[HN Gopher] Practical typewriting: By the all-finger method (1894)
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Practical typewriting: By the all-finger method (1894)
Author : jesperlang
Score : 63 points
Date : 2021-02-23 13:02 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (babel.hathitrust.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (babel.hathitrust.org)
| Legion wrote:
| Mavis Beacon early access release.
| melling wrote:
| Will we still be using hardware keyboards 73 years from now?
| javajosh wrote:
| Yes. I think it will always be useful to have a method of
| precise, non-verbal communication produced by the rapid trigger
| of physical switches in a particular order. The physicality of
| the switches is actually quite important to this behavior. So
| as long as we need to type, I would expect hardware keyboards
| to be desirable.
|
| We may not need to type, however. We might dictate or think our
| words; however when absolute precision is required, I'm pretty
| sure a text-level voice interface is always going to be pretty
| tough to do well.
| bentcorner wrote:
| I think we'll still be using physical buttons/switches 73 years
| from now, and qwerty keyboards will still exist. The qwerty
| layout will definitely be around. Hardware keyboards will be a
| niche compared to all the other kinds of input types we'll have
| in the future. I'd like to say that hardware keyboards will be
| the domain of knowledge work but 73 years is a long time.
| jesperlang wrote:
| there is an interesting a strategy on page 23 where they suggest
| shifting the entire hand when typing TGB/YHN rather than
| stretching. Does anyone do that today?
|
| I just tried a bit of typing where I shift the entire hand for
| appropiate keys rather than stretching my fingers and although it
| is a very unusual feeling I must admit it is quite a bit more
| comfortable. The fingers stay curled rather than being stretched
| out. Did I just get an epiphany from typewriting tutorial written
| in 1894??
| hojjat12000 wrote:
| I suspect this would significantly lower the typing speed and
| also accuracy (as you have to search for FJ keys to orient
| yourself again).
| fireeyed wrote:
| page 13
|
| > _and brain and heart throb with sympathetic zeal when fingers
| begin their saltatory movements_
|
| Rings true to this day with the joy of using my mechanical
| keyboard. Nothing like tactile and sensory feedback.
| pnut wrote:
| There's some interesting ascii art sprinkled throughout that
| book, for instance
| https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t0vq3q...
|
| https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t0vq3q...
|
| and most amazingly
| https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t0vq3q...
| janekm wrote:
| Also amazingly on page 158 shows the same ergonomic typing
| position still recommended (and generally disregarded) today!
| tsm wrote:
| Interesting that he teaches putting fingers on the top row, not
| the home row.
|
| I'd also never heard that the ring finger, "anatomically
| considered, is different from the others" and that pianists had
| elective surgery ("double tenotomy") "to free the finger from the
| impediment to action". Anyone know more about that?
| dbatten wrote:
| Hold your hand up in front of your face, and try to stick each
| finger up, in turn, starting with the index finger. You'll find
| that you can easily extend or stick up each finger except for
| the ring finger, which will experience a lot of tension. The
| ring finger can only be moved up fully and easily if the middle
| finger is moved up with it.
|
| I am a classically trained pianist, but I've never heard of
| anyone having surgery to free up their ring finger. Doesn't
| mean it hasn't happened, though.
| genedan wrote:
| There is a rumor that Schumman ruined his hand by getting
| surgery to free up his tendons but there doesn't seem to be any
| proof of that.
| CliffStoll wrote:
| From the NY Times of 1885, October 24: There is no saying to
| what extent martyrdom in the cause of art will go. It has
| just been discovered that nature, when designing the human
| hand, forgot to make allowances for the invention of the
| pianoforte, and that, consequently, all who are anxious to
| excel on that instrument must undergo an operation known as
| digital tenor-my, or the severance of the tendons which
| prevent the fingers from being stretched very far apart from
| one another. Doctors have, naturally enough, expressed their
| approval of this proceeding, considerately adding that there
| is certainly some chance of the wound thus inflicted not
| healing by first intention, and therefore patients should be
| warned of the risk they undergo previous to the operation.
| This is, perhaps, not quite so bad as putting out a horse's
| eyes in order that he may pump up water properly, but it is a
| step in the same direction. and it is scarely to be expected
| that in these days of infant prodigies such a royal road to
| success will be confined to those who are old enough to fully
| understand the steps they are taking.
| dukeofdoom wrote:
| Page 7 has a very cool diagram of a typewriter
| KineticLensman wrote:
| On page 29 the author says that you should use three spaces after
| a full stop, 'for the customary space between sentences'. I
| wonder if number of spaces was as contentious then as it is now?
| chrisfinazzo wrote:
| It's certainly an interesting thought. I suspect that if he's
| typing in a fixed width font, anything which allows more space
| between sentences was not just expected, but a practical
| requirement.
|
| These days, it's not really a relevant concern.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| > if he's typing in a fixed width font
|
| On a typewriter in the 1890s, its definitely fixed font.
| chrisfinazzo wrote:
| -\\_(tsu)_/-
| cafard wrote:
| Somewhat after this, probably about 1915, my grandfather learned
| to type. My father said that he was quite quick, but typed with
| three fingers. Did he learn that way, or was it his own quirk? I
| can't say.
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(page generated 2021-02-23 23:02 UTC)