I think it's the first step on a long evolution. The mac "control surface" (keyboard/trackpad/touch bar) will evolve, with touch/display/Taptics gaining more real estate and prominance.
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Touch Bar discussion [merged]
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I think it's the first step on a long evolution. The mac "control surface" (keyboard/trackpad/touch bar) will evolve, with touch/display/Taptics gaining more real estate and prominance.
Good points. As I said before, software companies need to use the touchbar to do things that would take 3-4 or more clicks to do with a mouse. What Apple showed for Safari, Photos and Mail was not good examples. All of those things can easily be done with 1 click. The Photoshop demo was without a doubt the best use of the touchbar.
As for custom buttons, obviously I don't know much about programming on Mac OS but I don't think it would be too hard to implement custom Touchbar keys. Take a look at MagicPrefs, it lets you use gestures to imitate key combinations on the trackpad. Also look as gaming mice, most of them have side buttons that can be assigned to emulate hotkeys. I don't see why the same thing couldn't be done with the touchbar.
For example, in Maya, there are quite a few hotkeys that are built into the program that require 3-4 key combinations. Not a big deal but it sure would be nice to touch 1 button instead of 3 or 4. So in this case, you could:
Step 1: You choose what application you'd like to create custom buttons for (for this example, I would select Maya)
Step 2: Choose to "create a new button" and hold down a key combination that is recognized in the program your using (example: Command, Shift, C). The program reads what buttons your holding down and saves the combo.
Step 3: You name the button (maybe assign a color too) and choose where it should be placed.
Step 4: When you open the application that you created buttons for, the touchbar will change to show your buttons. Pressing the buttons will be the equivalent of pressing the key combinations.
Since the touch button is simply emulating a key combination, no extra work needs to be done by the software company. As you said, it may take a while for the touchbar to see wide customer usage, therefore, some software companies may decide not to include touchbar support since it will not benefit very many customers. However, with custom buttons, you could in a way add touchbar support to any application (as long as the application has hotkeys).
It was mentioned in the keynote that one of the idea of the touch bar is to bring up features of the app that was hidden in the menus. It's akin to Microsoft's ribbon bar. The issue with the ribbon bar is that it takes up screen space. The touch bar allows the same approach outside the screen, while keeping the interface interactive.
Many people out there, including pros, are not necessarily keyboard warriors memorizing shortcuts and doing things via command lines. Personally I want the touch bar in all Macs, and even bigger. Having thumbnails and slider controls on it while I do things in Lightroom or FCPX would be more intuitive than trying to drag a slider with a mouse.
Many people out there, including pros, are not necessarily keyboard warriors memorizing shortcuts and doing things via command lines. Personally I want the touch bar in all Macs, and even bigger. Having thumbnails and slider controls on it while I do things in Lightroom or FCPX would be more intuitive than trying to drag a slider with a mouse.
Touch Bar is so pointless that all the new owners are making me green with envy.
To continue on, you then need to name the new "shortcut" and/or pick an image/icon to represent it. Now you are clicking on words or icons that may or may not have anything to do with what you just created. Then you have to integrate dynamic components(sliders, etc...) into those as well, and then it REALLY starts to get complicated.
It can be done, but it's setting up a whole new cottage shortcut industry, that will be good on what % of macs?
I'm dubious in general, but I can definitely see what you are saying, working for a small amount of the customer base.
Relying on the software manufacture to supply the 3+ button shortcuts is not my favorite idea either. So many software projects I've been on have the software developers creating the tool, and then the users create with that tool. I've lost count of the number of times that developers give that doggie 'head to the side' look, when they actually watch the end users use the software tools. The users invariably do something unique to themselves, that the developers wouldn't have thought of. I don't know, maybe my stuff is a little unique, since it's kind of open ended. But I'd imagine it's not whole dissimilar to the creative options in some graphics applications.
True, but when working that way, any change to the laptop would be irrelevant beyond specs. Even if they made the entire trackpad a light show, you'd be on the external keyboard and mouse.
Also, for those of you hating on the touch bar; I don't know if it'll be useful. But I use Native Instruments hardware, and they hotkey the most relevant controls in whatever plugin you're on to encoders, sliders, etc., and it's very useful. Maybe the touch bar will also prove useful.
The new touch bar is designed to be used more frequently than the old function keys and thus more frequent reaching up with your arm and more fatigue.
No, I don't have small hands. It is just more natural for me to type and reach for the F keys by lifting my arm as I don't rest my wrists on the MBP when typing.
You bring up very good points. The features will be limited since they can only introduce features that all Macs can perform. Your other two points are also very important to consider. I dock at work Monday - Friday, so the touchbar functionality is immediately limited. Yet for some reason it still has be interested haha.
I actually do not like the way the touchbar is app specific. Personally it would be more useful to me if I could "pin" shortcuts to it. For example, folders I use frequently. If you can do that it becomes more useful IMO. If I have to be on "fider" for the folders to appear, it makes keyboard commands and the trackpad work just as good.
With the current Macbook Pro I can use the function keys without looking at them, because I can feel where the buttons are with my fingertips. Whereas the Touchbar makes me look down at the bar because I don't feel where what buttons are. This decreases my productivity by just that bit.
As some other posters have mentioned: the Touchbar mainly replaces key combinations which otherwise can be easily memorized. I think this Touchbar is just a gimmick and doesn't perform well in realworld usage.
As some other posters have mentioned: the Touchbar mainly replaces key combinations which otherwise can be easily memorized. I think this Touchbar is just a gimmick and doesn't perform well in realworld usage.
or you can just wait and actually try it before coming up with verdicts. You know, Internet is already full of opinions of people who have no clue
I think it is pretty fair to assume you will need to look down, especially with the touch display changing based on the app you are in.
Nothing can beat a good old Norton Commander running on a 2016 Macintosh.Can't wait for my rMBP with Touch Bar
Beat that!
Honestly, I still look at the keyboard when using F-buttons because it's already too far away for consistent blind typing (and I don't use it as often to get used to).
It ultimately depends on implementation in every specific application you're interested in. For example, in Final Cut it provides you a quick video timeline scroll on most of its area and you may not required to look at it. Peripheral vision could be enough to know where to put your finger once you're familiar with the particular implementation. Same applies to rotating images or scrolling through your library in photo-editing software.
But I agree that there's a risk of regular adjustments like screen brightness or volume becoming less convenient. We have to wait and test it out ourselves.
Personally I prefer to press CMD + shift + D (I think this is the shortcut) It hides the dock and makes it accessible just by putting the cursor to the bottom/side of your screen (where you prefer to keep your dock).
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Can you not? I regularly use my monitor as the sole screen. The laptop has to be closed and plugged in to power, but then it can power the display alone without losing the mouse.