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Dragon Dictation

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:13:47 +0000

Someday typing skills might not even be necessary at all, with all the improvements in voice recognition due to come. Here’s a neat little mobile app (free!) that lets you take dictation on your phone and then send the text along to an email, facebook, etc. That seems like quite the improvement over typing on those little mobile keyboards so I can see something like this really catching on.

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing Celebrates 25 Years

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 18:30:03 +0000

The world’s most popular typing tutor is celebrating 25 years of business with a new release of the typing program that has helped countless people improve their typing skills. The software includes over 330 lessons, exercises and tests which you can use to help become a better typist. Also included are 12 typing games to further help you exercise your keyboarding skills.

Farm Defender

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 20:46:46 +0000

To play, type the letters on the birds as fast as you can. Each time a bird goes down, you earn some points. If you destroy the birds near the bottom of the screen, you will earn more points than you will if you dont catch them until they near the top. This is a simple and fun typing games for the kids.

FastFox Typing Expander

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:50:58 +0000

Following up on my last post about the Typing Assistant Software, I’d like to bring your attention to another tool that can help improve your typing efficiency and help you type faster. While Typing Assistant focuses on predictive text, FastFox Typing Expander relies on macros. That is, you can program the software to expand a short chunk of text into a much longer one. For instance, you could train the program to output “Free online typing games are a great way to improve your keyboarding skills” every time you type “fotg”.

The program is $60 to buy, but you can download a 15 day free trial version to evaluate it and see how you like it, so check it out if you are looking to give the typist in you a little boost.

Typing Assistant Software

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:25:58 +0000

Generally, this website it mostly dedicated to games and resources which will help you improve your typing skills. However, in this case I’d like to share something with you which might actually make your typing skills worse, even if it makes you a faster and more efficient typist. It is basically a typing cheat, predictive text software similar to that which you will find on some cell phones, which attempts to auto-complete the words you are typing to save you time and keystrokes. It’s called Typing Assistant and here are a list of it’s features:

Universal Compatibility: Work with virtually all programs.
Word Prediction: Predict the words you intend to type to help your spelling.
Auto-Complete: Complete text input automatically to save keystrokes.
Auto-Learn: Learn unknown and recently typed words to speed up repetitive typing task.
Auto-Correct: Correct spelling mistakes automatically in any program.
Auto-Expand: Expand abbreviations to full text in any program.
Auto-Clipboard: Access clipboard history quickly.
Auto-Launch: Launch frequently used application/file/folder conveniently.
Spell Checking: Beep on misspelled words.
Configurable Dictionary: General or professional basic dictionary is usable in suggestion window.
Wide Adaptability: Quick settings for both fast typist and hunt and peck typing.
Portable: Run from a USB memory device.
Easy to use: Use your computer as normal and the whole process is mastered in 5 minutes.

Letter Launch

admin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:57:57 +0000

This latest typing game is very simple to learn and play but actually pretty fun. The goal is to launch all your letters from their place at the bottom of the screen to the top, while avoiding the obstacles moving back and forth in between. There are also bonus targets you can aim for once you get more practiced and in tune with the timing. Just type the corresponding key on your keyboard and it will launch upwards. This game is great to practice your typing skills as you will need timely keystrokes to advance, while mis-hits come at great cost.

using typing games as a homeschooling resource

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:33:27 +0000

I have become aware over the past couple years that many parent-teachers are using parts of this site as a resource for improving typing skills in a homeschooling environment. As such, I wanted to share a few words with any parents/teachers about this practice and try to shed a little light on why this is valuable and also to answer a few questions that I have been asked.

First of all, let me point out that typing skills are a very important aspect of most homeschooling curricula. Unless you are preparing your child/students for a life working the land or learning a very specific craft, learning how to use a computer properly is an important skill to develop. Typing proficiency is particularly important for anyone who will be doing any degree of writing on the computer, which is hard to avoid. The difference between a hunt-and-peck typist who is capable of typing 25 words per minute and a trained touch-typist who can type anywhere from 50-100 WPM means an efficiency factor of 2 to 4 times. And while not all things should be measured in speed and efficiency – certainly there are things worth doing slowly and carefully – being able to get your computer work done quickly leaves so much room to do other things away from the computer, so it’s definitely a skill worth cultivating.

Now that I have established the importance of learning how to type and developing strong typing skills, let me remind you that games are one of the most effective ways to learn since they are so engaging and encourage students to keep playing. The various typing games offered on this site were developed with that purpose in mind: providing a fun learning environment that keeps students coming back. So these can be valuable resource once the groundwork has been laid.

But first you need to establish that foundation, and this is best accomplished through an online typing tutor of some sorts. While this site does not offer such services, we do have an extensive collection of links to other websites and software where you can find useful typing programs.

Now on to the two questions I am most commonly asked:

Q: Are the games here appropriate for children?
A: All of the original games here draw words from a carefully edited word list that contains kid-friendly vocabulary. I am unable to certify that regarding the third-party games offered elsewhere on the site, but I have never received any complaints about inappropriate language in these (the only critique I can point out is that some of them involve shooting and weapons)

Q: Is there any way to track typing speed and progress over time?
A: No, this is not a feature currently available here. At this point, there are only individual tests that will output WPM typing speed at the end, but do not track it at all. However, if you are looking for that sort of functionality, it is available at my other typing test site

Enjoy. Please let me know if you have any other question or comments regarding the use of this site in a homeschooling curriculum!

Arrow Dance

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:59:05 +0000

This typing game focuses specifically on the arrow keys. It’s a relatively simple concept, but with nice graphics and sound, it is enjoyable to play even if a little repetitive at times. But definitely great practice for anyone who wants to gain better command of the arrow keys on your keyboard or keypad.

a custom typing test

admin — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:12:49 +0000

I have received a number of requests for a customizable typing test where you can provide your own text to populate the test. In response to these inquiries, I have created such a system on my other typing site. You can enter in the text you would like, or copy and paste it from another source, and when you are done with the test you will be able to see your typing speed (in WPM) and accuracy. If interested, you can check it out here: take the custom typing test

Typing Defense

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:49:05 +0000

Yet another game in the genre of Falling Words and Typer Shark where you need to quickly type to eliminate the moving words. In this particular game, you are trying to defend planet earth from attack by invading spaceships. The words start of short and moving slowly but get the game gets harder each level and makes for great typing practice. These sorts of games are great tools to help you improve your keyboarding skills.