Speed control

Typing speed control

Typist enters prepared text into the field you have focused at a speed you set, anywhere from 20 to 400 words per minute. The number you choose is the whole difference between a run you can read along with and one that is over before you look up.

The range and the presets

The slider runs from 20 words per minute at the slow end to 400 at the fast end, and the default is 60. Six presets sit along it so you are not dragging for a number: 40, 60, 100, 150, 250 and 400. Tapping a preset is the usual way to work; the slider is there for the times when 85 is the right answer and 100 is not.

Sixty is the default because it is close to unhurried handwriting speed. Text arrives at a rate a person sitting next to you can follow word by word, which is what you want for anything anyone is watching. Above about 150 the individual words stop being readable and you are simply waiting for the field to fill.

Two pacing modes

The speed setting works alongside a choice of two pacing modes.

• Varied pace. Runs at the words-per-minute figure you set and adds a short pause where punctuation falls, so sentences and clauses land as units instead of as one continuous stream. This is the mode to use when the entry is being watched.
• Fast steady. Roughly eight times quicker, with no punctuation pauses at all. Use it when you want the text in the field and nobody is reading the screen while it goes in. A 1,000-word piece that takes about sixteen minutes at the 60 wpm varied pace lands in roughly two.

How long a run takes

It is worth doing the arithmetic before you start a long one, because a 1,000-word piece at a readable pace is a genuinely long sit.

Picking a number

• Someone is watching the screen. 40 to 60. During a live demo or presentation the point is that the audience can read along, and anything faster defeats it.
• You are reading along yourself. 60 to 100. Fast enough not to drag, slow enough that you can catch a sentence you want to change before the whole thing is in the field.
• You just want the text in the box. 250, 400, or the fast steady mode. This is the setting for long prepared text where no one is watching the field fill.
• The page feels strained. Come down. Some rich-text editors do more work per keystroke than a plain text box does, and a heavy document responds better at 100 than at 400. If a run looks wrong, stop it and try again slower.

Pause, resume, stop

A run is not a commitment. A progress indicator shows how far through the text you are, and you can pause, pick it back up, or stop entirely at any point. That matters more at low speeds than high ones: at 40 wpm a 1,000-word run is twenty-five minutes, and being able to hold it while you answer a message is the difference between the setting being usable and not.

Questions

Which speed should I leave it on?

60, the default, unless you have a reason. It is the one setting that is defensible whether or not somebody is looking at the screen.

Does the speed setting apply in Google Docs?

Yes. The same range, presets and pacing modes apply when you enter text into a Google Doc, as they do in a text box, a text area, or any other editable field.

Why is there a 20 wpm floor?

Below that a run stops being text entry and becomes a screensaver. Twenty words a minute is already slower than almost anyone types by hand.

Can I change the speed while a run is going?

The reliable way is to stop, set the new speed, and start the remaining text. Pause and stop are both available mid-run, so nothing is lost by doing it that way.

Speed control is one piece of a small tool. The auto typer overview covers the rest: which fields Typist can type into, what it does not do, and what the sign-in is for.

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