@PAGE@ PC-FASTYPE - Quick HELP Facility - HOW TO TYPE **** PREPARING TO TYPE **** You should observe proper posture while sitting at your PC. Find a position that is comfortable for you and that will help reduce fatigue. This will insure proper keyboarding and will help increase your accuracy. In general, the following rules should be followed in finding a comfortable typing position: o Sit upright in your seat with your back erect and you body leaning slightly forward. Be sure your feet are flat on the floor directly in front of you. @PAGE@ PREPARING TO TYPE (cont.) o Hold your elbows to your side in a relaxed position and raise your wrists so your hands "drape" down toward the keyboard. It is important that you DO NOT rest the palms of your hands on the edge of the desktop or on the edge of the keyboard. The palms must be raised so the back of your hands are slightly above the knuckles of your fingers. o Rest the fingertips of both hands on the HOME keys and the thumb of your RIGHT hand just lightly touching the spacebar. o Your PC screen should be directly in front of you, clearly visible without having to lean forward or down. If necessary place something between the monitor and the computer to gain some elevation for the screen. o The pages of material or text to be typed should be propped up to the left or the right. One of the many kinds of copy holders sold in computer stores is a big help. @PAGE@ Once you begin to develop a typing "style" you can modify your posture slightly to be more comfortable. When you begin to type, your fingers should strike the keys with as little movement of your hands as possible. Your fingers should reach up and down from their HOME position and return to their HOME position after each stroke. If you keep your fingers slightly curved and the fingernail portion of your fingers perpendicular to the keys (straight up-and-down) you will be able to reach all of the keys on the main typing area of the keyboard with little effort. Try to keep your hands stationary and let your fingers do all the work. If you can keep the typing motions mainly in your fingers you will gradually build up speed and accuracy. **** HOW TO STRIKE THE KEYS **** Strike each key firmly and quickly with the appropriate finger, return it to its HOME position. Keep the other fingers close to the HOME keys. Strike the space bar sharply with the side of the right thumb. The left thumb is NEVER used during typing. The following HELP pages will briefly describe how to type the letters, numbers and capitals in PC-FASTYPE. @PAGE@ **** TYPING LOWER CASE LETTERS **** asdf jkl; -- Place left-hand fingertips on the asdf keys and the right hand fingertips on the jkl; keys. Close all fingers slightly and rest them lightly on the keys. Slant the hands upward parallel to each other at the wrists and keep them low, just clearing the keyboard. For the space bar, curve the right thumb and hold it slightly above the bar and pointing to the letter 'b'. e,i -- Reach up to these keys with the middle finger of each hand, strike sharply and return to the HOME position. Keep wrists parallel and elbows to your sides. e - D-finger (middle-left hand) up to the E-key. i - K-finger (middle-right hand) up to the I-key. @PAGE@ r,u -- Reach up with the index fingers, strike the key sharply and return to the HOME position. Keep the other fingers on the HOME keys. r - F-finger (index-left hand) up to the R-key. u - J-finger (index-right hand) up to the U-key. g,h -- These are easy. Reach over with the index finger keeping the wrists parallel and raised slightly above the keyboard. Keep the other fingers on their HOME positions. g - F-finger (index-left hand) over to the G-key. h - J-finger (index-right hand) over to the H-key. @PAGE@ t,y -- These keys are kind of easy also. Reach up with the index fingers press sharply and return to the HOME position. t - F-finger (index-left hand) up to the T-key. y - J-finger (index-right hand) up to the Y-key. qwop -- These keys are a little more difficult. Reach up with the ring or pinky fingers, strike the key sharply and return to the home position. For w and o try to keep the pinky on or very close to its HOME position. q - A-finger (pinky-left hand) up to the Q-key. w - S-finger (ring-left hand) up to the W-key. o - L-finger (ring-right hand) up to the O-key. p - ;-finger (pinky-right hand) up to the P-key. @PAGE@ c,v,n -- Reach down and strike the keys sharply then quickly return to the HOME position. Keep the other fingers on or close to the HOME position; wrists parallel slightly raised above the keyboard; elbows down to your sides and back straight. c - D-finger (middle-left hand) down to the C-key. v - F-finger (index-left hand) down to the V-key. n - J-finger (index-right hand) down to the N-key. zxbm -- These keys are hard (that's why they're last). For z and x keep the F and D-fingers on their HOME positions. When you reach for the b-key keep the asdf-fingers on their HOME positions. z - A-finger (pinky-left hand) down to the Z-key. x - S-finger (ring-left hand) down to the X-key. b - F-finger (index-left hand) down towards the right to the B-key. m - J-finger (index-right hand) down towards the right to the M-key. @PAGE@ The ENTER KEY - With the standard 101-Key Enhanced Keyboard this key is easy to type; simply reach over with your right pinky finger and press it. On the AT Style keyboard, the ENTER key is shaped like a large backwards L and is also easy to reach. On the old-style PC keyboard the ENTER key is difficult to reach because of its unique placement; you have to stretch over quite a bit to reach it with your pinky finger. @PAGE@ **** HOW TO TYPE THE NUMBERS **** 4567 -- These are the first numbers you should learn how to type. Reach up to the top row of keys with the index finger of each hand. Press the key quickly and return to the HOME position. Bend the other fingers to compensate for the extended reach and keep them on or very close to their HOME positions. Keep the wrists parallel. 4 - F-finger (index-left hand) up and towards the left to the 4-key. 5 - F-finger (index-left hand) up to the 5-key. 6 - J-finger (index-right hand) up and towards the left to the 6-key. 7 - J-finger (index-right hand) up to the 7-key. @PAGE@ 3,8 -- These are the next number keys that you should learn. Reach up with the middle finger of each hand to the top row of keys. Remember to keep your elbows to your side, back straight, and wrists parallel. Keep the index finger of each hand on their HOME positions. 3 - D-finger (middle-left hand) up and towards the left to the 3-key. 8 - K-finger (middle-right hand) up to the 8-key. 2,9 -- These keys may be a little difficult because of the tendency to move the pinky along with the ring finger. Try to keep the index fingers on their respective HOME positions - f and j. 2 - S-finger (ring-left hand) up and towards the left to the 2-key. 9 - L-finger (ring-right hand) up to the 9-key. @PAGE@ 1,0 -- These are the last number keys to learn. Reach up with the pinky finger to the number row key, press the key sharply then return to the HOME position. Keep the other fingers on their HOME positions. Distinguish between the zero key and the dash key on the number row. 1 - A-finger (pinky-left hand) up to the 1-key. 0 - ;-finger (pinky-right hand) up to the 0-key. @PAGE@ **** HOW TO TYPE CAPITAL LETTERS **** Using the SHIFT (up-arrow) keys: The shift keys on all PC keyboards are located on either side of the row of keys above the space bar. Notice where they are. The shift keys are pressed down and held with either pinky finger while the letter to be capitalized is typed with a finger of the opposite hand. The right hand shift key is used to capitalize any letter that is struck with the left hand, and the left hand shift key is used to capitalize any letter that is struck with the right hand. Typing capitalized letters will seem to be slow at first, but when you have gained enough skill with your typing, you will find that the time required to type a capital letter will gradually decrease and the operation will be performed without conscious effort on your part. As a beginner, your primary aim is to develop a smooth, even operation and to avoid any break in your typing rhythm. @PAGE@ To capitalize a letter that is struck with the right hand - 1. Reach over with the pinky (a-finger) of your left hand and depress the left-hand shift key. 2. While holding down the shift key, press the letter to be capitalized with the right hand finger. 3. Release the shift and return the a-finger to its HOME position. To capitalize a letter that is struck with the left hand, follow the same procedure outlined above, using the semi-colon (;) finger on the right hand to press the right shift key.