What are some helpful resources to learn to touch type on smartphones?

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ALostInquirer@lemm.ee⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

I can touch type with a physical keyboard, which helps somewhat with trying to type on smartphone virtual keyboards, but I still find myself way clumsier and error-prone on them when I try to touch tap-type on them.

For the most part I’ve worked around this via swipe/gesture-typing on virtual keyboards, but even that method is error-prone. So, I’d like to try to learn to tap-type similar to how I know how to touch type, but many resources I find are for physical keyboards instead, so…Any help here?

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driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Can you even touch type on a screen without the feedback of physical keyboards?

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- Worx@lemmynsfw.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Not as well as on a physical keyboard, but I can. I know how wide my phone is and I hold it in the same grip every time, so I can get it roughly correct and most mistakes are fixed by autocorrect anyway.
  
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- FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Nope. Not reliably any how. Touch typing relies on locating the F and J keys; which is why they have those raised bumps.
  
  Now what you can do, is practice a similar tactic; except you’ll have to look at the screen to localize,
  
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- ALostInquirer@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  From what I’ve seen of some folks, it at least seems like it, but maybe I’m mistaken and it’s more experience with tap-typing.
  
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MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Learn swype type… much faster, imo. I’m shocked how few people i see use it.

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- Fal@yiffit.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The swype predictions have gotten worse and worse over the years
  
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  - MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    On which board? My Gboard rocks. I barely look at any predictions.
    
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- Hellstormy@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I tried that out like years ago for the first time and didn’t really get the hang of it. But i just activated it again and wow, i didn’t expect it to be that fast and intuitive for me.
  
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  - MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It rocks.
    
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- ALostInquirer@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Fwiw that’s what I primarily do, but it’s felt a little slower and still error-prone, whereas I’d think/hope direct tap-typing might mitigate both.
  
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  - MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Well, it’s definitely an individual timing skill. Only you’ll know which is better. I personally fly via swipe.
    
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bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I think it’s more a matter of knowing the qwerty layout and trusting that the autocorrect will help you if you mess up.

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- ALostInquirer@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Tbh that’s probably correct, and the differences are from me avoiding autocorrect as much as possible because of obnoxious stuff like it persistently trying to correct fav words like fuck
  
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  - bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Over time it figures out which words you use and doesn’t clobber your vernacular as much. You also can get good at watching the suggestions and picking the right one rather than finishing typing the word
    
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iiGxC@slrpnk.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
github.com/dessalines/thumb-key this can be pretty quick once you get used to it

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- rufus@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Looks nice. Anyone good advice which layout to choose to type 60% German and 40% english? There are several german ones available.
  
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- 0x4E4F@infosec.pub ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  OK, what if I just care for privacy and I’m happy with the QWERTY layout?
  
  I’d love to ditch Gboard, but it has my language in it, plus word underline when misspelling words. I don’t use predictive text or anything like that, just underline.
  
  Alternatives?
  
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  - iiGxC@slrpnk.net ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Florisboard, openboard, anysoftkeyboard
    
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  - Wistful@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Florisboard is nice.
    
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bluGill@kbin.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If you must type go to a real computer. A bluetooth keyboard might work too.

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- shasta@lemm.ee ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Of course! Just bring your laptop with you when you need to send a text message from the grocery store.
  
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Siegfried@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I guess you coud try one of those web pages for regular keyboard input training.

Anyway, i struggle with the same shit. Another recommendation, disable the auto corrector.

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TheRedSpade@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I know it looks difficult, but if you already touch type on PC then Minuum is a great mobile keyboard. You just have to train yourself to not try being precise with it (impossible to do quickly). I actually find it easier to use if I don’t look at it while I’m typing. I’ve been using it since it was on Indiegogo and haven’t seen anything else worth trying. I’m pretty sure you can even get it for free now.

Note that it does learn from you over time, so the more you use it the more accurate it becomes.

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In the above image, I’ve put the cursor back on the word “accurate” for a little demo. The first group of letters are the ones that I actually hit. After that are Minuum’s guesses in order of probability of being correct.

If you want to type a word that isn’t in its dictionary yet, you can swipe up from the top row to bring up a full keyboard. Selecting the word once it’s typed usually adds it, though for some reason they’ve excluded swears from that.

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- Cheskaz@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Wait!? Is Minuum back?! I thought the developer abandoned it?
  
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  - TheRedSpade@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I just checked the play store after seeing this comment. Apparently it hasn’t been updated since February of 2017, but it works just fine.
    
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andrewth09@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
monkeytype.com! Offers typing challenges and tracks your progress.

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Noodle07@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Seeing how annoying it is to type on my steam deck I’m considering going back to T9 lol

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satans_crackpipe@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
…

…

I guess I have to block this community because the name is a lie.

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