RapidTyping

Rapid Typing Tutor may be a good program to help novice typists improve, but experienced typists looking to increase their speed may be frustrated by the program’s interface.

The program contains a series of lessons that scroll across the screen as the user types. Users can choose from lessons consisting of letters, syllables, capital letters, digits and symbols, or text. As each lesson scrolls across, a keyboard diagram shows an outline of hands moving to the appropriate key. Users type through each lesson and are then shown their scores on speed, accuracy, and arrhythmic input. The main problem with the interface is that experienced typists tend to scan ahead in the text they’re typing from, focusing on words or phrases rather than individual letters. Rapid Typing Tutor allows users to see no more than a few characters ahead. And since the speed of the scroll depends on the speed of the typist, those who are already fairly quick may find that the blur of text flying across the screen is hard to process visually. Users who are just getting familiar with the keyboard layout likely won’t be bothered by this, but they may grow increasingly frustrated as their speed increases.

In general the interface could be more intuitive, but most users should be able to figure it out. Users can create lessons, but it doesn’t seem possible to cut and paste text from elsewhere into a new lesson, which is disappointing. Installation and uninstallation are trouble-free. For free software without limitations, this program is a boon to aspiring typists. More advanced keyboardists may wish to look elsewhere.