tutor

Practice isn't just the way to get to Carnegie Hall; it's also the way to become a good typist. KeyBlaze Free Typing Tutor from NCH Software can help you learn touch-typing or practice your skills. It offers basic lessons, drills, and speed tests suitable for typists ranging from absolute beginners to keyboard jockeys. It's easy to use and effective, too.

The KeyBlaze installation wizard offers three optional downloads, which we didn't try but thought sounded useful: FastFox, a typing expander that can create and store keyboard shortcuts; TextTally, a word counter; and Express Scribe, which assists … Read more

Typing used to be the domain of writers and secretaries, but now it's an essential skill for just about everybody. Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor is an easy-to-use program that can help everyone, from beginning hunt-and-peckers to more practiced typists, improve their keyboard skills.

The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with a menu that takes you through an introduction and four different levels of typing instruction. The introduction covers the basic concepts of touch typing, and the lessons include a basic course, wherein you practice typing sequences of two or three keys; adaptability, in which you type sequences … Read more

iMagic Timetable Master offers to help users get organized with their class schedules. With an intuitive flow and simple commands, most users will find that this a helpful way to be prepared for their classes.

The program starts off with a simple scheduling wizard that sets the parameters of your school schedule. From there, the schedule is laid out in blocks and adding information is slightly confusing, but not impossible to master after a few minutes of experimenting and a visit to the Help file. Users first fill out a menu along the side to showcase teachers and tutors, classes, … Read more

Rapid Typing Tutor may be a good program to help novice typists improve, but experienced typists looking to increase their speed may be frustrated by the program's interface.

The program contains a series of lessons that scroll across the screen as the user types. Users can choose from lessons consisting of letters, syllables, capital letters, digits and symbols, or text. As each lesson scrolls across, a keyboard diagram shows an outline of hands moving to the appropriate key. Users type through each lesson and are then shown their scores on speed, accuracy, and arrhythmic input. The main problem with … Read more

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor is a touch-typing tutorial that uses fun games, adaptive lessons, iTunes accompaniment, and a goofy Viking character to help make learning to type more fun. This application takes a holistic approach to typing instruction, starting with basic good habits (such as how to sit for maximum comfort and efficiency) and following with timed lessons that adapt on the fly to give you more practice with any problem areas.

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor provides a lot of feedback on your progress, and two different games (Brick Factory, in which you build the Eiffel Tower, and Safari Park, … Read more

Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor is a touch-typing tutorial that uses fun games, adaptive lessons, iTunes accompaniment, and a goofy Viking character to help make learning to type more fun. This app takes a holistic approach to typing instruction, starting with basic good habits (such as how to sit for maximum comfort and efficiency) and following with timed lessons that adapt on the fly to give you more practice with any problem areas. Ten Thumbs Typing Tutor provides a lot of feedback on your progress, and two different games (Brick Factory, in which you build the Eiffel Tower, and Safari Park, … Read more

Typing Genius, newly available through the App Store, is a new typing tutor for the iPhone that includes 50 randomized exercises in 17 categories. Key statistics are provided and tracked allowing users to see how they perform in normal mode, landscape, and without auto-correction. Tips regarding hidden shortcuts are also included.

The application's developer boasts "Most iPhone or iPod Touch users type at an average rate of 30-50 CPM (characters per minute). Typing Genius can assist you in reaching an average of 100-150CPM."

A number of other typing tutor applications for the iPhone exist, but none are … Read more

I do a lot of typing every week, probably more than most folks. But I'm certainly not the fastest in my field. To improve that there's TypingWeb, a Web-based typing tutor the likes of Mavis Beacon and other software-based typing helpers. It's been around since 2004 as a paid service, but has just opened its doors to everyone for free.

The service offers a few ways to enhance your typing, including lessons in the home keys, correct finger placement, and handy shortcuts, and bundles them with exercises that apply what you've just learned. It's not nearly as slick as some of the more recent typing efforts I've seen, like Keybr or the addictively fun TypeRacer, but the lesson plans for each difficulty level are really well thought out. You can simply pick and choose areas where you want to improve on and dig in.

To go along with these tests, the service monitors your progress to becoming a typing legend. You can view this advancement on a chart that will identify your improvements (or decline) in general accuracy, as well as raw words per minute, and that number combined with your accuracy (which may be lower).

Some of the lessons can be insanely difficult. Fulfilling just one part of one difficulty level is a veritable barrage of testing. Near the end of any section the tool simply won't let you continue to the next step until you fulfill a certain requirement either in accuracy, speed, or time.

After spending some time brushing up my skills I noticed a decent improvement on the typing test I had taken before I began the course, although the wording hadn't changed, so I think I had a leg up on it from the last time. Who knows how much better I'd be if I had the hours (yes I mean it) to go through the rest of the lessons. You could do these tests for weeks.

One thing I find amusing is that there's an iPhone app for TypingWeb for those who need a little work maneuvering Apple's somewhat cramped QWERTY touch keyboard. It doesn't go nearly as in-depth as the desktop version, but I suppose it's a good tool for people who don't send text messages or write e-mails. The test is also a little easier with your phone in landscape mode--giving you the keyboard that's about twice as wide. However, I don't think that's the point. Existing TypingWeb users will need to sign up again, but anyone can try it out anonymously too.

… Read more