14 DAY TRIAL // In the digital era, speed is of the utmost importance, whether we speak of hardware devices, software or the person operating them. We all want a fast PC running powerful software that can do what we need it to do, easily and in the shortest amount of time possible. Nonetheless, no matter how potent the system and software, the human factor has to be able to keep up and operate them efficiently. How can this be done? By optimizing our usage of the mouse and keyboard that send the commands to the virtual brain that operates our work companion.
In the case of the mouse, things are pretty clear as you can click and scroll with a speed that can hardly be improved (to yield significant results). With the keyboard, on the other hand, things are different. We develop typing skills in time, with lots of practice and usually there's no one to teach us properly. No one person, that is, because help readily comes from our digital friend in the form of typing tutor programs.
This is the case of RapidTyping Typing Tutor, a freeware application designed to emulate the keyboard and help the user earn blind typing in the shortest time possible. With a friendly interface, visible commands and customizable lessons, RapidTyping Typing Tutor is a great helper and its defining traits of the program are in no way limited to the aforementioned.
When you first open RapidTyping Typing Tutor, you may think it's something done purposely for the kids, but in no time you'll see that the picturesque underwater world where the training takes place is relaxing even for grown-ups. The vividly colored on-screen keyboard will help you focus on the display and not on the physical keyboard you're actually using. However, if you find it more comfortable, the virtual key can be hidden with a click of the mouse on the small arrow on the bottom right side of the main window.
RapidTyping Typing Tutor can be operated using a wide variety of hot keys and you can send it to the system tray with the Esc key, which is useful in case you have to do something else on the PC. The interface of RapidTyping Typing Tutor can be easily customized using skins and color schemes that are all just as friendly and colored as those loaded by default.
To start practicing to improve your typing skills, select a lesson from the course menu or just hit any key to run the preloaded lesson. RapidTyping Typing Tutor will display on the main screen the keys you need to press and the virtual keyboard will highlight them to help you identify them easier. Each time you press a key, a sound will be played and if you make a typing mistake, be assured that you'll know it the moment you hear the corresponding noise. RapidTyping Typing Tutor also displays on the top right corner the lesson time if you are interested, but you can check that after the lesson, so you don't get distracted from practicing.
RapidTyping Typing Tutor will offer you real-time statistics therefore you can check your typing proficiency after each lesson and find out how many characters or words per minute you typed. The application memorizes your performance data, allowing you to view the progress as time passes and lessons become harder.
In addition to the impressive number of default lessons, RapidTyping Typing Tutor will enable you to create your own courses. This specific feature can be very useful if you want to specialize on a particular kind of texts or if you want to familiarize your children with specific typing styles.
An important advantage of RapidTyping Typing Tutor is that it uses very little system resources so you won't experience any hiccups running this application (anyway, not caused by this program). If you add it to the hiding option that RapidTyping Typing Tutor has, it's safe to say your computer will barely feel the presence of this program whereas you can get the most of it and bring your typing skills to an upper level.
The Good
The main strong points of RapidTyping Typing Tutor are its visible on-screen commands and the great looking interface, the user-defined lessons capability as well as the wide variety of typing courses.
Another big plus is the fact that RapidTyping Typing Tutor is noticeably light on the system resources and also the space it occupies on the hard drive is negligible (less than 5 megabytes).
The Bad
There are no major weaknesses of RapidTyping Typing Tutor but it has some weak spots. For instance, the sounds or, to be more precise, the beeps played by the application get annoying at times (especially if you make lots of mistakes?). Refining them would improve the whole experience making it completely comfortable.
Also, regardless of how nice and colored and interactive the interface is, there's room for a step up. I say that because, in my opinion, the user should have the possibility to change the displaying mode of the real-time statistics from the tiny colored bars placed above the virtual keyboard to percentages or raw numbers.
The Truth
RapidTyping Typing Tutor will undoubtedly improve the typing skills of anyone who will use it in a serious manner and it can also become a fun pastime for the more experienced users.
No matter how you look at it, RapidTyping Typing Tutor is a sure gain for anyone who takes it for a spin and I would definitely place it among the best, also bearing in mind the fact that it is free.
