Should we change the "spanish normal typing test"-wordlist

[Linsk]

Honestly, the advantage of being able to type quickly the same list of ~200 words ordered randomly is zero. Being fast is of no use if one is unable to do as well when the text changes.

I see many people getting 150 WPM or more in normal mode. And usually they are proud, which is natural. But when it comes to advanced mode, rare are those who reach 120 WPM. Only few are able to maintain approximately their level while the others struggle to get over 100 WPM. I guess the "practice text"-mode will be even worse for them.

What makes the quality of a typist is his ability to be effective in all situations.

If the purpose of 10FastFingers is to have fun and at the same time to make us experienced typists, fast, accurate, comfortable with any set of words, then it would be beneficial to change the list (not just now, but regularly if one wants to be logical and not only in Spanish but in the other languages too, even if the changes are minor).

But if the goal is especially to have fun on a typing game, encouraging us to develop big scores based on repetitive things, focusing mainly on speed and automation, then we should keep the current list.

We can bring and defend all the imaginable points of view but only Chris knows what he wants to do with his site.

[VinceMiller]

I did not write this. It is merely your own subjective reality of what you think is my opinion, and a manipulative way of enforcing your own opinion as the correct one.

Do not change the normal modes ; I strongly suggest keeping them the way they are ; there are specifically two areas that I would not change; the scoring calculation and the "normal" word banks

I was not manipulative, I simply used other words

"Very welcomed by the community" seems to me like a very subjective overstatement.

Well, I based my thoughts on personal opinion, that's true. However, I personally haven't seen anyone complaining about a sudden change in the word banks. There may have been few, if any, who did it?

One thing is for sure; changes in the word banks have, and is going to, aggravate a lot of members, including myself.

Is this what you call a way of enforcing your own opinion as the correct one? It seems to me like a very subjective overstatement too.

I shall say no more about this and from now on all I want to do is counteract some misconceptions that are becoming current.

Changing the word banks does not mean we want them to change every several months or every year. Embracing change does not imply either to remove every single word and replace the list by a completely different one. Let's take as an example some words like "nombre", "gran" and "semana" and replace them by "hombre", "grande" and "hermana". Would we be starting from scratch there? The answer is obviously no, we'd be adding "new" words with very similar patterns which would give us some useful advantage. Let's take it further and say we want to add "sobre", "gratis" and "herido". Again, we would be keeping previously learn patterns with totally new words.

A language is not based only upon the same 200 words since languages can contain hundreds of thousands of words. Gradual changes are needed if one wants to become a fast typist.

Honestly, the advantage of being able to type quickly the same list of ~200 words ordered randomly is zero. Being fast is of no use if one is unable to do as well when the text changes.

What makes the quality of a typist is his ability to be effective in all situations.

I couldn't agree more with Linsk

If there is no struggle, there is no progress. (Frederick Douglas)

[christianstrang]

Sorry for not responding sooner, will have to go through each article again and respond but here is how I see the normal mode:

I do want to have a static list of words that won't get changed, but this list has to meet a few requirements (and I'm not sure if the current one meets those but I also have no idea about the spanish wordlist and therefore need your help):

- the list should contain the top 100-200 words of each language. I think if you are fast with those words, you will naturally type faster, because these words make around 50% of each text of the specific language (I don't know if its really 50%, just want to make my point)
- the list should be fu**ing fun My intention for the normal typing test is to get users hocked on 10FastFingers so that they explore the other modes
- the practice mode should be the main thing to further improve your typing speed. Right now this is just a joke because there is not much to do but my intention was always to have different practice lessons for users to improve there typing speed and I'm currently working on those (I'm really looking forward to the TOP 1000 mode, I think you guys will like it a lot)

I will read through the other topics and try to answer additional questions (but probably not before tomorrow as I'm currently working on the practice text mode).

Thank you guys for all your feedback you are all awesome for caring so much about 10FastFingers!!
I hope we can find a decision that everyone can live with.

[Linsk]

Chris, what is a "fun" list for you? Do you mean easy? And what about the advanced mode? Do you want exactly the same requirements with a limit extended to 1000 words?

[christianstrang]

Well, usually a "normal typing test" automatically becomes more fun if the top 100-200 words are used, because even beginners are to some degree familiar with them. I think this applies to other languages as well (I can only speak for the german and the english test as I only type in those languages).

For the advanced mode the top 1000 words should be used (though I think it would be good to have an additional mode with the top 500 words so the difficulty doesn't raise to fast, from normal to advanced mode that is).

I just mentioned the fun part because, if the "new" spanish word list would resemble the top 200 words more accurately but would be a lot harder/less fun then I think we should stick with the current one. But if the new list is more accurate and feels equally fun (or even more), then I think the users of the site would benefit more from the new list.

[VinceMiller]

I'm still wondering why this topic wasn't taken into account. The actual word list just sucks. We pretty much improved the original list and kept the basics from the original one. I seriously consider we should give it a try at least. Hope this matter doesn't become again water under the bridge...


PD: 'sr' is simply NOT a word. Repetitive words like : estar estamos esta estado estas estás estoy este estaba está están esto. Accented words like : sólo and solo, dónde and donde, como and cómo..

[VinceMiller]

I will keep talking about this no matter how long it passes, cause it seriously needs to be taken into account. The Spanish list sucks, I'm not saying it has to suit my preferences or anything, it objectively sucks. And I think I stated all the reasons why it does. I even suggested another word bank which doesn't differ too much from the actual one, changing the stressing repetitive patterns of "est" and non-sense like "sólo and solo" (it means the same, so it's basically the same word, keep only one in all cases) or "sr".

It's ironic I find all the other languages way more comfortable and less stressing than the my native language..