It's weird to see only one word at the time. I don't think this reflects my true typing speed as I have a tiny pause to read the word once it shows on the screen. On the other hand, I'm able to read multiple words ahead as long as I can see them and naturally remove the pause.
Yeah, every new word flushes the entire pipeline. I end up typing long words that I happen to know (prestidigitation) faster than short words, because I can "fill up the pipeline".
Not clear if there's any intelligence selecting the words, but on the whole I still find https://typeracer.com more fun.
I also find some difficulty in reading the next word because of the animation obscuring it; this has my net wpm at 61, but my monkeytype average wpm is ~120
As a Dvorak user on a laptop it was confusing seeing a QWERTY keyboard on the screen that didn't seem to have anything to do with anything.
The wpm score is also a bit meaningless when you're typing individual words at a time. My normal typing score is around 120wpm and this was scoring me at 64wpm. It's more about reflexes than about typing speed per se.
I like it, but the fact that you don't have to input the whole word correctly and only each individual letter really conflicts with my muscle-memory to correct mistakes. I also think the animations and effects are a little over the top and they distract me from typing.
The custom keyboard that they have on the web page is pretty small compared to the OS keyboard on iOS, when I use the page on an iPhone.
If I could use the iOS keyboard I think I would get a much better speed. I usually type with fingers from both hands on iOS. With the custom keyboard that they have on the page I can only use one finger from one hand to type.
Ah, I guess it makes sense you're not crazy then, haha. For me it's probably 80/20 (80 being programming on a macbook). I've subscribed to your channel by the way, 7.8k videos is insane; you started when you were ~58! I was 13 then... I'd wager Humphrey isn't there anymore, but they'll always be there to look at!
Mm, doughnuts. I'll take the flip side of that bet, since I don't think capturing the typing cadence for individual words would be all that helpful. I'd bet the typing cadences here are distinguishable from the cadence of normal English text (as might be collected by a malicious browser extension which vacuums up keystroke data on popular UGC sites).
I like the animations and general appearance, and how snappy it feels. Would prefer if mistakes required a backspace though, and also more than one word at a time. Also unclear if the timer starts when the word is shown or when you start typing.
If you think about it as a game and not a typing exercice it's quite good, feels a bit like a typing guitar hero, and the animations are fun. Also learned some words. It lacks an accessible about page, you only reach it once going through a complete round.
this is fun but you are killing speed by not showing the next 2-4 words. I'm not even that fast really 85wpm but having to wait for the next word it is leaving a lot of speed on the table for no reason.
Visually breaks if you try to make the font a reasonable reading size. Why does it disable backspace?
E: It also seems to be registering inputs incorrectly if you type fast enough. On a bad day I clear 140 on monkeytype, can do minutes long tests without any errors.
Very snappy, I like the animations very much (they keep changing, you had fun!). I tried signing in with Google and it didn't work (blank screen). But I've played a lot with these games and I've made my own, and yours is very addictive because feels quick and the feedback is clear. Also I found the jump from the first wave (short words) to the second (very long words), a little too big. I would put an intermediate one in between.
I think this is a nice challenge. Touch typing was something i was never taught. I definitely have incorrect finger placement for instance.
However I know my overall typing speed is good from the 20 years i've spent behind a keyboard! I actually think the UI is good, with some interesting elements that are not so distracting.
IMO, finger placement is a total red herring. I can type around 170 WPM (if exerting myself - and assuming typeracer.com has accurate WPM scores) without looking at the keyboard and I've never once used anything close to the prescribed "touch typing" finger placement taught in schools. Whatever works works.
It’s quite interesting how we are used to our mobile phone keyboards “AI” helping us to type better. Would love to learn more about how that prediction works. I remember my old 2010 HTC phone to be really hard, meanwhile in 2025 it feels like i can type anything without thinking.
Nevermind layouts, what about size? I'm already terrible at typing on a touchscreen and trying to do so with a distractingly colorful and animated keyboard that is half the size of my native mobile keyboard makes for a not-very-fun game.
super annoying that for me, backspace just inserts an unknown character instead of working? I correct mistakes with backspace all the time, I don't always type everything perfectly the first time.
had to disable vimium because it doesn't work well with this site. I don't know enough about the extension to know whether that's the site's fault, but I'm assuming it's not a blacklist type of thing. Improving accessibility might solve it
Because you don't have an input text area focussed, vimium will assume by 'j' you want to scroll down for example, because that's the point of it. Iirc you can manually enter insert mode and then it should work fine.
Hah, i got 45 wpm and i can't even touch type but just stare at my keyboard pointing two fingers somewhere. Anyway i don't need this skill anymore, god thanks, i can now just use ai to command this machine over voice, faster than touch typists.
It's weird to see only one word at the time. I don't think this reflects my true typing speed as I have a tiny pause to read the word once it shows on the screen. On the other hand, I'm able to read multiple words ahead as long as I can see them and naturally remove the pause.
Yeah, every new word flushes the entire pipeline. I end up typing long words that I happen to know (prestidigitation) faster than short words, because I can "fill up the pipeline".
Not clear if there's any intelligence selecting the words, but on the whole I still find https://typeracer.com more fun.
Yes, i get half of my normal WPM here because i can't look ahead.
I recommend using https://typing-speed-test.aoeu.eu/ instead.
I also find some difficulty in reading the next word because of the animation obscuring it; this has my net wpm at 61, but my monkeytype average wpm is ~120
absolutly agree. I find https://10fastfingers.com much better.
The animations is also quite confusing, _the bubble explosion_
As a Dvorak user on a laptop it was confusing seeing a QWERTY keyboard on the screen that didn't seem to have anything to do with anything.
The wpm score is also a bit meaningless when you're typing individual words at a time. My normal typing score is around 120wpm and this was scoring me at 64wpm. It's more about reflexes than about typing speed per se.
That keyboard is how to play the game on mobile. Is it not possible to have the system keyboard pop in without an input field on mobile Safari?
I like it, but the fact that you don't have to input the whole word correctly and only each individual letter really conflicts with my muscle-memory to correct mistakes. I also think the animations and effects are a little over the top and they distract me from typing.
The custom keyboard that they have on the web page is pretty small compared to the OS keyboard on iOS, when I use the page on an iPhone.
If I could use the iOS keyboard I think I would get a much better speed. I usually type with fingers from both hands on iOS. With the custom keyboard that they have on the page I can only use one finger from one hand to type.
Just the opposite here: 1 finger on iOS v 10 on MacOS
You use 1 finger, always, on iOS? Or am I misunderstanding? If not, how would you not go crazy? Or are you using swipe-style typing?
>You use 1 finger, always, on iOS?
Yes. My left index finger. NO SWIPING. I've been doing it since my first iPhone back in the day and I haven't gone crazy yet!
Full disclosure: I'm 77 years old. Perhaps it's a geezer thing....
Haha, well, color me impressed. Because I’m curious: do you type a lot on your phone, or mostly on a computer or similar?
And sorry to say but my dad (71) also does this, so it indeed might be a geezer thing… you’re a cool one though, you’re on hacker news! ;-)
(All this typed with a big smile on my face, you made my day)
>do you type a lot on your phone, or mostly on a computer or similar?
You know, I've never really thought about the comparison until you asked. I estimate 99% on MacBook Pro/1% on iPhone w these 2 phone use cases:
1) Captions for my YouTube videos https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd6EjvCDRRWlkHjEYvSfOkA)
2) Replies to emails/texts
Thanks for the kudos!
I'm glad I brought some joy to someone today!
Ah, I guess it makes sense you're not crazy then, haha. For me it's probably 80/20 (80 being programming on a macbook). I've subscribed to your channel by the way, 7.8k videos is insane; you started when you were ~58! I was 13 then... I'd wager Humphrey isn't there anymore, but they'll always be there to look at!
Dollars to doughnuts this is collecting keypress-cadence data for fooling anti-automation algorithms with natural typing speeds.
Mm, doughnuts. I'll take the flip side of that bet, since I don't think capturing the typing cadence for individual words would be all that helpful. I'd bet the typing cadences here are distinguishable from the cadence of normal English text (as might be collected by a malicious browser extension which vacuums up keystroke data on popular UGC sites).
I like the animations and general appearance, and how snappy it feels. Would prefer if mistakes required a backspace though, and also more than one word at a time. Also unclear if the timer starts when the word is shown or when you start typing.
To anyone who does keyboard handling, please don't use KeyboardEvent.code like this site does unless you have a reason to ignore all users that use a different keyboard layout: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEve...
> Warning: This ignores the user's keyboard layout
If you think about it as a game and not a typing exercice it's quite good, feels a bit like a typing guitar hero, and the animations are fun. Also learned some words. It lacks an accessible about page, you only reach it once going through a complete round.
this is fun but you are killing speed by not showing the next 2-4 words. I'm not even that fast really 85wpm but having to wait for the next word it is leaving a lot of speed on the table for no reason.
Visually breaks if you try to make the font a reasonable reading size. Why does it disable backspace?
E: It also seems to be registering inputs incorrectly if you type fast enough. On a bad day I clear 140 on monkeytype, can do minutes long tests without any errors.
Very snappy, I like the animations very much (they keep changing, you had fun!). I tried signing in with Google and it didn't work (blank screen). But I've played a lot with these games and I've made my own, and yours is very addictive because feels quick and the feedback is clear. Also I found the jump from the first wave (short words) to the second (very long words), a little too big. I would put an intermediate one in between.
Typing speed tests are always fun. I enjoy https://monkeytype.com/
I think this is a nice challenge. Touch typing was something i was never taught. I definitely have incorrect finger placement for instance.
However I know my overall typing speed is good from the 20 years i've spent behind a keyboard! I actually think the UI is good, with some interesting elements that are not so distracting.
IMO, finger placement is a total red herring. I can type around 170 WPM (if exerting myself - and assuming typeracer.com has accurate WPM scores) without looking at the keyboard and I've never once used anything close to the prescribed "touch typing" finger placement taught in schools. Whatever works works.
It’s quite interesting how we are used to our mobile phone keyboards “AI” helping us to type better. Would love to learn more about how that prediction works. I remember my old 2010 HTC phone to be really hard, meanwhile in 2025 it feels like i can type anything without thinking.
No way to change keyboard layouts?
Nevermind layouts, what about size? I'm already terrible at typing on a touchscreen and trying to do so with a distractingly colorful and animated keyboard that is half the size of my native mobile keyboard makes for a not-very-fun game.
Alternative keyboard layouts like Dvorak/Colemak support would significantly improve accessibility for a non-trivial segment of typists.
I'm finding that not typing a space between words really messes me up
super annoying that for me, backspace just inserts an unknown character instead of working? I correct mistakes with backspace all the time, I don't always type everything perfectly the first time.
Fun game. I feel like with all the mobile keyboard tapping and LLM-prompting this is going to be a dead skill in a few generations
It would be nice if it had the option to indicate you which finger you should be using to press the key ideally. Like the mechanigraphy games.
had to disable vimium because it doesn't work well with this site. I don't know enough about the extension to know whether that's the site's fault, but I'm assuming it's not a blacklist type of thing. Improving accessibility might solve it
Because you don't have an input text area focussed, vimium will assume by 'j' you want to scroll down for example, because that's the point of it. Iirc you can manually enter insert mode and then it should work fine.
Hah, i got 45 wpm and i can't even touch type but just stare at my keyboard pointing two fingers somewhere. Anyway i don't need this skill anymore, god thanks, i can now just use ai to command this machine over voice, faster than touch typists.
Black text on a purple key is hardly unreadable for me.
Keyboard small. Fingers big.