The layout of a typical English computer keyboard is known as a QWERTY keyboard, due to the first five characters. It was patented in 1868 by American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter. It was designed to help users to type faster by separating commonly used letter pairings such as ST, to avoid the typewriter jamming.
Since the late 1800s when typewriters became popular, people have been learning how to touch type to improve their speed, confidence and productivity with the keyboard. In the modern day this skill has become vital, with most people now using a computer at some point during their working day.
Three benefits of touch typing
Here are just a few of the ways that learning to touch type will make you more productive:
- Your typing will become much faster – if you are using two fingers to type, your typing speed might be 20 words per minute (wpm). If you were able to type at 70 wpm, this will have a huge impact on your productivity at work. Typing a 600 word document (about one sheet of A4) at 70 wpm would take you just 8.5 minutes, instead of half an hour if you were typing at 20 wpm. What could you do with the time you would save?
- You will become more accurate at typing – you will spend spend less time checking and proofing your work, and so can spend more time focusing on the tone and subject of your emails and documents.
- It’s less tiring – typing without looking at the keyboard uses muscle memory. This will reduce your physical and mental fatigue and will give you more energy for problem-solving or managing other parts of your day.
