Tenkey Basics
Topics Include:
Decided What You Want to Learn - QWERTY or Tenkey Pad
Using Keystroke Guides (during practice)
Following are some tips and terms that you should know to help you understand
and proceed quickly through the TenKey Tutor
To be comfortable, ergonomically healthy, and achieve the best speed and degree of accuracy, do the following:
Sit up straight.
Position your chair and keyboard so that when
your arms are relaxed at your side with hands at the keyboard, your hands
are slightly higher than your elbows. Be
sure your chair is at the proper height so that your feet are planted
comfortably, and circulation is not impaired in your legs.
When hands are at the keyboard, the fingers should
be relaxed in a curved position so that the tips of the fingers lightly
touch the keys.
The hand, wrist, and forearm should be in a straight line so that a ruler rests flatly with no gaps. DO NOT rest your wrist or palm on the table. This will restrict your reach and slow you down, as well as possibly contribute to carpal tunnel discomfort.
If you already use the tenkey pad, you may know this most of this, but a little review never hurts...
This is the portion of the keyboard, on the right-hand side, that usually has number keys and math operators, but no alphabet keys. The number keys are arranged in a way generally similar to an electronic calculator. This pad is often convenient for entering numerical data.
While the keypad shown to the left is now common on most newer PCs, do not be terribly surprised it yours differs. For example, the Enter key may be labeled with an "=" sign or be split into an [Enter] key and an [=] key.
In some cases, such as laptop computers, the "tenkey pad" may actually be incorporated into the main keyboard and designated in blue as "function" keys. (In this case, you hold down the blue "function" key with the left hand while pressing the desired number or math symbol with the right hand.
Regardless of the keypad you have, TenKey Tutor
The four, five, and six keys are known as the home row. The five key has a small raised dot on it, and is known as the home key. Place the index, middle, and ring fingers of your right hand over the home row with your middle finger on the "home" key [5].
You should be able to feel the raised dot with your middle finger. If your fingers are properly curved, those three fingers should be able to easily reach the keys in the rows directly above and below the home row. The side of the thumb should be barely touching the zero key [0].
With just a little more extension you can reach the math operator keys [/, *, -] and the decimal point. In general, use the same finger as used for the other keys on the same column.
The baby finger should be lightly touching the [Enter] or Plus [+] key, depending on whether you are performing calculations or doing data entry. If the [-] key is in the far upper right corner, as shown above, use either the ring or baby finger to reach it, depending upon your comfort level. The ring finger may prove to be the easiest of the two, but whichever you choose, stay with it.
When Num Lock is off, the arrows, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End, Insert,
and Delete keys on the tenkey pad are activated, but they are of no use
to the TenKey Tutor
While the tenkey pad shown above has all the keys necessary for numerical data entry, the percent [%] key is clearly missing. So is the "=" sign, that we think of when performing calculations. So what do we do?
Most PC based calculators will accept the [Enter] key as the equal [=] key. So when you think "equal," press enter.
For the percent [%] key, learn to enter it with your left hand. Hold down the left [Shift] key on the QWERTY keyboard, and enter the upper case [5] on the QWERTY keyboard to produce the "%" sign.
So what is a QWERTY keyboard, and how do we use it?
The QWERTY Keyboard is the alpha portion of the standard keyboard that is used for regular typing. It gets its name from the first six alphabetic keys on the left side of the keyboard: [Q], [W], [E], [R], [T], and [Y].
This keyboard has three rows that contain all the letters of the alphabet, and an upper row that contains the numerals 1 through 0. This numeric row also contains most of the characters/symbols that are used regularly in statistical typing and doing numeric calculations. Some of them, like the divide [/] key and the period (decimal point) may be on the bottom alpha row instead.
The middle row of alpha keys are known as the home row. The [F] and [J] keys each have a small raised dot, and are know as the home keys. Place the index finger of your right hand lightly on the [J] key and the index finger of your left hand lightly on the [F] key. You should be able to feel the raised dots, and the other three fingers of each hand should fall in line naturally on the row.
If your fingers are properly curved, they should be able to easily reach the keys in the rows directly above and below the home row. The left index finger can also easily reach the [T], [G], and [B] keys, and the right index finger reaches the [Y], [H], and [N].
With a little more extension, the left hand can reach the numbers [1] through [5], and the right hand reaches the [6] through [0]. The side of the thumbs should be barely touching the space bar.
The diagram above indicates which fingers should be used to strike which keys.
(Not all keyboards are laid out exactly the same. If your is different, adjust your finger positions accordingly.)
Now that you have finished the Tour and are almost finished with these Basics, you have one more job before beginning your eye-hand training with Learning Mode 3 - Touch Keying. You need to think about what will help you the most. Are you weakest in use of the tenkey pad or the number row on the QWERTY keyboard? Do you do more statistical typing (mixed number and letters), or are you spending a lot of time entering columns of numbers? Which approach should you concentrate on?
If you frequently intermix the typing of numbers and words, or often must follow a numeric entry with a per unit amount (like inch, lb, oz, etc.) you are doing what we call Statistical Typing. This is done most efficiently on the QWERTY keyboard, as you need not waste time moving you hand between the tenkey pad and the main keyboard.
If you find yourself adding columns of numbers or doing a series of computations relatively frequently, you will find using the tenkey pad more efficient. Concentrate there.
Once you've decided what you want to focus on, it will be easier if
you stay with it until you are proficient. TenKey
Tutor
By default, TenKey Tutor
In the initial drills, you will begin keying only numbers. Then math symbols (also known as "operators") will begin appearing automatically. These are intended for those who plan to learn to use the calculator efficiently. (We assume most of you do.)
If you plan to do primarily data entry and do not wish to build any great efficiency using math operators, you can easily eliminate the math symbols from your drill practices. Simply de-select (i.e., clear the check mark from) the Include Math Symbols selection on the main Options menu.
You are now ready to begin training in earnest. To do so, close this help topic and select Learning Modes from TenKey Tutor's main menu. There, choose Learn Touch Keying, and you will be taken to our FlashKey Method training page. There, the " --- Touch Keying ---" prompts in the Learning Modes window will get you started.
If you need to set the Math Symbols and/or Statistical Typing selections on the Options menu, feel free to do so before you begin practicing.