Typing

Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone, or calculator.

[1] User interface features such as spell checker and autocomplete serve to facilitate and speed up typing and to prevent or correct errors the typist may make.

Many experienced typists can feel or sense when they have made an error and can hit the ← Backspace key and make the correction with no increase in time between keystrokes.

For example, many "hunt and peck" typists have the keyboard layout memorized and are able to type while focusing their gaze on the screen.

[5] Similar to desktop keyboards and input devices, if a user overuses keys which need hard presses and/or have small and unergonomic layouts, it could cause thumb tendonitis or other repetitive strain injury.

[6] Words per minute (WPM) is a measure of typing speed, commonly used in recruitment.

The benefits of a standardized measurement of input speed are that it enables comparison across language and hardware boundaries.

[7] Such prediction software even allows typing short-hand forms while producing complete characters.

A less common measure of the speed of a typist, CPM is used to identify the number of characters typed per minute.

[16][17] The Associated Press reported Barbara Blackburn achieving a speed of 194 wpm in October 1984 using the MasterType typing game[1].

[18] In a January 1985 story in the Los Angeles Times, Blackburn said she had recently reached 196 wpm.

The current fastest typist is 17 year old who goes by the username MythicalRocket, with a speed of 305 WPM for 15 seconds using QWERTY.

[25][26] Using a personalized interface, physicist Stephen Hawking, who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, managed to type 15 wpm with a switch and adapted software created by Walt Woltosz.

Due to a slowdown of his motor skills, his interface was upgraded with an infrared camera that detected "twitches in the cheek muscle under the eye.

"[27] His typing speed decreased to approximately one word per minute in the later part of his life.

With the current technology, document preparation is more about using word-processors as a composition aid, changing the meaning of error rate and how it is measured.

Research performed by R. William Soukoreff and I. Scott MacKenzie, has led to a discovery of the application of a well-known algorithm.

The second is WebTEM that runs on any device with a modern Web browser, and works with almost all text entry technique.

[31] Keystroke dynamics, or typing dynamics, is the obtaining of detailed timing information that describes exactly when each key was pressed and when it was released as a person is typing at a computer keyboard for biometric identification,[32] similar to speaker recognition.

The behavioral biometric of Keystroke Dynamics uses the manner and rhythm in which an individual types characters on a keyboard or keypad.