How do you type a long post?

[pocket aces]

I use the advanced Hunt n Peck method.    I had typing in High school 40 years ago. I see these posts that are so long. It would take me a lot of time to type that much. Do some of you use a talk to type app/program? Or are do you just  have lightning fast typing skills? 

[Jess from VA]

Typing is the only class I ever flunked.  Still type reasonably well, though slow, and have to go back and correct spelling and grammar (my spelling is pretty good, it's my fingers that are the poor spellers).

The faster I type, the more it looks like some home made code.

For thirty years (USAF too) I dictated my work, and a professional typed it for me.  I miss that.

Never used a Dragon program (auto dictation typing software).   

[Serk]

I technically hunt and peck, although I can do it at over 120 words per minute.

Playing real time text based RPG games back in the late 1980's (LPMud mostly) helped a lot, when your character's life or death depended on how quickly and accurately you could type "Run west away from dragon" you develop pretty good typing skills.

[old2soon]

Two finger method-one on my left hand one on my right hand. And with spell check I iz guud ta go!  RIDE SAFE.

[Moonshot_1]

I use the advanced Hunt n Peck method.    I had typing in High school 40 years ago. I see these posts that are so long. It would take me a lot of time to type that much. Do some of you use a talk to type app/program? Or are do you just  have lightning fast typing skills? 

If you are considering a long and thoughtful post, this is what I do.
Use Word and draft your post there. If you get stuck, save it and come back to it later.
When you are done, copy and paste it to the board here. You will have a second chance to edit your post on the board when you paste it.

If you are considering a longer post to reply to someone, well, the only option there is to practice and type faster.

[0leman]

I learned to type during summer vacations while in High school.  Use to sit and type out books that I was reading.  Didn't have time for typing class.  Teachers could finally read what I wrote.  Then after college in '69, didn't touch a keyboard till we started getting word processors at work in the early 80's.  Keyboarding came back quick and our clerical support really appreciated that they could read what I was writing. 

Now after retiring back in '09, only typing on this board and a few emails are all I type.  Still using all my fingers to do so  Not sure I ever hit the 120/min speed but fingers sort of keep up with my train of thought.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I technically hunt and peck, although I can do it at over 120 words per minute.

Well, 120 wpm is impressive. But I bet you haven't tripled your efficiency like I have. I am currently at 3 wpm. 

[Gryphon Rider]

I use all of my fingers, but look at the keys as I type.  I can almost keep up with my train of thought as I type, but that doesn't say much, as I am a slow thinker.  My wife and daughter are driven crazy with the speed of my texting; they can see that I am typing, but when they finally get a reply, it's way shorter than they expect. 

If I am going to type a long reply here using my computer, as opposed to my phone, I will type it in Notepad.  That way if the board eats it, I haven't irretrievably lost my brilliant thoughts.  

[The emperor has no clothes]

I use all of my fingers, but look at the keys as I type.  I can almost keep up with my train of thought as I type, but that doesn't say much, as I am a slow thinker.  My wife and daughter are driven crazy with the speed of my texting; they can see that I am typing, but when they finally get a reply, it's way shorter than they expect. 

If I am going to type a long reply here using my computer, as opposed to my phone, I will type it in Notepad.  That way if the board eats it, I haven't irretrievably lost my brilliant thoughts.  

I guess I'm going to have to start doing that also. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste"

[John Schmidt]

I use all of my fingers, but look at the keys as I type.  I can almost keep up with my train of thought as I type, but that doesn't say much, as I am a slow thinker.  My wife and daughter are driven crazy with the speed of my texting; they can see that I am typing, but when they finally get a reply, it's way shorter than they expect. 

If I am going to type a long reply here using my computer, as opposed to my phone, I will type it in Notepad.  That way if the board eats it, I haven't irretrievably lost my brilliant thoughts.  

I guess I'm going to have to start doing that also. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste"

Or....as Twiggy once said; "a waist is a terrible thing to mind."     Remember how skinny she was?

[PhoenixRizing]

I just use my smartphone and let it auto correct for me. My two thumbs are pretty quick.

[Robert]

I took typing many years ago in high school and hated it and didn't even think about the way things were heading. According to the Jetson's we should have all had personal electronic secretaries. Siri is about as close as we come and use it alot for texting, since I dont like the small key boards on phones.

  I have always kept and used the hand placement on the key board that I used in school and dont have to look at the board to type unless I am copying some document. So today I type with two hands. It allows me to put my thoughts to paper faster and then have editing come later without having to concentrate on how I type but what I type. If you ever want to show how bad you type then enter a chat room and see how long it takes to form a response. It is a good skill to have keeps the fingers and hands nimble, my hats off to those that do code for a living. Its one thing to type a letter and get a word wrong, its a whole other thing to use all the symbols and letters and get code wrong, that could be catastrophic.

Just like playing an instrument its training.

[hubcapsc]

my hats off to those that do code for a living. Its one thing to type a letter and get a word wrong, its a whole other thing to use all the symbols and letters and get code wrong, that could be catastrophic.

There's a young guy in my office who types out working code the way Kramer was
typing in that Seinfeld episode where he works in Murphy Brown's office...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni400X3vJMo

I took typing in Jr. High School... my mother brought work home from the office
when I was little, and she brought home her IBM Selectric typewriter. She
could type fast while only looking at the source document, she'd show off
for me by typing stuff while looking over her shoulder back at me. And the
way that Selectric type head ball went back and forth was awesome!

-Mike

[Robert]

There's a young guy in my office who types out working code the way Kramer was
typing in that Seinfeld episode where he works in Murphy Brown's office...

I am trying to do that but its a slow process. That was great 

[Jess from VA]

That IBM Selectric was state of the art when I started out in my own private practice.  I started on a shoestring budget and my dad got me a used one (with like ten font balls).  Man, being able to back space one space and have the machine whiteout a single wrong letter (very neatly) was way better than having to start over every time you made a mistake (which for me was all the time).  I only did that for one year (one of the poorest years of my lifetime).  

For some reason, people did not want a will with a bunch of liquid whiteout all over it (even though I only charged $40 a will).  I could not afford a secretary (even part time), so I had to type all my own stuff for a law office on that IBM.

I still have it.  I could never figure out how to change up my computer printer to do envelopes, so I used to address business envelopes with the IBM.  I haven't had it out in years and years (and do all my envelopes in hand printing now).

That thing hummed loudly, and when you got going on it, you understood why the old Thompson .45 sub machine gun was called a Chicago typewriter.

You also had to learn not to rest your fingers on the keys very hard (like I had on manuals), or it would start typing asdf-;lkj.  

[Serk]

Quite often I start to type a reply to one of the political posts, and end up using this typing method:




...what that happens, I generally think better of it and just hit the back button instead of posting...

[sheets]

Was a Yeoman in the Navy. To graduate Yoyo school you had to do a minimum of 60 wpm banging out official correspondence in proper format - with no errors - on a manual typewriter - with blank keys. No letters or symbols or numbers represented on any of the keys. When I went to the fleet we had brand new IBM Selectric machines. Thought I was in tall cotton working with that machine. Those things weighed about 50 pounds. It did sound like a machine gun. Still manage about 30/40 wpm some 45 years later.   

[Jess from VA]

Yeah, and I remember our 110yo typing teacher from Jr Hi walking around trying to catch you looking at your fingers. 

And if you crumpled up a sheet of paper and threw it in the can, she made you take it out and smooth it out and fold it before going back in the can.  More flat paper goes in a can, and no crumpling up your rejects was allowed.   

[Gavin_Sons]

test yourself here, i did 76 words per minute.

http://typingtestnow.com/app/typing_test.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwjPXIBRDhwICRg-DbgHISJADP6QXpUrXiqsz6hypU8JZgpKnpJ0KnAxJ6Fydqq8g_hYd64BoCRG7w_wcB

[Serk]

test yourself here, i did 76 words per minute.

http://typingtestnow.com/app/typing_test.html?gclid=CjwKEAjwjPXIBRDhwICRg-DbgHISJADP6QXpUrXiqsz6hypU8JZgpKnpJ0KnAxJ6Fydqq8g_hYd64BoCRG7w_wcB

103... I've gotten rusty in my old age...

[Chrisj CMA]

How do I type long posts?  I don't.  Long for me is over two lines

[Jess Tolbirt]

text to speech.. i talk to my phone in notes then share with myself to email and copy and paste it here