1.3 CONQUERING THE KEYBOARD Learning to use the keyboard quickly is a significant challenge but a great investment of time and effort. If you can't see the letters on the keyboard, you can't poke with two fingers like a seeing person. Your best option for learning is to find a local group or college, but if there’s nothing available, here’s how to go about teaching yourself to be a competent typist. Some audio touch typing courses are listed at the end of this section, English only. On most keyboards, two keys have tiny raised marks, F and J, third row up away from you. Put your first finger of the left hand on the F and the first finger of your right hand on the J, with your thumbs touching the Spacebar. You can buy Bumpons or Loc-Dots from RNIB tel. 08457 023153 or email cservices@rnib.org.ukif you want to mark more keys. you could get seeing help to mark the TAB key, the ENTER key and maybe FUNCTION key 4 on the top row, the CONTROL key, or the WINDOWS key which is two keys to the left of the SPACEBAR. The cost is just a few pounds and you can choose bright colours if this helps. Bumpons come in various sizes. RNIB also sells keyboards with large letters but they are more costly. This is how you begin to teach yourself to use the keyboard by touch. Thunder or any talking software will speak the keys you press. WHICH FINGERS TO USE Using the proper fingers is important. LEFT HAND First finger (index finger) on F and ready to move to the right to G, up one row to R and T, down one row to V and B, but always returning to F as its home position; Second finger (middle finger) on D and ready to move up to E, down to C but always returning to its home position on D; Third finger on S but ready to move up to W, down to X and always returning to S; Little finger on A and ready to move up to Q or down to Z when required. RIGHT HAND The home finger positions follow the same pattern. First finger (Index finger) on J but ready to move to the left to H, up to U and Y or down to M and N; Second finger (middle finger) on K but ready to move up to I or down to comma; Third finger on L and ready to move up to O or down to full stop; Little finger on Semicolon and ready to move up to P or down to Forward slash Once you have mastered the letters, then try getting to grips with numbers, second row down. The position of the numbers varies slightly, so you may need to experiment with finger positions. A Bumpon or Loc-Dot could be handy to keep you from losing your position. It may well take days, weeks or even months before you can relax and call yourself a touch typist and using your little fingers may not be so easy, But it’s worth the effort. WHAT TO TYPE First type your name over and over again rhythmically. Keep doing this until it becomes automatic and you don't need to think about it. That's your first few letters learned. Second, type your family name, again rhythmically, until it becomes automatic to you. You are well on the way. Third, type the name of the road where you live in the same rhythmical manner. By now you will most likely have mastered ten or more of the 26 letters. The repetition and the rhythm are very important. You will never get fast as a touch typist by struggling to write documents and hoping the speed will come. You have to do it as above. When you are OK with this, think of other words or names which you will use such as friends, family, particular websites etc, and type them repetitively and rhythmically. All this will build up automatic skills in your head and your fingers. These skills will transfer into your ability to write documents and emails. SUMMARY LAYOUT OF THE ALPHABET The first key on the left of each row is an important computer key, see section 1.4. Row 6 is furthest from you, row 1 nearest, starting from the left of each row: Row 6: first key Escape then Function keys Row 5: Numbers Row 4: Q W E R T --- Y U I O P Row 3: A S D F G --- H J K L semicolon Row 2: Z X C V B --- N M comma full stop forward slash Row 1: Important computer keys. TOUCH TYPING COURSES: Sally Southwick Tel. 01223 890672 (Home) 07971 926911 (Cell) Email sallysouth@btinternet.com Very thorough and costs £70.00 AZABAT Typing Tutors Steve Crawford Tel: 01442 251 091 or 07740 777 364 Email: sales@azabat.co.uk. Priced around £30 UK. No installation; runs from a disk. |