Build a typing speed app with React - React Tutorial

Building a Typing Speed App with React: My Journey

In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through how I built an engaging typing speed app using React. The app includes a countdown timer, a start button, and a dynamic input field where users can type in real-time. As users type, the app provides immediate feedback on their accuracy, highlighting both correct keystrokes and errors. If a mistake is made, it even offers corrective suggestions. Once the timer runs out, the app calculates and displays the user's final score, which includes both their words per minute (WPM) and accuracy percentage.

Setting Up My React Project

I started by setting up a new React project and installing the random-words library. This library is crucial for generating a diverse set of random words for the typing challenge. It adds an element of unpredictability and ensures a fresh challenge every time. I also used React state variables to manage both the list of words and the current word being typed, which was essential for the app’s functionality.

Implementing Typing Logic and Event Handling

Next, I built a function to generate a list of random words using the random-words library. To handle user input, I created an event handler for keydown events. This function processes the backspace key for removing characters and corrects user errors by comparing the typed character to the current character of the word. If the key matches, the cursor advances; if not, the app alerts the user to the mistake and provides feedback.

Handling Word Completion and Scoring

I wrote a function to check if a word was completed correctly. Once a word was successfully typed, the app moved on to the next word. If the user made an error, they were prompted to continue typing until the word was correct. After all the words were typed, the app calculated and displayed the user’s score, including their words per minute and accuracy rate.

Leveraging React Hooks

This app was a great opportunity for me to use React’s useState and useEffect hooks to manage state and user interactions. The hooks allowed me to update the app dynamically based on user input, ensuring a smooth and interactive experience for the user.

Conclusion

In this blog post, I’ve shared my step-by-step process of creating a typing speed app with React. It’s a fun and interactive way to practice React development and sharpen typing skills at the same time! This project also showcases how useful the random-words library can be when building dynamic content in applications.

I hope this guide inspires you to create your own interactive web applications with React. If you have any questions or need further clarification, feel free to drop a comment below! I'd love to hear your thoughts.