How does the spacebar counter work?
Choose 5, 10, 30 or 60 seconds, then press Space as fast as you can. The clock starts on your first press, so getting ready costs nothing, and each press is timed by your browser the moment the key goes down. Holding the key down counts once: the repeats a held key sends by itself are ignored.
A touchscreen has no space bar, so a large Space key is drawn in the box instead. Tapping it counts the same way, from the moment your finger lands.
How is your Spacebar Counter result calculated?
Your result is the number of presses that landed before the time ran out. Presses per second is that number divided by the seconds you chose: 70 presses in 10 seconds is 7.0 a second. Your fastest second is the most presses you fitted into any one-second stretch of the run.
The page also times each press from key down to key up: how long your finger rests on the key. The two have to share the time. At 8 presses a second, each press and release has 125 ms, so a key held for 90 ms leaves only 35 ms to lift and come back down.
Is a spacebar test the same as a CPS test?
Almost. Both count presses in a fixed time, but with a different finger and a different switch: a space bar is pressed with a thumb and travels further than a mouse button, so the two scores aren't comparable. The CPS Test takes the space bar too, if you want both on one page, and the Kohi Click Test shows your pace second by second.
How can you press the space bar faster?
- Press only as far as you need. A key registers before it reaches the bottom on most keyboards. Bottoming out every press wastes time, and the “Key held” figure shows it.
- Use both thumbs in turn. Every press of Space counts, whichever hand it comes from, and two thumbs taking turns each have twice as long to recover.
- Relax. A tense hand tires within seconds; the 5-second run shows top speed, the 60-second run how long you can keep it.
What can affect your Spacebar Counter result?
- The keyboard. A space bar with a long or heavy press takes longer each time. A wireless or laptop keyboard may add a delay, but the same delay to every press, so the count isn't affected.
- Phone or keyboard. Tapping a drawn key on glass is a different movement from pressing a real one; compare runs from the same device.
- Key repeat settings. They make no difference here: a held key counts once.