The number row

The number row is two rows above home, the longest reach on the keyboard for every finger.

Many self-taught typists hold one belief without ever saying it: numbers don't come up often, so it is fine to look down for them. Then a form asks for a phone number, a report needs a table of results, and the glance down happens every few seconds. Two things make that belief expensive. The number row sits two rows above home, so every reach is long, and a small slip lands on the neighbouring digit. And digits forgive less than words do. A misspelled word is usually still readable. 1530 typed as 1520 is simply a different number, and nothing on the page tells the reader. That is why this unit puts accuracy ahead of speed.

Digits follow the letter columns

The digits follow the same slanting columns as the letters. In the BCcampus chart used in this course, the left little finger types 1 and the backquote key to its left, the left ring finger types 2, the left middle finger 3, and the left index finger both 4 and 5. On the right, the index finger types 6 and 7, the middle finger 8, the ring finger 9, and the little finger 0, the minus key and the equals key, with Backspace beyond them. Some charts give 6 to the left hand. If you already learned one of those, keep it. What matters is that the same finger always types the same key.

Up through the letter row and back

To type 3, the left middle finger stretches up two rows from D, presses, and comes back. The index and little fingers stay near their home keys and hold the hand in place. Try d e 3 e d slowly, so you feel the finger pass through E on the way up to 3 and again on the way down. For 1 and 0, the far corners, you may need to lift the whole hand a little at first. That's fine, as long as the hand returns to the home row afterwards and you find F and J by touch before the next key.

Shift turns digits into symbols

Hold Shift and the number row gives symbols. On a US keyboard they are ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) above 1 to 0, with the underscore and the plus sign on the two keys after 0. The opposite-hand Shift rule from the last unit still holds. The percent sign is Shift and 5, and 5 is a left index key, so hold the right Shift. An opening bracket is Shift and 9, typed by the right ring finger, so hold the left Shift. Standard Korean keyboards put the same symbols on the same keys, which is why the number row looks the same in both layouts of the practice keyboard.

The keypad has a home row of its own

Full-size keyboards also have a block of number keys on the right, laid out like a calculator. It has its own home row, 4, 5 and 6, with the right index finger on 4, the middle finger on 5 and the ring finger on 6, and a bump on 5 so the hand can find it by touch. People who enter long columns of figures often prefer it, because one hand can stay in one place. The practice keyboard here shows only the main block, so the Numbers lesson uses the top row.

Read the whole number before typing it

Real numbers turn up among spaces and punctuation: dates, room numbers, prices, scores. The Numbers lesson moves from single digits to pairs and then to lines such as Room 305, 48 chairs, 7 desks. Read the whole number first, then type it, rather than glancing back after each digit. Expect your accuracy on numbers to be lower than on letters at first. Slow down until it is back above 95 percent, and let the speed return on its own.