⌨️ How To Build A Typing Speed Tester

Typing Speed Tester by Amaan Shaikh is a simple, highly responsive web app for tracking and improving your speed and accuracy. This web app is composed of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and contains real-time feedback to help you improve speed and accuracy.


🎯 Project Overview

This Typing Speed Tester is not just functional—it’s beautiful and interactive. It tracks:

  • Typing Speed (WPM)
  • Accuracy (%)
  • Character and Word Errors
  • Live countdown timer
  • Dark Mode Toggle

This is a fantastic way to demonstrate React Hooks, event handling, state handling, and UI animations, all in a single, manageable application.


✨ Key Features

⏱️ Real-Time Timer & Speed Calculation

  • The test starts automatically when typing begins.
  • A simple countdown timer that is 60 seconds in length and shows your performance window.
  • Calculates Words Per Minute (WPM) when you complete the testing.

✅ Accuracy & Error Detection

  • Highlights typed characters as correct (green) or incorrect (red underline).
  • Displays number of:
    • Character errors
    • Word-level mismatches

🧪 Difficulty & Category Selection

Choose from three difficulty levels:

  • Easy
  • Medium
  • Hard

And two categories:

  • Quotes (literature-style)
  • Programming (code snippets)

These settings let you test different typing scenarios.


🌗 Dark Mode Toggle

  • A simple toggle button allows user to switch between light and dark themes.
  • The mode is saved in localStorage for a persistent experience.

📈 Stats Dashboard

After time runs out, the app displays:

  • Words Per Minute (WPM)
  • Accuracy Percentage
  • Total Character Errors
  • Total Word Errors

This gives users a clear picture of their typing performance.


⚙️ Technologies Used

  • ReactJS (via CDN)
  • JSX compiled in-browser using Babel
  • Custom CSS animations
  • LocalStorage for dark mode persistence
  • ARIA labels for accessibility

🔥 Bonus Features

  • Animated countdown pulse effect when time is low.
  • Text dynamically generated and repeated to ensure users never run out of content.
  • Responsive design suitable for desktop and mobile.
  • Uses ref to auto-focus on the textarea.

🛠 How It Works

  1. Load the app in a browser—no build tools required.
  2. Select difficulty and category.
  3. Start typing, and the timer begins.
  4. Watch your progress in real-time.
  5. After 60 seconds, see your full typing report.

📌 Why You Should Try Building This

This project is a fantastic way to practice:

  • React useState, useEffect, and useRef
  • Conditional rendering
  • Keyboard event handling
  • Performance metrics computation
  • Building a professional-grade user interface

🧠 Final Thoughts

Whether you are practicing for a job interview, examining your skills for personal evaluation, or just thinking about having a little fun, this Typing Speed Tester by Amaan Shaikh is a rewarding development project. It is practical and creative. Everything that a developer should have in their portfolio.

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