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Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

vas3k.com

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Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#31

Post by saagarjha »

makecheck wrote: post #3

The big problem I see is that my laptop is hooked up to a display half the time, lid closed. It wouldn’t be useful for showing anything that isn’t also on the main display. And it can’t have a set of bar-only controls (if Apple were serious about that use, they would have released an external keyboard with Touch Bar by now).

Which is why Apple tends to put non-required controls in the Touch Bar. It's a nice thing to have, but not every Mac has one, so they have to put shortcuts there rather than new features.

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#32

Post by dawnerd »

reificator wrote: post #13
notadoc wrote: post #6

How about abandoning the Touch Bar instead? Apple should ditch it entirely, or at least make it optional on all MacBook Pro models.

I'm sure I don't matter to Apple anymore, but the touchbar is the reason I haven't upgraded my laptop yet. I enjoy having an Apple laptop to complement my Windows and Linux desktops, but if the touchpad doesn't go away by the time I decide not to wait any longer, I'll probably grab something else. Maybe a Chromebook with a replacement OS, maybe an Ubuntu or Fedora laptop. Probably not Windows as it's mainly for games…

You know they sell a version without touchbar right?

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#33

Post by r00fus »

memco wrote: post #21

> I decided to steal this feature and make the "coffee break" button. It locks the laptop and switches the screen off. Ctrl+cmd+q = lock screen. Display will dim/sleep shortly after that. (Found this out myself not too long ago, I think because of HN). Incidentally, I just switched the touch bar to the standard function key display with fn switching to the buttons just like the keyboards of old. I found I almost neve…

Or just install bettertouchtool and use any gesture to lock screen - my fave is the five-finger click (I use CTRL-Shift-Eject if in clamshell mode).

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#34

Post by tcfunk »

saagarjha wrote: post #22

> Things got even worse when Apple "reinvented" the Play/Pause button in High Sierra. Actually, this was introduced midway through macOS Sierra; https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mediaplayer is available in macOS 10.12.1+. > Buttons rock. It's always faster to tap, not slide. If you press Fn, the slider will go away and the "normal" function buttons will appear. > I want to have instant access to Finder, anyw…

> Press the power button.

Where is this power button? I've been searching for it since I got this laptop.

Edit: Wow thanks, don't know how I missed that.

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#35

Post by saagarjha »

bouke wrote: post #4

I’ve been using the 2016 MacBook TouchBar for little over a year now and feel the same pains as mentioned in the article: > As a machine, MacBook Pro is great. But not because of the Touch Bar. Touch Bar is an inflamed appendix, the same dumb shit as Siri. If Apple had implemented it as an additional row and not the F-keys replacement, everyone would forget about it in a couple of days. At least Siri doesn’t get in t…

Other comments have already addressed the fact that you don't have to tap twice to control your volume, but:

> Not related to the TouchBar, but I don’t understand why Apple won’t improve on the Spaces feature. Why does it force me to use one space for an app.

Uhh, it doesn't? You can put multiple apps in a space.

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#37

Post by cdowns »

tcfunk wrote: post #34
saagarjha wrote: post #22

> Things got even worse when Apple "reinvented" the Play/Pause button in High Sierra. Actually, this was introduced midway through macOS Sierra; https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mediaplayer is available in macOS 10.12.1+. > Buttons rock. It's always faster to tap, not slide. If you press Fn, the slider will go away and the "normal" function buttons will appear. > I want to have instant access to Finder, anyw…

> Press the power button. Where is this power button? I've been searching for it since I got this laptop. Edit: Wow thanks, don't know how I missed that.

The Touch-ID pad is also the power button when pressed down.

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#38

Post by urda »

tcfunk wrote: post #34
saagarjha wrote: post #22

> Things got even worse when Apple "reinvented" the Play/Pause button in High Sierra. Actually, this was introduced midway through macOS Sierra; https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mediaplayer is available in macOS 10.12.1+. > Buttons rock. It's always faster to tap, not slide. If you press Fn, the slider will go away and the "normal" function buttons will appear. > I want to have instant access to Finder, anyw…

> Press the power button. Where is this power button? I've been searching for it since I got this laptop. Edit: Wow thanks, don't know how I missed that.

The TouchID sensor is the power button.

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#39

Post by lima »

> What else do we have? Ubuntu? To use Photoshop in Wine? To watch Plasma crashes like in good old days? No, thanks.

The best experience I've had is Fedora with Gnome. Red Hat employs many developers working on desktop Linux, and most of them are working on Fedora.

That being said, you'll have a better time with macOS if Photoshop is one of your requirements.

Re: Making the Touch Bar useful by abandoning Apple guidelines

#40

Post by saagarjha »

tcfunk wrote: post #34
saagarjha wrote: post #22

> Things got even worse when Apple "reinvented" the Play/Pause button in High Sierra. Actually, this was introduced midway through macOS Sierra; https://developer.apple.com/documentation/mediaplayer is available in macOS 10.12.1+. > Buttons rock. It's always faster to tap, not slide. If you press Fn, the slider will go away and the "normal" function buttons will appear. > I want to have instant access to Finder, anyw…

> Press the power button. Where is this power button? I've been searching for it since I got this laptop. Edit: Wow thanks, don't know how I missed that.

You should be able to press the Touch ID button.
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