Every graphic designer should have good typing skills, in my opinion. Recently I discovered a great free app Stamina Typing Tutor which helps me now to improve touch typing, in particular, for writing for this blog. After the training course with Stamina, you will be able to type long paragraphs, use shortcuts and Instant Messengers without ever looking at the keyboard.

The process of learning touch typing with Stamina Typing Tutor is very funny. For example, every mistake that you make is followed by different funny sounds like Oops or Ouch. The detailed help is also written with a lot of humor.

I liked also customizable appearance and sounds in this app: from the Stamina Typing Tutor site you could download additional sounds, menu music, background pictures and keyboard templates.

Stamina Typing Tutor besides the traditional finger positioning on the keyboard offer an alternative method (to reduce hand stress)! This touch-typing tutor supports several layouts: QWERTY (US, UK,), Dvorak, AZERTY etc. There are also support and phrases for several languages, including Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and Swedish.

The program is perfect for novice as well as for advanced users. The great thing, you can choose the level and parts of the course right from the start. Lessons are designed for mastering certain keys. System requirements start from Windows 95/NT. There is support for several users too.

Some other useful features of free Stamina Typing Tutor:

• Choice of entering text from an external file (you can learn touch typing using real text)
• Lesson editor (If you are experienced enough you can adjust the lessons to your need)
• Graph of speed changes during a session (so you can test your touch typing speed)
• Progress graphs by days and sessions (progress is a best motivation, isn’t it?)