What to do when computer keyboard letters wear off?

[Mad Mac]

Yes, keyboarding. But today it only seem necessary to have thumbs for SmartPhones.

Uh... Selectrics run on selectricity. Maybe a Smith Corona portable or Olivetti might be a better choice.

[guywithopinion]

What? Mavis Beacon teaches typing, not keyboarding. I learned on a keyboard, but it's still typing.

[Accutron]

Typing class was mandatory my freshman year of high school. The first level class was called Keyboarding, followed by Typing I and Typing II which were elective courses. The classroom was equipped with mix of Selectric I and II machines. You had to be able to touch type at 30 WPM with zero errors to pass the class. Looking at the keyboard was forbidden. Thirty years later, I can touch type at about 130 WPM with zero errors.

I've been known to buy/sell/collect/repair mechanical typewriters and IBM electric typewriters. I currently have about 20 machines in my personal collection, including four Selectic I's, two Selectric II's and a Selectric III. My oldest IBM is a Model B Executive, which predates the Selectric I by about seven years.

If you want a good mechanical typewriter for typing up your favorite rat recipes in the zombie apocalypse, I highly recommend the Olympia SM series...something like a SM3 or SM4.

[shunsui]

One of these ?

https://www.daskeyboard.com/daskeyboard-4-ultimate/

I couldn't see it, myself.

You could use one of those electric engraver tools to label the key. I use one to number my Glock mags.

https://www.harborfreight.com/electric- ... 46099.html

[TomAiello]

I am pretty sure typing was mandatory for me? I cannot remember now?

I remember hating it so I cannot imagine that I volunteered for it. That was probably in '92.

I was in high school in the late 80s and we were required to take either typing or shorthand. I took typing.

[curlyhairedboy]

This is why you buy doubleshot keycaps! With these, you'd have to wear away the key to get rid of the markings.

[Bloke]

[Crux]

Does anyone on here have suggestions as to what to do when you have a computer keyboard in which the keyboard is still usable and functional, but, the images of the individual letters have worn off so that it is hard to distinguish some of the keys from others?

Are there some type of adhesive letter and number stickers that can be found to put on the keys?

You can buy a keyboard for around $20. The stickers will probably cost you $10. Buy a new keyboard. I promise you'll be just fine. :)

[Mad Mac]

If this was mounted high on a wall would it be possible to dance on the keyboard and type?

[Bloke]

If this was mounted high on a wall would it be possible to dance on the keyboard and type?

100% Mac! :cool:

That's how I use mine.

[Bodog]

My kid's in 6th grade and is building a scale model car that has programmed responses in it's memory to certain stimuli. Yet he can't write cursive or tell me what qwerty is and i try to teach him but it's like teaching how to use an abacus. It's behind the times. One thing i do demand is that he does his math without a calculator even though his classes allow for it.

I think us old guys are falling behind the times. By the time our kids are our age our grandchildren will only need to tell a computer what to do.

My nephew built a robotic gunship with decent AI that could engage in battle with fellow students' gunships on its own. That was before he graduated 12th grade. He's not even some crazy tech geek. He's just a normal kid. I think typing for typing's sake is a thing of the past.

And yeah, i took typing too. But the teacher was really hot and it was an easy A.

[Water Bug]

A friend of mine actually worn holes into some of the keys on her computer keyboard, but that didn't slow her down a bit as she was quite the fluent typist. She never looked at the keyboard and kept her eyes on the computer screen as her fingers danced across the keys. She had no plans at all for replacing the keys or the keyboard.

[Doc Dan]

The problem for me is not the typing; it's the correcting.

[Frozenspyder]

When I learned to type, half of the computers had some letters worn off. Small public school with old Apple IIe's. Do they really not teach typing in school anymore?

[Bodog]

When I learned to type, half of the computers had some letters worn off. Small public school with old Apple IIe's. Do they really not teach typing in school anymore?

My kid will be taking computer programming as an elective this year, the same one I spoke of earlier. He's building robotic cars this semester and that requires programming pre-defined codes into the car's computer. I don't know what lies ahead in the programming class. I do know he's doing this stuff in 6th grade and there are no typing classes that i know of. I'd consider this stuff to be pretty advanced for his age but he's, i hate to say it, not genius level, and these aren't AP type classes. If they replace typing with actual programming, i can't complain. I'd rather him be able to build a computer and program it from the ground up than be able to type perfectly on that same computer.

[bearfacedkiller]

It isn't too far away that computers will be mostly voice controlled anyway. There will still be keyboards for many things but as far as typing text goes I believe we will just be dictating.

[Mad Mac]

I think it's just a matter of semantics.
Typing is for typewriters. Keyboarding is for keyboards.
We all just have to try and keep up.
Time and tide wait for no... gender.

[vivi]

If you've used a keyboard long enough to wear off the letters, you've used it long enough to memorize what those letters are.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

Yes, I can type quite well and do have a good memory of where the keys are. But at times if I make an error or have to type something case-sensitive, it can get in the way. Thank you for the great information and also links to key-replacements.

Those voice-command computers are greatly desired.

[Bloke]

Yes, I can type quite well ...