Typing glossary

This glossary defines the terms you meet on typing tests, typing courses and keyboard forums, in alphabetical order. Each definition stands on its own. Terms that are Presspace measures, such as Raw-Net Gap, Endurance Drop and Weak-Key Drill, say so and tell you where to find them.

Which speed unit is which?

Typing speed is quoted in three units, and they are easy to mix up. All of them count per minute; they differ in what they count. This is how the same typist looks in each:

A

Accuracy

Accuracy is the share of your keystrokes that were correct, as a percentage. On Presspace it counts every key you press, so a mistake you fix still lowers it. Most typists aim for 95 percent or better: below that, time spent correcting errors eats most of the speed you gain by rushing.

B

Burst speed

Burst speed is your speed over a very short stretch, usually a single word or a few seconds. It shows how fast your hands can go when nothing slows them down. Presspace shows your peak burst, the fastest three seconds of the test, on the results screen. A big gap between burst and net speed points to hesitations.

C

Colemak

Colemak is an alternative keyboard layout, published in 2006, that keeps most QWERTY shortcuts and punctuation where they are but moves the most common letters onto the home row. People switch to it for comfort and less finger travel. Presspace's keyboard view and heatmap can be set to Colemak in Settings.

Consistency

Consistency is a score from 0 to 100 percent for how steady your speed was through a test. Presspace samples your speed throughout the run and scores how little it varied: 100 minus the coefficient of variation. High consistency means an even rhythm; low consistency means fast bursts broken by pauses.

Corrected errors

Corrected errors are mistakes you noticed and fixed with Backspace before moving on. They do not appear in the final text, so they do not lower net WPM directly, but each one costs time: the wrong key, the Backspace and the right key again. Presspace counts them separately from uncorrected errors on the results screen.

CPM (characters per minute)

CPM is typing speed counted in characters rather than words. Because a word is defined as five characters, CPM is simply WPM multiplied by five, so 60 WPM equals 300 CPM. CPM is the usual unit in some countries and in some data entry tests. The WPM calculator converts between them.

D

Dvorak

Dvorak is a keyboard layout designed by August Dvorak and William Dealey in the 1930s. It puts the vowels and the most common consonants on the home row so that the hands alternate more and the fingers travel less. Presspace's keyboard view and heatmap can be set to Dvorak in Settings.

E

Endurance Drop

Endurance Drop is a Presspace measure: how much of your speed you lose between the first and the last minute of a test of two minutes or longer, as a percentage of your first-minute WPM. It shows whether you fade over a long test. You see it on the results screen after a 2, 5 or 10 minute test.

G

Ghost race

A ghost race is a race against a recording of an earlier run, shown as a faint second caret moving exactly as you did. On Presspace the ghost typing race replays your best run; beat it and your new run becomes the ghost. It is a way to race without other people.

Ghosting

Ghosting is a keyboard hardware fault where pressing several keys at once makes the keyboard report a key you did not press, or drop one you did. Cheap keyboards share wiring between keys, which causes it. Keyboards with anti-ghosting or n-key rollover avoid it. A keyboard tester will show it.

H

Home row

The home row is the middle row of letter keys, where touch typists rest their fingers: A, S, D and F for the left hand and J, K, L and the semicolon for the right on a QWERTY keyboard. The small bumps on F and J let you find it without looking. Every reach starts and ends here.

Hunt and peck

Hunt and peck is typing by looking at the keyboard, finding each key and pressing it, usually with one or two fingers per hand. It is how most people start. It can be surprisingly quick with practice, but it is hard to get fast while your eyes keep leaving the screen to find keys.

K

Keyboard heatmap

A keyboard heatmap is a picture of the keyboard with each key coloured by how you typed it, for example how often you missed it. Presspace shows one on the results screen after every test and a lifetime one in Statistics, so you can see at a glance which keys are costing you.

Keystroke

A keystroke is one press of one key. Typing a capital takes two, Shift and the letter, and every Backspace counts as one. Typing tests count keystrokes to work out accuracy, and some data entry employers measure speed in keystrokes per hour rather than words per minute.

KPM (keystrokes per minute)

KPM counts every key press per minute, including Shift, Backspace and mistakes, rather than only the correct characters. It is common in data entry, where it is often quoted per hour (KPH). Because it includes corrections and modifier keys, KPM is higher than CPM for the same typist.

L

Lazy mode

Lazy mode is a Presspace setting that makes accents optional, so a plain e counts as é and n counts as ñ. It is useful for practising Spanish, French, German, Portuguese or Italian words on a keyboard without dead keys. Switch it on in Settings; it changes what counts as correct, not your score formula.

N

N-key rollover

N-key rollover, or NKRO, means a keyboard registers every key held down at once, however many there are. Many cheaper keyboards only guarantee two or six at a time. For ordinary typing, six-key rollover is plenty, but very fast typists who overlap keys benefit from a keyboard that never drops a press.

Net WPM

Net WPM is your typing speed counting only correctly typed characters, five to a word, per minute. It is the headline number on most typing tests, including Presspace, because it reflects usable text. Mistakes do not subtract a penalty; they simply do not count towards your speed.

P

Pace caret

A pace caret is a second cursor that moves through the text at a set speed, so you can see whether you are ahead or behind. On Presspace you switch it on in Settings and set it to your average, your best or a custom speed. It turns any test into a race against a target.

Q

QWERTY

QWERTY is the standard keyboard layout in most English-speaking countries, named after the first six letters on its top row. It dates from typewriters of the 1870s. Most typing tests and lessons assume it, though layouts like AZERTY in France and QWERTZ in Germany move a few keys around.

R

Raw WPM

Raw WPM is your typing speed counting every character you typed, correct or not, five to a word, per minute. It shows how fast your hands moved before mistakes are taken out. Compare it with net WPM: the difference is the speed your errors cost you.

Raw-Net Gap

The Raw-Net Gap is a Presspace measure: raw WPM minus net WPM, the speed your mistakes cost you. "Your Raw-Net Gap is 9 WPM" means you would have scored 9 WPM more with no errors. It appears on the Presspace results screen after every test, and shrinking it is often the quickest way to a higher score.

Rollover typing

Rollover typing is pressing the next key before releasing the previous one, so key presses overlap. A 2018 study of 168,000 typists by Aalto University and the University of Cambridge found it surprisingly common, and the fastest typists overlapped 40 to 70 percent of their keystrokes. It needs a keyboard with good rollover.

T

Tape mode

Tape mode shows the text as a single line that slides past a fixed caret, like a ticker tape, instead of lines that move up the screen. Some typists find it easier to read ahead this way. On Presspace you switch it on in Settings, and the test works exactly the same either way.

Touch typing

Touch typing is typing without looking, each finger keeping to its own keys and returning to the home row. It takes a few weeks to learn. A 2018 study found people with their own finger systems can be just as fast, but touch typing is the method most courses teach. The touch typing guide and typing lessons start from scratch.

U

Uncorrected errors

Uncorrected errors are mistakes left in the text when you moved on. They are what a reader would see, so many job tests treat them strictly. On Presspace they lower net WPM, which only counts correct characters, and they are listed apart from corrected errors on the results screen.

W

Weak-Key Drill

A Weak-Key Drill is a Presspace practice round built from the keys you miss most. After a test, click any key in the missed-keys list on the results screen and a drill starts with words full of that key. Smart practice does the same automatically, across all your weak keys, over many runs.

WPM (words per minute)

WPM is the standard measure of typing speed. A word is counted as five characters, spaces included, whatever the real words were, so scores are comparable across texts and sites. Most typing tests report net WPM, which only counts correct characters. Read how WPM is calculated for the full formula.

Z

Zen mode

Zen mode is typing with no clock and no score on screen: an endless stream of words that you stop whenever you like. It is for warming up, working on form or simply enjoying the keyboard sound. On Presspace, Zen typing ends when you press Esc, with a summary of the run.

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