As a developer, I have a special passion for touch-typing(- the practice or skill of typing using all one's fingers and without looking at the keys). I believe that being able to type faster improves one's productivity, especially if you write code a lot. I have been practicing touch-typing since 2019. When I saw students at my university typing so fast without looking at their keyboards I was amazed and really wanted to be able to do it myself. Initially, I started with keybr.com which helped me learn to type without looking at my keyboard.
Learning to type fast is such a slow process. You need to be patient and consistent. It took me a lot of practice just to memorize the locations of letters on the keyboard. But I tried to be consistent and practiced whenever I could.
And then, I found out about 10fastfingers.com which defines itself as a website for testing & improving one's typing speed through free typing games.
I stayed at 10fastfingers longer. I used to practice almost every day so much that my roommate used to complain about the keyboard noise I was making (Because I used to practice on a cheap and loud keyboard). After getting so many complaints from my roommate, I convinced myself to buy Magic Keyboard by dear Apple so that I wouldn't make too much noise. Plus, it was my dream keyboard too.
I was(still am) a member of 10fastfingers for more than two years. During this time I have taken 2,550 tests while typing almost 135,000 words. I wasn't very consistent but when I was, boy, I was spending hours and hours taking typing tests. My highest score was 81 WPM (words per minute) which is not that impressive but for me, it really is. Below are some of my stats:
I really loved 10fastfingers and will continue using it (occasionally). However, it is time to change.
For the past 3 months, I have been using Monkeytype which is also a touch-typing website featuring many test modes but much much better. It is really fun. The website is clean and fast. The UI is also very pleasant to look at. It gives more flexibility for users than 10fastfingers. Possible to set 15, 30, and 60 (also 120) seconds for a test. Customizable word types and characters. Surprisingly, it is open-source. I highly recommend it ✅.
So far I have taken more than 500 tests spending 5 hours on the website. I am almost addicted to it. Here are some of my stats so far:
In conclusion, I will continue to improve my typing skills and waste more and more time on Monkeytype.
Thanks for reading thus far. Since you made it here have a joke: "Dear Math, grow up and solve your own problems." See you on the next one 😎.
Top comments (1)
Hmmm ... what about taking THIS one: dev.to/ooosys/comment/2d65e to the next level of collecting and saving some statistics, becoming independent of the Internet with full control over what is happening? I would like to encourage you to add next 80 or more lines to the code to put it at the next level.
Personally I would still prefer 10fastfingers because of the website design - I don't like the at Monkeytype provided color patterns and the site design, It disturbs with myriads of options from what it is actual for - maybe the name speaks for whom the site actually is? Instead of getting ten fast fingers ... you get at being a monkey at a keyboard ...
By the way: It is not the training that can push your typing speed towards the next level ... it is freeing yourself from the obstacles in your mind and body which prevent fast speed of processing information through your nervous and muscle system. After you hit an upper level you then stuck at for months or years ... you will see yourself that further training won't give you any further improvement. This is the point from which you can experience yourself that choosing alternative paths in your life will eventually give you unexpected improvements you can then see and wonder about while breaking own previous bests.