Touch typing - Definition and Overview

Touch typing is typing using the sense of touch rather than sight to find the keys. Touch typing places the eight non-thumb fingers in a horizontal row along the middle of the keyboard and has them reach for other keys. Most computer keyboards have a raised dot on either the F/J keys or the D/K keys (or the keys in the same position, for non-QWERTY keyboards) so that touch-typists can feel when their fingertips are over the correct "home row."

The most common other form of typing is "hunt and peck" (or two-fingered typing) which is slower than touch typing because, instead of relying on the memorized position of keys, the typist is required to find each key by sight. Many idiosyncratic styles in between those two exist – for example many people will type blindly, but using only two to five fingers and not always in a systematic way.

See also

• QWERTY
• Dvorak Simplified Keyboard
• muscle memory
• typing

Example Usage of typing