Learning Computer Keyboard Skills

Learning and Practicing Home Row

The primary foundation of excellent typing skills is the mastery of the home row. Home row refers to the centermost keys on a keyboard, and in terms of typing, is often used to describe the proper resting positions of the fingertips when preparing to type. On a QWERTY keyboard, the home row begins with A on the right and ends with the semicolon on the left. Home row finger placements dictate that the fingers on the left hand rest on A, S, D and F and the fingers on the right hand rest on J, K, L and the semicolon key. Both thumbs should rest on the space bar. When typing from home row, the hands should never move significantly. For each keystroke, the nearest finger to the desired key should be the only part of the hand that moves significantly; it should reach out, press the key and immediately return to its home row position. At first, practicing this technique can make typing slow and arduous. But with practice, it can enable high word-per-minute typing rates.

Using Typing Software

There are numerous educational software programs designed to help computer users learn effective typing and keyboard skills. The range of software includes titles for young children, teenagers and adults. Among the adult titles, there are programs that are focused on specific aspects of computer keyboard skills and even some that are designed specifically for computer users with disabilities that might make typing more difficult than usual. All of these programs will come with their own instructions and documentation. Computer users should carefully read the features of each educational program before making the decision to buy one, and if possible, should look up independent customer reviews from people who have used the software.

Memorizing Keyboard Shortcuts

One of the most effective ways to use advanced keyboard skills for even faster computing is to use keyboard shortcuts. There are keyboard shortcuts programmed for your computer's operating system as well as for any program installed on it. To review a comprehensive list of all of the shortcuts for an operating system or program, explore the digital help section of the software itself or to look through the printed documentation that came with it. In many programs, you can also view some of the most common shortcuts by browsing through the command menus at the top of the screen. For example, on a typical Microsoft Windows program window, you might click the "Edit" command in the command menu and see that the shortcut for "copy" is Ctrl-C, the shortcut for "cut" is Ctrl-X and the shortcut for "paste" is Ctrl-V. Once you memorize these shortcuts and practice them a few times, you may find that you can control most program functions without moving your fingers away from the home row or reaching for the mouse.

Resources

• Home Row Diagram