Themes, View options and Help in Type by Zaweba
Switch Type by Zaweba between light and dark with Ctrl+T, hide the keyboard or hands from the View menu, and find the guides under Help.
The View menu in Type by Zaweba is where you shape the screen to suit the person learning. Ctrl+T switches between the light and dark themes. The same menu turns the on-screen keyboard and the hand diagram on and off. Next to it, the Help menu holds the guides, starting with How to use Type by Zaweba on F1.
These are small settings, but they change how practice feels, and the keyboard and hands settings in particular change how you learn.
Picking a theme
Press Ctrl+T, or use the View menu, to swap between light and dark. A light theme suits a bright room and daytime practice. A dark theme is easier on the eyes in the evening or in a dim room, and some people simply find the typing text stands out better against a dark background.
Try a full lesson in each before deciding. Comfort matters more than looks, because a short session that feels pleasant is one you will come back to tomorrow.
The on-screen keyboard
By default Type shows a keyboard drawn to scale, with every key in its finger's colour and the next key ringed in bold while the others fade back. For capitals and symbols, the correct Shift key is lit as well. For a beginner this is the most useful thing on the screen. It answers the question of where a key is without looking down at your hands, which is the habit touch typing sets out to break.
Later, the same keyboard can become a crutch. Once the home row and the top and bottom rows feel familiar, try View, then Show the keyboard, to hide it for a lesson. If your accuracy holds, you are reading the keys from memory. If it drops, turn it back on and try again in a week.
The hand diagram
Two cartoon hands in the same finger colours show which finger to use, with a line underneath naming it, such as Next: J (right index finger). Turn them on or off with View, then Show the hands.
The hands are most useful in the first lessons, when the question is not where the key is but which finger should press it. They also help children connect the colours on the keyboard with their own fingers. Many learners turn the hands off before the keyboard, because the finger colours on the keys carry the same message.
A sensible order for taking the aids away
A gentle progression works for most people. Start with both the keyboard and the hands. When the finger for each home row key comes without thinking, hide the hands. When you can type a lesson's keys without glancing at the screen keyboard, hide that too. Keep an eye on the Progress page and the problem-keys heatmap: if a key starts going red, bring the aids back for a while and let the smart drill work on it.
There is no prize for hiding everything early. Accuracy first, then speed, is the order that lasts.
What is under Help
The Help menu has How to use Type by Zaweba, also on F1, which is the place to start if you are new. How speed is worked out explains the numbers on the results card: a word is any five characters, net words per minute takes off a word for each uncorrected error, and accuracy is rounded down, so 100 per cent means truly perfect. Reading it once makes the results much easier to trust.
Send feedback and Report a problem are there for suggestions and faults, and Licence agreement shows the EULA under which Type is free software.
For shared and family PCs
On a shared PC, each person has their own profile, with their own lessons, stars, key history and settings. If one learner has changed the View options, check them when the next person sits down, so a beginner is not left without the keyboard and hands. The app reopens on whoever typed last, so check the name in the Who's typing? picker before starting.
