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> I get that you could cheat if you had a regular keyboard, but if you're learning to type, why would you do that? I think for some folks it’s a real cognitive

> I get that you could cheat if you had a regular keyboard, but if you're learning to type, why would you do that? I think for some folks it’s a real cognitive challenge to willingly ignore useful information. I know it was for me; I needed a das keyboard to make the learn-to-type “metagame” have sufficiently imperfect information to become “playable” enough for me to stick with it.

somehnguy 6y ago
I think you're completely right. I have a 'normal' 65% keyboard and find myself looking at the keys all the time without trying. If I remind myself not to look then I can touch type just fine because I've been using keyboards for like 15 years..But I still find myself looking down as I type multiple times a day out of habit. I've often wondered if getting blank keycaps would help with this problem but have never made the jump (mainly due to cost). Someday! Even just writing this comment I found myself looking at the keyboard instead of the screen..It's a really bad habit because it is almost like a small context switch in terms of switching back to what I should be looking at.
- dllthomas 6y ago
  If you have a cheap old keyboard, try popping the caps off the keys and rearranging (leave F and K alone). IME that's much more effective than blank keys (the information is not merely missing but wrong in a way that's immediately obvious). I'm not sure this will work for all types of keyboards, so make sure it's one you're willing to sacrifice... but that's a lot cheaper than the fancy blank ones and possibly cheaper than a can of spray paint. Also, it's probably not going to work very well with anything ergonomic.
  - somehnguy 6y ago
    That's a great idea, thank you. It's a cheapo Reddragon TKL K552, wanted smaller than fullsize & mechanical keys without spending a small fortune. Should work!
  - rovolo 6y ago
    When you say to leave F and K alone, is that because of the bumps on the keys for locating your hands? I'm not sure I've seen a keyboard with F and K keys with bumps because that would be the index finger on the left hand and the middle finger on the right hand. Usually the bumps are both under the same finger (F and J or D and K).
    - dllthomas 6y ago
      Err, yes, typo. I meant F and J. Or whatever keys have the locator bumps, if you're using a different style keyboard.
elliekelly 6y ago
When I had “keyboarding” class back in the early 2000s our first assignment was to bring in an old shoebox which we then fashioned into a cover that went over the keyboard & our hands so that we couldn’t see our fingers as we typed. I’ll never forget one kid who didn’t bring in a box used his gym uniform shirt over his hands and tried to pass it off as the same thing. The teacher didn’t buy it. But sure enough the next year all of the keyboards had little cloth hand covers velcroed onto the back and the shoebox project was no more.
triangleman 6y ago
You know what, you're right. Today I turned off the backlights on my keyboard so it's nearly blank, and I noticed that I was in fact looking down. I do touch type though. So the big benefit of Typing of the Dead was that it forced you to look at the screen for zombies coming at you.

somehnguy 6y ago

I think you're completely right. I have a 'normal' 65% keyboard and find myself looking at the keys all the time without trying. If I remind myself not to look then I can touch type just fine because I've been using keyboards for like 15 years..But I still find myself looking down as I type multiple times a day out of habit. I've often wondered if getting blank keycaps would help with this problem but have never made the jump (mainly due to cost). Someday! Even just writing this comment I found myself looking at the keyboard instead of the screen..It's a really bad habit because it is almost like a small context switch in terms of switching back to what I should be looking at.

dllthomas 6y ago
If you have a cheap old keyboard, try popping the caps off the keys and rearranging (leave F and K alone). IME that's much more effective than blank keys (the information is not merely missing but wrong in a way that's immediately obvious). I'm not sure this will work for all types of keyboards, so make sure it's one you're willing to sacrifice... but that's a lot cheaper than the fancy blank ones and possibly cheaper than a can of spray paint. Also, it's probably not going to work very well with anything ergonomic.
- somehnguy 6y ago
  That's a great idea, thank you. It's a cheapo Reddragon TKL K552, wanted smaller than fullsize & mechanical keys without spending a small fortune. Should work!
- rovolo 6y ago
  When you say to leave F and K alone, is that because of the bumps on the keys for locating your hands? I'm not sure I've seen a keyboard with F and K keys with bumps because that would be the index finger on the left hand and the middle finger on the right hand. Usually the bumps are both under the same finger (F and J or D and K).
  - dllthomas 6y ago
    Err, yes, typo. I meant F and J. Or whatever keys have the locator bumps, if you're using a different style keyboard.

elliekelly 6y ago

When I had “keyboarding” class back in the early 2000s our first assignment was to bring in an old shoebox which we then fashioned into a cover that went over the keyboard & our hands so that we couldn’t see our fingers as we typed. I’ll never forget one kid who didn’t bring in a box used his gym uniform shirt over his hands and tried to pass it off as the same thing. The teacher didn’t buy it. But sure enough the next year all of the keyboards had little cloth hand covers velcroed onto the back and the shoebox project was no more.

triangleman 6y ago

You know what, you're right. Today I turned off the backlights on my keyboard so it's nearly blank, and I noticed that I was in fact looking down. I do touch type though. So the big benefit of Typing of the Dead was that it forced you to look at the screen for zombies coming at you.