Do you touch-type or hunt and peck?

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I am curious to see how many people here must hunt and peck when typing, that is having to look at your keyboard to type, and how many can touch-type, or type without looking at the keyboard at all.

I am a bit ashamed to admit that I have to look at my keyboard when I type. In 6th grade, and in 9th grade, I tried to learn to touch-type in school, but it is pretty much impossible for me to do. I just am not coordinated enough. You'd think I would be able to touch-type since I've been playing video games on consoles and my computer all my life, but I can't. Something is wrong with me either physically or mentally that isn't with other people, that prevents me from learning it. Neither can I play a piano without looking at it, nor can I play the melody and harmony at the same time; it's impossible.

But with that said, I can easily type at over 100 words per minute, and often do. For reference, an average professional typist types at about 50 to 70 wpm, so I can type faster than most people while still having to look at my keyboard. Technically, I don't "hunt and peck"; I know where all the keys are, but I move my hands all over the place and still have to look at my keyboard at all times. Also, I use the Dvorak layout on my desktop, and QWERTY on my laptop, and I can type just fine on both, with no problems switching between them.

So, how do you type? If you know how fast you type (only accurate rates please ), you can add that to your post too. Also, you can specify which layout you use: QWERTY, Dvorak, etc.

hmm good question, took me a couple of hours to get an accurate asnwer.

i find it depends on what else i have to keep an eye on as well.
if i am playing a game i chat without looking, that kind of typing however is usually quite limited and i notice i have to look at my keyboard if the message is more complex.
when i write in situations where its the primary focus i usually look at the keyboard and have a higher typing rate, no idea how fast though.


i use QWERTY and havent really tried anything else.

also this post was annying as hell to write because of the topic, odd side effect.

I never have to look at the keyboard, as for how fast I don't know but I do know that if I'm talking to someone, whether it's on a message board, an e-mail or an instant message then I type significantly slower than if I were writing an essay or something. I use QWERTY, I've never tried another layout.

I'm a pretty fast typist. Other than an initial glance to place my hands I don't look at the keyboard. I use a QWERTY keyboard but I would like to try out a Dvorak at some point, though it will take some getting used to

Indeed it will, probably a few weeks. I don't really know if it's worth it, but it's fun for me to try something different from the norm.

Use qwerty here, not sure what my exact speed is. Because of a slight processing delay in reading there's also a difference when I'm writing things I am saying (fastest), things I had a chance to read before (second fastest) and things that are appearing as I type (slooow, and there I know for sure it's 83 wpm). Never have to look at the keyboard and when I forget to set my mic sensitivity down people do comment that they'd like whoever's typing as their secretary.

I use qwerty, but i tend to have a strange way of typing where one of my hands is dominant and the other isn't. Because of this I actually type quite slow, only around 90 wpm sustained at the max and I can't seem to get any faster. I use qwerty but asdf jkl; is sort of not what i use, and people just look at my hands and wonder what the hell i'm doing. I also hate those keyboards that are split down the middle because I reach across for some letters with either of my hands.

I am a professionally trained secretary and type 65 words per minute. I can do gusts up to 80, but not as accurately, especially if my hands are cold. I don't even have to look at the keyboard to place my hands. I just feel for the raised dots at the f and j keys.

Observing my husband, I notice he uses both hands, but looks at the keyboard, and probably types around 35.

(Just noticed, those saying 85 and 90 is slow... are we using a different standard of measure?)

Well, to me fast is anything that can get my healer out of the fire he doesn't seem to realize he's standing in before he dies in an online game (usually a few seconds tops), or let me get vital info across fast before the average 15 year old teenage mind goes to 'bored now, rushing!'... more like different needs I'm thinking. I get in some mistakes, more the faster I'm typing, but it's just a different situation demanding speed often at the cost of, well, anything else.

I should also note that my native language uses a different keyboard layout - when I switch to that my speed drops very very significantly. Probably down to at least a third of normal, probably more. I'm simply not used to using that, I'm used to US keyboard layout and I even slow down if I'm not using my own keyboard (it has a slightly different enter key shape). So a person's speed certainly isn't the same all the time.

Touch-type on actual keyboards, hunt and peck on my iPad (for obvious reasons).

I Touch-type 60 words per minute on a qwerty.

90 is ok, but I'm competing with 110-125wpm's peeps...

I've been touch typing for a very long time. I'm not sure what my WPM is, but it is faster than most.

As a programmer, I also started using the Home and End keys quite regularly, as well as shortcuts such as Ctrl+[arrow key] to skip over words, Shift to make selections, Ctrl+Del to delete a line, Ctrl+Backspace to delete a word, etc. If I ever got into using VIM, though, things would be different.

I said "sometimes", but just because I'm a weird combo of the two styles. I taught myself to type when I first had access to a computer (at four), so I have my own system that works pretty well. I use mainly my pointer and middle fingers, thumb for the space bar, and occasionally my ring finger. I can type pretty fast, though.

Also, I'm wondering if I use those fingers the most because they're the strongest, or if they're the strongest because I use them most. Piano has made me painfully aware of how much my pinkies suck.

I touch-type and do so RIDICULOUSLY fast - I've never been anywhere where people haven't been amazed at my typing speed...although annoys me then on rare occasions where my typing skills randomly go out the window in front of others.

I learned to type on an old type-writer, the style that will take the skin off the backs of your fingers if you miss a key...so I learned how to type accurately for fear of going days with crippled fingers! Right now I'm on a laptop so not as fast as what I would be on a normal PC keyboard, but still fast - many years of writing and angrily replying on forums

I never hunted and pecked. I always looked at the monitor when I type. I did, however, look at the keyboard when learning Dvorak a few years ago.