# The Typing Cat

> Online touch-typing tutor. Structured courses show animated hands on the learner's own keyboard layout; typing speed tests run 30 seconds to 5 minutes; typing games train speed, accuracy and rhythm. There is a kids mode and a program for schools. More than 500,000 accounts since 2016, rated 4.1 out of 5 from 97,348 ratings.

The Basic course, every speed test and every typing game are free. Pro opens all courses and a verifiable certificate. Courses work on 38 keyboard layouts, including QWERTY, AZERTY, QWERTZ, Dvorak, Colemak and Workman.

## Typing tests

- [Typing speed test](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-speed-test): measures words per minute and accuracy; 30-second, 1-, 3- and 5-minute tests, no sign-up
- [Typing speed guide](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-speed-guide): average typing speeds by age, profession and skill level, with WPM benchmarks
- [Average typing speed](https://thetypingcat.com/average-typing-speed): typing speed statistics by age group, device and profession
- [Mastery certificate](https://thetypingcat.com/mastery): a 3-minute test at 97% accuracy; 40, 60 or 80 WPM earns a Bronze, Silver or Gold certificate with a public verification link

## Courses

- [All typing courses](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses): the learning path (Basic, Full Keyboard, Speed Building) and side tracks for workplace text, code and specialist vocabulary
- [Basic (free)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/basic): A 65-step touch typing course with animated 3D hands. Works with QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak and other layouts: from the home row to a full-keyboard assessment, with mastery checkpoints.
- [Full Keyboard (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/full-keyboard): Learn to touch type capitals, numbers, punctuation and symbols. 14 lessons with animated hands and checkpoints, on QWERTY, Dvorak, Colemak and other layouts.
- [Speed Building (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/speed-building): Build typing speed with high-frequency words, rhythm drills, bigrams and n-grams, phrases and passages. 10 lessons, each ending in a timed test, and a final two-minute test.
- [Business & Office (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/business-office): Business and office typing practice: communication, finance, marketing and management vocabulary, business jargon, and Excel keys and formulas for office workers.
- [Education (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/education): Typing practice for students: US states, the 200 largest US cities and world capitals, then numbers, math symbols and formulas.
- [HTML & CSS (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/html-css): HTML and CSS typing practice for web developers: 19 lessons of real markup and style sheets, from the HTML5 boilerplate and semantic elements to selectors, flexbox, grid, animations and media queries.
- [JavaScript (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/javascript): JavaScript typing practice for developers: 13 lessons of real code, from ES6 declarations, destructuring and arrow functions to promises, async/await and DOM manipulation. Build speed on brackets, operators and indentation.
- [Legal (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/legal): Legal typing practice: famous law quotes, 200+ legal glossary terms, 300+ Latin legal terms and 60 common brocards for legal typists, paralegals and law students.
- [Medical (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/medical): Medical typing practice: Latin and Greek anatomy names, infectious disease vocabulary and 200 of the most used medications, for medical typists and health workers.
- [Professional Typing (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/professional-typing): Master professional typing with real workplace content. Practice business emails, reports, and data entry to become faster and more accurate at work.
- [Python (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/python): Improve your Python typing speed with 10 lessons covering variables, functions, decorators, list comprehensions, classes, and more.
- [SQL (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/sql): Improve your SQL typing speed with 6 lessons covering SELECT, WHERE, JOINs, GROUP BY, subqueries, CTEs, and DDL statements.
- [Terminal & CLI (Pro)](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/terminal): Improve your terminal typing speed with 8 lessons covering navigation, file operations, searching, permissions, Git, and Docker commands.
- [ISTE-aligned courses](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-courses/iste): four grade-banded K-12 courses mapped to the ISTE Standards for Students

## Learning guides

- [How to learn touch typing](https://thetypingcat.com/learn-touch-typing): step-by-step guide: finger placement, the home row, building speed
- [Typing practice for programmers](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-practice-for-programmers): why and how to practise typing real code; the code courses cover HTML & CSS, JavaScript, Python, SQL and the terminal
- [Typing games](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-games): Rain, Space Typer, Word Bubbles, Whack-a-Key, Letter Garden, Rhythm Keys, Cat Chase and Pattern Parrot
- [Typing for kids](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-for-kids): lessons and games for ages 5 to 12, without adverts, with parent controls
- [Typing for schools](https://thetypingcat.com/typing-for-schools): teacher dashboard, assignments, typing races and standards-aligned curriculum
- [Standards alignment](https://thetypingcat.com/standards): how the curriculum maps to ISTE, Common Core ELA and state technology standards

## Keyboard layouts

- [Keyboard layouts](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts): layouts with their history, pros and cons, and measured finger travel, home-row use and same-finger typing against QWERTY
- [QWERTY](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/qwerty): QWERTY is the standard English keyboard layout, arranged for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter in the 1870s and still printed on almost every keyboard sold today.
- [AZERTY](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/azerty): AZERTY is the standard keyboard layout in France and Belgium, a French adaptation of QWERTY from the 1890s that swaps A with Q and Z with W and puts accented letters on the number row.
- [QWERTZ](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/qwertz): QWERTZ is the standard keyboard layout in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and much of Central Europe: QWERTY with Y and Z swapped and the German umlauts and ß on their own keys.
- [QZERTY](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/qzerty): QZERTY is the traditional layout of Italian typewriters, QWERTY with W and Z swapped and M beside L; Italian computer keyboards use QWERTY instead.
- [Dvorak](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/dvorak): Dvorak is the oldest widely used alternative to QWERTY: patented in 1936, it puts every vowel and the most common consonants on the home row so the hands alternate.
- [Colemak](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/colemak): Colemak is a modern alternative to QWERTY released in 2006 that moves 17 keys to put the most common letters on the home row while keeping Z, X, C, V and most punctuation in place.
- [Colemak-DH](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/colemak-dh): Colemak-DH is a 2014 modification of Colemak that moves D and H out of the hard-to-reach centre columns, so the index fingers stretch sideways far less.
- [Workman](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/workman): Workman is a 2010 alternative layout that keeps the index fingers out of the centre columns, putting common letters on the keys each finger reaches most comfortably.
- [Gallium](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/gallium): Gallium is a 2023 layout from the Alt Keyboard Layouts community with very few same-finger pairs and redirects, in versions for row-staggered and column-staggered keyboards.
- [Graphite](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/graphite): Graphite is a 2023 general-purpose layout tuned for rolls, hand alternation and very few redirects, with punctuation reworked for writing and code.
- [Sturdy](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/sturdy): Sturdy is a 2022 layout built with its creator’s own analyser, Oxeylyzer, for a very high share of smooth rolling finger sequences and almost no awkward redirects.
- [Canary](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/canary): Canary is a 2022 layout made by many of the Alt Keyboard Layouts community’s top designers together, built around a very high share of comfortable rolls.
- [Semimak](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/semimak): Semimak is a 2021 layout optimised to minimise how fast fingers must move, cutting same-finger pairs and skips; its creator reached 200 words per minute on it.
- [Recurva](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/recurva): Recurva is a 2023 layout by Gallium’s creator that chases the lowest possible same-finger pairs and skips while keeping the hands evenly balanced.
- [Nerps](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/nerps): Nerps is a 2022 layout designed for very few redirects and light pinkies, and the direct ancestor of Gallium.
- [Engram](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/engram): Engram is a data-driven layout by Arno Klein, first released in 2021 and rebuilt in 2025 from crowdsourced typing-preference data, with punctuation in the centre columns.
- [Hands Down](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/hands-down): Hands Down Neu is a 2021 layout from Alan Reiser’s Hands Down family, built for many inward rolls and very few same-finger pairs, and the base for versions with a letter on a thumb key.
- [APT](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/apt): APT is a 2021 layout by Apsu, built on MTGAP-style optimisation for strong inward rolls and very little sideways stretching, with an official angle-mod form for standard keyboards.
- [Halmak](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/halmak): Halmak is a 2016 layout designed by an evolutionary algorithm trained on modern web English, named after HAL 9000 and Dvorak.
- [Capewell](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/capewell): Capewell is a 2005 layout generated by an evolutionary algorithm to cut finger movement by about half compared with QWERTY while keeping Z, X, C and V in place for shortcuts.
- [BEAKL](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/beakl): BEAKL, the Balanced Effortless Advanced Keyboard Layout, is a family of layouts from 2016 on that give each finger a workload matched to its strength and keep the pinkies nearly idle.
- [MTGAP](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/mtgap): MTGAP is a computer-optimised layout from Michael Dickens’s Keyboard Layout Project, produced around 2008–2010 by an evolutionary algorithm with no QWERTY constraints.
- [Arensito](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/arensito): Arensito is an ergonomic layout designed in 2000 for contoured keyboards, named after the eight most common letters, A R E N S I T O, which it puts under the resting fingers.
- [Soul](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/soul): Soul is a Colemak-like layout from the Symmetric Typing Project, built for typing the left hand’s bottom row one finger over so both hands move as mirror images.
- [RSTHD](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/rsthd): RSTHD is a 2016 computer-optimised layout for split keyboards that puts the letter E on a thumb key, freeing the home row for R, S, T, H and D.
- [Norman](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/norman): Norman is a 2012 optimised layout that keeps 22 of the 26 letters on the finger that types them on QWERTY, so the switch mostly retrains direction rather than hands.
- [Minimak](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/minimak): Minimak is a 2012 family of layouts that move as few as four keys from QWERTY, so you get part of an optimised layout’s benefit without relearning the keyboard.
- [QWPR](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/qwpr): QWPR is a 2013 Colemak-inspired layout built for the least possible relearning: 11 letters move and only two of them change finger.
- [Asset](https://thetypingcat.com/keyboard-layouts/asset): Asset is a 2006 layout that keeps letters on the same hand and finger as QWERTY wherever it can, so it is easier to learn than Dvorak while still putting the ten most common letters on the home row.
- [How to Change Your Keyboard Layout on Windows 11](https://thetypingcat.com/howto/change-your-keyboard-layout-win11)
- [How to Change Your Keyboard Layout on Windows 10](https://thetypingcat.com/howto/change-your-keyboard-layout-win10)
- [How to Change Your Keyboard Layout on Windows 8](https://thetypingcat.com/howto/change-your-keyboard-layout-win8)
- [How to Change Your Keyboard Layout on Windows 7](https://thetypingcat.com/howto/change-your-keyboard-layout-win7)
- [How to Change Your Keyboard Layout on Windows XP](https://thetypingcat.com/howto/change-your-keyboard-layout-winxp)
- [How to Change Your Keyboard Layout on Mac OS X](https://thetypingcat.com/howto/change-your-keyboard-layout-mac-os-x)

## Articles

- [QWERTY vs Dvorak vs Colemak vs Workman: Which Keyboard Layout Is Actually Better?](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/qwerty-vs-dvorak-vs-colemak-vs-workman): We typed the same 5,847-character passage on 38 keyboard layouts. The alternatives cut modeled finger travel by up to 46% vs QWERTY. See the data, and what it means for speed. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-10-09.
- [Building a Typing Curriculum for Your School](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/typing-curriculum-schools): A practical guide for educators building a typing curriculum. Includes grade-level benchmarks, lesson planning, assessment strategies, and standards alignment. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-02-07.
- [Free Typing Lessons Online: Complete Guide](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/free-typing-lessons-online): Find the best free typing lessons online. Learn what to look for in a typing program, how structured learning works, and when upgrading to premium is worth it. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-02-05.
- [How Fast Should a Developer Type? The Real Answer](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/how-fast-should-developer-type): What typing speed do software developers actually need? Learn why accuracy matters more than raw WPM, which coding-specific skills matter, and how to improve. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-02-03.
- [Touch Typing vs Hunt and Peck: Which Is Better?](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/touch-typing-vs-hunt-peck): Compare touch typing and hunt-and-peck methods. Discover the speed differences, learning curves, productivity impact, and why switching to touch typing pays off. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-02-01.
- [Keyboard Ergonomics: How to Prevent RSI While Typing](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/keyboard-ergonomics-prevent-rsi): Protect yourself from repetitive strain injury with proper keyboard ergonomics. Learn correct posture, keyboard placement, exercises, and break strategies. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-01-30.
- [Typing Games That Actually Improve Your Speed](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/typing-games-that-teach): Discover which typing games genuinely improve speed and accuracy. Learn what game mechanics work best for building typing skills, not just entertainment. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-01-28.
- [When Should Children Start Typing Lessons?](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/when-children-start-typing): Learn when children are developmentally ready for typing lessons. Age-by-age milestones, readiness signs, and tips for parents to guide their child. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-01-25.
- [Best Typing Programs for Kids in 2026](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/best-typing-programs-kids): Find the best typing programs for kids in 2026. Compare features, age recommendations, and teaching methods to choose the right program for your child. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-01-22.
- [Typing Speed Test: What Your WPM Score Really Means](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/typing-speed-test-guide): Understand what your typing speed test score means. Learn WPM ranges for beginners to professionals, common mistakes that lower scores, and how to improve. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-01-18.
- [How to Learn Touch Typing in 30 Days](https://thetypingcat.com/blog/learn-touch-typing-30-days): A structured 30-day plan to learn touch typing from scratch. Master the home row, build muscle memory, and reach 40+ WPM with daily practice sessions. By Marek Pawlowski, 2026-01-15.

## Optional

- [Compare layouts in 3D](https://thetypingcat.com/lab/compare-layouts): type the same text on several layouts and compare finger and wrist travel
- [Layout builder](https://thetypingcat.com/lab/layout-builder): swap keys on any layout and watch finger travel change
- [Hand anatomy](https://thetypingcat.com/lab/hand-anatomy): which keys fingers reach without moving the wrist
- [Keyboard geometry](https://thetypingcat.com/lab/keyboard-geometry): key placement on 15 keyboard shapes, from ANSI and ISO to split and ortholinear boards
- [Pricing](https://thetypingcat.com/pricing-plans)
- [Marek Pawlowski](https://thetypingcat.com/authors/marek-pawlowski): Programming, AI, keyboard and typing enthusiast
- [Contact](https://thetypingcat.com/contact)