Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor. Download Klavaro [NEW]
Jeanine Filbey
Semi-online contest: The last training module scoresusers by rank according to their touch typing skills. The rankingis only done locally, for users on a shared machine, or data can besent to a web-server, providing a publicly available globalranking. Making the platform into a "online" game.
The program's interface is plain and intuitive, with a menu that takes you through an introduction and four different levels of typing instruction. The introduction covers the basic concepts of touch typing, and the lessons include a basic course, wherein you practice typing sequences of two or three keys; adaptability, in which you type sequences of random keys; speed, in which you practice typing sequences of random words; and fluidity, in which you type entire paragraphs of text. Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor supports 22 different languages, although the instructions for each exercise are in English throughout. You can choose from 25 different international keyboards and five different keyboard layouts. The program doesn't have a real Help file, but we didn't mind; there wasn't anything about it that we couldn't figure out on our own. We found Klavaro Touch Typing Tutor's exercises to be challenging and effective; even though we type pretty well, we still found ourselves obsessed with improving our fluidity. Overall, we think that this program is a great choice for anyone who wants to become a better typist, no matter his or her current skill level.
Klavaro is a very flexible touch typing tutor, supporting customizable keyboard layouts. You can edit and save new or unknown keyboard layouts, as the basic course was designed to not depend on specific ones. Also, there are some charts about the learning process, and for advanced users an online ranking scheme, comparing your typing proficiency with others.
I was wondering how you folks learn a new layout. Like most I have used QWERTY all my life but I am not very good at it (slow and inaccurate, with bad touch typing habits) so from my very limited knowledge typing tutor programs (like klavaro, gtypist, keybr.com, etc.) are the way to go. But klavaro supports only standard Colemak OOTB (though it allows customisable layouts) but I was wondering what your thoughts are on this.
Klavaro is just another free touch typing tutor program. We felt like to do it because we became frustrated with the other options, which relied mostly on some few specific keyboards. Klavaro intends to be keyboard and language independent, saving memory and time (and money).