Download/HomepageOkay, it's truth or consequences time... we think we're pretty good
typists, right? We spend countless hours pounding these keys, after all. But let's face
it, most of us mere mortals scratch away at the keyboard with four to six claws we call
fingers.
Well, here's some good news. Better typing means better efficiency, and TypingMaster is
a tutor that can diagnose the lousy keyboard habits of experienced users, as well as teach
solid typing skills to the more fortunate newcomers. Using all ten claws!
Now, now, it's NOT one of those awful things that has some shrill authoritarian voice
barking out letters of the alphabet at you. TypingMaster will leave you your dignity,
but it will work you like a dog. And your typing will improve almost immediately. (And you
won't hate it.) The user interface is gorgeous and intuitive -- you'd just better be ready
to type.
TypingMaster works almost like a game program, with various challenges, games and skill
levels to be attained -- the main parameters being speed and accuracy. You cannot hide
from this program: its algorithms watch your every keystroke, to analyze you personal
typing foibles and suggest personalized exercises for your improvement.
For starters, you decide how much time you can stand per session, from 25 minutes to
unlimited. Start easy! There are plenty or breaks, but when you're on the clock, it's
heads-up time. The user interface consists of six index-tabbed sections, each containing
all the program's options and functions. The Studying tab gives you access to a quick
program run-through, and you access the TypingMaster drills here: keyboard exercise, text
exercise, instructive games, story typing, and guided study. The Revision tab accesses the
Revision Wizard, which gives you a personal analysis of your brush-up needs -- using
teaching tools such as crazy sentence completion, a bubbles game, or WordTris game.
(You'll think you're doing fine, then it starts going faster -- boredom is not a word that
will occur to you.)
Just as the Revision Wizard identifies your problem-areas based on your keyboard input,
the Statistics keeper won't let you crawl under a rock either -- it monitors your speed
and efficiency and ranks it on a four-level scale from "beginner" to
"expert." These calculations are summed up from the scores you've gotten on the
various games and drills you've completed. A bar chart displays the keys you've
demonstrated as having had problems using. This helps you choose the additional keyboard
drills you need. There really is no mercy -- except to follow the recommended exercise
plan and improve your skills. Which is the point of TypingMaster . It forces you to
succeed.
All the keyboard exercises are geared at limbering stiff fingers and conditioning us to
gain or regain a feel for the keyboard. TypingMaster pushes you, in livable degrees, to
go faster, faster --until you find your reactions becoming more relaxed and automatic. And
pleasantly enough, for the beads of sweat this program put on my brow, I could feel
improvement within the first 25 minute session. And I kind of looked forward to having
another shot at settling the score. It grows on you. Certainly the prospect of producing
cleaner documents in less time will grow on you too. If you're serious about improving
your typing, this is a serious typing tutor.
TypingMaster is free to try for 30 days, fully functional. Information for
single-license and site-license ordering via major credit card or other means can be
obtained at the product web site.
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