[HN Gopher] Show HN: Keyboard Drill - Minimalist Typing Drill to...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Show HN: Keyboard Drill - Minimalist Typing Drill to fix common
       mistakes
        
       Author : kuehle
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2022-01-09 20:33 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (keyboard-drill.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (keyboard-drill.com)
        
       | psimm wrote:
       | It's a cool challenge! I tried it at 90wpm and cleared most
       | words. Some I had to do 2 or 3 times to do fast enough. Then I
       | hit my nemesis: I can't type "necessary" fast enough for 90wpm.
       | Tried it 20 times.
        
         | kuehle wrote:
         | Great point, while building it I also encountered words I
         | couldn't type.
         | 
         | 1. That was very enlightening
         | 
         | 2. I added skipping a word by using the [Esc] key
         | 
         | It would be interesting to see if one could safe those words
         | for later and practise just those.
        
       | kuehle wrote:
       | I've created this small project to fix my own typing and thought
       | you might benefit from it as well.
       | 
       | To calculate the WPM words with 5 letters are taken. To reach
       | e.g. 80 WPM you'd have 150ms per character.
       | 
       | The application uses ~1000 most common english words and only
       | gives you the next word once you've cleared the word in the
       | calculated time.
       | 
       | The time is measured only as soon as you press the first key.
       | 
       | Give it a try.
       | 
       | Controls: [Space] or [Enter] to complete a word. [Esc] to move on
       | to a next word
       | 
       | Click [wpm] to set your target speed. The default is quite low
       | but you might still find words that you can't type within the
       | time limit. Click [log] to see a log of your individual attempts.
       | 
       | How it was build:
       | 
       | No dependencies, single html file
       | 
       | Respects system preferences for dark them
       | 
       | Keyboard friendly (autofocus, tab & enter for settings, etc.)
       | 
       | Next up:
       | 
       | Using Service Workers to allow offline usage
        
         | samatman wrote:
         | This is very cool and it arrives at a good time: I have a whole
         | delete-back-word thumb key on my split-key, and I've been
         | trying to train myself to use it with little success. This is
         | actually perfect.
         | 
         | I recognize this might push against the minimalism you're going
         | for, but I might suggest having the next word, or even two
         | words, off to the right and greyed out. What you're measuring
         | is recognizing _and_ typing the word, and most competent
         | typists who want to lower error rates and gain speed are going
         | to be fast enough already that they (we) can be recognizing the
         | next couple of words while typing the one which is already
         | centered.
         | 
         | A two-word lead would let me get up to speed, maybe that should
         | be configurable but for the words I've seen while playing with
         | it, probably two is just right.
         | 
         | Great site, I'll come back and use it as-is.
        
           | kuehle wrote:
           | I've added a lookahead to the next word now, feel free to
           | check it out. For more I wouldn't know how to add it design
           | wise and I don't think it is the goal of the application.
           | 
           | I usually go to https://10ff.net/ when I am looking to
           | practice the whole typing flow.
        
           | zzt123 wrote:
           | Agreed with the look ahead. I'm constantly doing that whether
           | doing a typing test or typing my thoughts. (Currently capable
           | of sustaining 170+ wpm over a minute).
           | 
           | This site looks like great fun as a member of the toolbox for
           | making my Colemak more fluent!
        
             | userbinator wrote:
             | I find that I usually buffer 5-6 words ahead, because
             | that's roughly how long it takes me to notice a mistake.
             | 
             | 170+@1m is impressive. I'm around 140-160@1m, ~230 burst,
             | regular QWERTY.
        
         | robbrown451 wrote:
         | This is cool I will bookmark it. I'm a terrible typist. I'm
         | also teaching my 7 year old to type so this can be handy. I
         | have something I built myself years ago and have never really
         | circulated, that is more for beginners (it tries to help you
         | with finding the keys and knowing which finger to use):
         | 
         | https://pianop.ly/misc/typingtutor/
         | 
         | One thing I experimented with is giving you both a "total
         | speed" and a "best 15 seconds" speed.
        
       | fredley wrote:
       | Enjoyed this, though as a typist in British English some American
       | spellings really tripped me up
        
       | Acen wrote:
       | Feels like it needs some sort of feedback when you type too
       | slowly to get the next word. Plus maybe making it a bit more
       | obvious that you can select a target speed for the WPM.
        
         | kuehle wrote:
         | Do you have any ideas for the feedback when your speed is to
         | low? I am not a designer and struggle to find ideas that keep
         | the UI as minimal as it is right now while improving the user
         | experience.
        
         | psimm wrote:
         | Agree, I didn't understand that one can change the WPM before
         | reading this thread.
        
           | kuehle wrote:
           | Good point, I've added a help button in the top left corner
           | that briefly explains the concept. Maybe that already helps a
           | bit.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-01-09 23:00 UTC)