Touch Bar discussion [merged]

[Koudspeel]

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.

I agree that waiting till the thing actually comes out gives us a better insight on what is useful and what isn't. But with my current Macbook Pro I can blindly use the F-buttons. On the new Macbook Pro the Touch bar doesn't allow me to blindly use the F-keys anymore because the bar is just a flat OLED screen. I don't have to wait till the Macbook Pro comes out to be able to form that opinion.

I also hope that I'm able to fix the Touch bar in place with the F-keys on top. I don't think I want or need the added functionality the Touch bar brings because I THINK that I can easily do that with either key combinations or just quickly navigating with the Touch pad. But yeah, I'll have to test that out first.

All in all, the Touch bar seems gimmicky to me.

 

[priitv8]

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).

Presently I have it hidden as well. To my taste it is annoyingly popping up when I don't need it and on Full-screen apps it tests my patience every time I want to get Dock out. Not so with the menubar at the top of screen.

 

[geachy92]

Presently I have it hidden as well. To my taste it is annoyingly popping up when I don't need it and on Full-screen apps it tests my patience every time I want to get Dock out. Not so with the menubar at the top of screen.

Mine doesn't pop up when I don't need it, but I get your point on full screen apps, it seems to decided to come out intermittently when I move the cursor to the side of the screen.

Having said that I find myself using the dock less and less anyway. For my main apps I have keyboard shortcuts set up using Spark and use Alfred/Spotlight for launching new apps.

 

[Jimmy James]

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).
[doublepost=1477937927][/doublepost]

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.

Thanks, noted.

 

[teidon]

Touch Bar is the latest and greatest feature from Apple but as there aren’t any Touch Bar Macs available quite yet there is some confusion and several questions about how it works and what you can do with it. I thought to create this thread so that hopefully at least some of the questions can be answered.


Test Touch Bar on your Mac
It’s already possible to test Touch Bar on your current Mac. You need Xcode and new enough version of macOS. You don’t need any kind of developer account and it’s completely free.

First check your version and build of macOS. You can find it from Apple Menu -> About This Mac. Below ”macOS Sierra” it should read ”Versio 10.12.1”. Click it and it will show you what build of macOS 10.12.1 you have. You must have build 12B2657 or later. If it’s older you must manually install a newer one (Mac App Store won’t update current build to a newer build). You can google it or trust me and go to Apple’s support page by clicking this link: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1897

After you have done that, download and install Xcode from Mac App Store. Launch it and under the Window menu (in the menu bar) you should find ”Show Touch Bar”.


How does it work?
The Touch Bar is divided into three parts: At the left side is a system button, at the middle is app region and at the right side is control strip.

The system button is esc key most of the time, but if you for example extend the control strip, the esc key will turn in to a little ”x” that closes the extended strip.

The app region will change as you switch between applications. Each application must be updated to take advantage of the Touch Bar or the app region will simply be empty when using an application that doesn’t support it. But if an application uses one of the default dialogs of macOS, such as ”Open Document”, and if that dialog has Touch Bar buttons, those will be shown on the Touch Bar even though the application haven’t been updated to use Touch Bar.

The control strip, by default, has buttons for Brightness, Volume, Mute and Siri. You can tap the Brightness or Volume button to extend it and then adjust it by sliding a slider or you can just directly slide the button to adjust Brightness/Volume. The control strip also has a small arrow that will extend it to show the same function buttons as normal Mac keyboards have (Brightness, Mission Control…). This is called "extended control strip".

If you press and hold the FN key, the Touch Bar will display F1-F12 keys. This can be changed in the System Preferences.


Customization
The app region, the control strip and the extended control strip can be customized. You can remove and add buttons as you feel like but you can only add buttons that the developer has created. Basically means that you can’t create your own macros, or at least I haven’t figured out how to do that.

To customize the app region of an application just open the application and in the Show menu there should be ”Edit Touch Bar”. It will open a similar window as "Edit toolbar", which shows you what buttons you can add to the Touch Bar. You can also customize the control strip and the extended control strip in that same view.


Preferences
Under System Preferences -> Keyboard you can change what the Touch Bar will display by default. The default is app region and control strip, but you change it to display only extended control strip or only app region. You can also change what the FN key does. It can either display F1-F12 keys (default), extended control strip or the app region. You can also customize the control strip and the extended strip here.

If you want the Touch Bar to always display F1-F12 keys when using a specific application, you can do that in Keyboard - Shortcuts.



I hope this cleared at least some of the confusion without adding too much to it. Feel free to discuss.

 

[videop]

Does the black space to the left of ESC count also count as the ESC button?

Because I'm going to have a hard time adjusting to an ESC "key" that is not at the top left of the keyboard.

 

[teidon]

Does the black space to the left of ESC count also count as the ESC button?

That black space is not in the Touch Bar simulator, so I don't think that it's touch sensitive. But we need to have a real hardware to know for sure.

 

[sinoka56]

the black space is probably for symmetry, you know apple about how they like everything to be symmetrical

touch id and that black space

 

[videop]

touch id and that black space

That, I get, although I would have preferred if they had put an icon on the touchID sensor, and then made the Touch Bar go all the way to the left.

With that said, it would still be smart if they make the black area to the left of ESC count as part of the ESC button, just like they make the black area to the left of the apple menu count as a click on the apple menu. You know, Fitt's Law and all for those of us who have decades of muscle memory for ESC being at the top right of the keyboard.

 

[teidon]

I would have preferred if they had put an icon on the touchID sensor, and then made the Touch Bar go all the way to the left.

Agreed, would have been that little bit better if the Touch Bar would reach the left edge. Esc would be in the normal place plus there would be little more room for the various buttons and such.

 

[cibonak]

i have difficulties seeing people who types without checking the keyboard getting familiar with the touch bar.

Each time these people will have to check constantly the upper side of the keyboard to make sure the finger is at the right place....

Is it only a gagdget and not a pro Macbook?

 

[Ma2k5]

It is my main concern as well for productivity. With the normal Esc/Function keys, I know where they are and don't need to look down on the keyboard to press them - and can "feel" them out before deciding to press.

With this touch bar however, this won't be possible and it is making me consider cancelling my 13" rMBP order and getting a base model instead (or a *gasp* Windows alternative).

 

[Samuelsan2001]

i have difficulties seeing people who types without checking the keyboard getting familiar with the touch bar.

Each time these people will have to check constantly the upper side of the keyboard to make sure the finger is at the right place....

Is it only a gagdget and not a pro Macbook?

No more of a departure from keyboard use than a touch screen laptop where you have to look at the screen and move your hand a long way to the icon or gesture you need!!

All computers are gadgets, Apple use top end CPUs and have the best balance between battery life, performance, screen quality and portability of any laptop maker. If that's what you need they are perfect for you if it's not then shop elsewhere!!

 

[David58117]

I don't understand this - won't the icons be in the same spot?

Like in mail app - won't the "new message" or whatever icon pretty much always be in the same location, assuming you don't change it?

 

[iizmoo]

I don't think it'll be an issue. It make more sense for me to use the TB for common application tasks using finger typing motions, rather than having to move the entire hand down and use mouse motions on the trackpad, even if the typing motion involve glancing at the touchbar. There's the argument people will remember shortcuts, but I don't, and not for a ton of applications.

 

[jackoatmon]

I think it's going to make a huuuuuuuuge workflow improvement in video editing.

Like, incredibly huge.

Jumping around the timeline, zooming on the timeline, comparing different sections of the timeline – this is a really big chunk of your time when you're editing.

To have that on a handy-dandy bar? Yow. Priceless.

 

[Foss]

Remember when a huge majority stated they didn't want a touchscreen keyboard when the first iPhone was announced. I definitely disagreed with the majority then. Although the touch bar is not quite the same thing, it remains to be seen how useful it will be, but there is the possibility that it will be very useful. We need to compile a list of third party apps that take advantage of the platform to try to fully utilize the new Touch Bar and test its functionality. Outside of stock Apple applications, does a third party list exist? The only one that comes to mind is MS Office as noted in the unveiling.

 

[Ma2k5]

I agree that waiting till the thing actually comes out gives us a better insight on what is useful and what isn't. But with my current Macbook Pro I can blindly use the F-buttons. On the new Macbook Pro the Touch bar doesn't allow me to blindly use the F-keys anymore because the bar is just a flat OLED screen. I don't have to wait till the Macbook Pro comes out to be able to form that opinion.

I also hope that I'm able to fix the Touch bar in place with the F-keys on top. I don't think I want or need the added functionality the Touch bar brings because I THINK that I can easily do that with either key combinations or just quickly navigating with the Touch pad. But yeah, I'll have to test that out first.

All in all, the Touch bar seems gimmicky to me.

I've read that you are able to keep the F keys by default on the touch bar, so you are covered.

 

[fokmik]

i hope this is just the beginning and Apple will provide an wireless/wired toucbar keyboard too

 

[Macintosh IIcx]

i hope this is just the beginning and Apple will provide an wireless/wired toucbar keyboard too

Anything else would be stupid. I'm sure they will.

 

[nstz]

Do we have a roundup of all the hands on touch bar reviews available thus far?

 

[Awjvail]

Do we have a roundup of all the hands on touch bar reviews available thus far?

Yes, here is a list:

 

[jjiangweilan]

many people say you need to look at the tiny screen, but it's not the case as Apple design guidance says Use the Touch Bar as an extension of the keyboard and trackpad, not as a display.

 

[sgript]

At least in my experience, in a software development environment, some extra tools on the keyboard are useful because you can map them to do custom things that might require several steps/clicks. Sure we can use the trackpad to do these things, but for us, a click/tap makes writing longer code much easier, which is why many developers will very seldom use the trackpad/mouse. And use keys to shift around.

 

[Macalway]

I think it's going to be a lot like the first iOS and the Watch OS. Buggy, with slow, tightly controller progress.

iOS took off in a huge way, Watch OS no. Which tells us nothing, except that they have done this before, which is a good thing,