Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing facts for kids
1987 box art
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| Original author(s) | Norm Worthington, Walt Bilofsky, Mike Duffy |
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| Developer(s) | The Software Toolworks |
| Initial release | Late 1987 |
| Stable release |
20
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| Operating system | macOS, Windows |
| Platform | cross-platform |
| License | Proprietary |
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is a computer program that helps you learn how to type. It teaches you to type without looking at the keyboard. This skill is called touch typing. The program first came out in 1987. It was made by a company called The Software Toolworks. The goal was to help people type faster and more accurately.
The character "Mavis Beacon" is not a real person. She was created just for the program's marketing.
Contents
How Mavis Beacon Was Created
The Team Behind the Program
The company The Software Toolworks was started by Les Crane, Walt Bilofsky, and Mike Duffy. They were already known for a chess game called Chessmaster 2000. After that, they decided to make educational software. Norm Worthington and Mike Duffy also helped a lot with making Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing.
The Name and Face of Mavis
The picture used for Mavis Beacon was of a model named Renee L'Esperance. She was from Haiti. The name "Mavis" came from Mavis Staples. She was a famous singer in a group called the Staple Singers. The last name "Beacon" was chosen because a beacon is a guiding light. Les Crane, one of the company's founders, helped create the idea of Mavis Beacon.
How the Program Developed
The first versions of the program worked with different keyboard layouts. These included the common QWERTY keyboard. It also supported the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. This is another way keys can be arranged.
Since 1987, Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing has been updated many times. A 2011 version for Mac computers added new features. These included typing games you could play with a friend. You could also practice typing song lyrics from iTunes. It even let you type news feeds and classic books. In 2021, a new version called Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 2020 was released.
How Popular Was It?
By 1999, the Mavis Beacon series had sold over six million copies. In 2000, two versions of the program were among the top-selling educational software. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 10.0 was ranked fourth. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing 5.0 was ranked eighth.
The software was available on many different computer systems. These included MS-DOS, Apple II, Commodore 64, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Mac OS, Microsoft Windows, Palm OS, and Amiga.
How You Play and Learn
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing makes learning fun. You might play games where you race a virtual car. To make the car go, you have to type words correctly on the screen. The program also has typing drills. These give you passages of text to type out.
The program keeps track of your progress. It shows you how much you have improved. If you do well on lessons and tests, you can even earn certificates.
See also
- Seeking Mavis Beacon
- Typequick
