right one. Watch these keys closely, since they sit between the hands.

If your accuracy suddenly drops, check your hand position before anything else.

Your first lessons

On typando, the home row takes four lessons: first F, J and the space bar, then D and K, then S, L, A and the semicolon, and finally G and H. With A, S, D, F, J, K and L you can already type words like ask, fall and sad, and G and H add words like glass and half. From the third lesson on, the exercises use real words and syllables instead of letter strings. A lesson counts as passed at 97% accuracy; speed does not matter yet.

How long the whole path takes is covered in our article on how long it takes to learn touch typing. Once all the keys feel familiar, How to type faster shows how to build speed.

Practice the home row now: the first lessons in the trainer introduce the eight home keys a few at a time.