Finally found a personal use for touch bar

[Plett]

Ok so let's get this out of the way, I love my 2018 MBP, had it about a month and wouldn't give it up. I love the machine best MBP ever!

BUTTT what about the Touch Bar. I do use PS and FCP and even Logic, but I have ingrained keyboard shortcuts and workflow that hasn't driven me to use the Touch Bar for any of those jobs. Using it for the old function keys is a novelty and actually less productive because I have to make an extra touch to get the function keys available. I have not messed with assigning options to the Touch Bar, like most I just kinda thought it was a novelty and whatever, until now.

I keep a great deal of tabs open in Safari when I am doing research for a project. As it happens I can slide my finger on the Touch Bar to change tabs quickly, and it is marvelous! I am sure everyone already knew about this function and to some probably pointless but for me and the way I Internet it is amazing!! That said it isn't worth whatever it costs to add it to the machine, but since we don't get much choice at least I found a single use!!

Mod can you please move this. I meant to post in MBP

 

[JTBing]

Ok so let's get this out of the way, I love my 2018 MBP, had it about a month and wouldn't give it up. I love the machine best MBP ever!

BUTTT what about the Touch Bar. I do use PS and FCP and even Logic, but I have ingrained keyboard shortcuts and workflow that hasn't driven me to use the Touch Bar for any of those jobs. Using it for the old function keys is a novelty and actually less productive because I have to make an extra touch to get the function keys available. I have not messed with assigning options to the Touch Bar, like most I just kinda thought it was a novelty and whatever, until now.

I keep a great deal of tabs open in Safari when I am doing research for a project. As it happens I can slide my finger on the Touch Bar to change tabs quickly, and it is marvelous! I am sure everyone already knew about this function and to some probably pointless but for me and the way I Internet it is amazing!! That said it isn't worth whatever it costs to add it to the machine, but since we don't get much choice at least I found a single use!!

I agree. Returned my 2018 MBP for completely unrelated reasons not regarding the quality of the computer, but during my brief stint with it my favorite feature was the TB. My wife agreed without me even prompting her.

Since this is the wrong forum, though, I’ll just take the opportunity to say that I would absolutely love for Apple to release a new gen Magic Leyboard with TB so I can use it with my desktop Mac. That would be pretty fantastic.

 

[rayriceroni00]

Glad you found a use. I can’t stand it. Eyes stay on a screen and hands on kB/mouse for ultimate efficiency. The Touch Bar is like adding a tiny touch screen to Mac. They need to kill it off.

 

[Fooze]

You can still swipe between browser tabs with a standard keyboard on a MacBook or desktop. When you have multiple tabs open, just hold the command key then hit the numbers 1-9. 1 being your left tab, 2 second over and so on. I use this feature daily because I am one of those that likes to do as much as possible from the keyboard.

 

[Cashmonee]

I have found the TouchBar useful in a couple of cases. One, when using Word I like to be able to hide the ribbon and just have the text options on the TouchBar. It gives a cleaner experience when writing while still having access to text options like bold, italics, etc. I also installed a widget that shows what is currently playing with forward, rewind and play/pause buttons. Being able to see what is playing without having to find the iTunes window is actually pretty convenient.

I would be ok with no TouchBar if it meant a reduction in price. Otherwise, it has a few conveniences that add a little to the experience and I would prefer it to function keys if there were no other differences like price.

 

[R.Stoychev]

I have found the touchbar really useful for me. I change keyboard languages, swipe tabs, play and pause while listening to a podcast and I must say that the bar is really good addition to the macbook pro keyboard.

 

[jerryk]

I like the touchbar for adjusting volume and screen brightness. But, like the OP, I find in the applications I use all the time keyboard shortcuts are faster.

 

[Premal212]

Download bettertouchtool and you will find a million more reasons to use it. I dont really use it for applications much, just volume, spotify and brightness.

When working in full screen mode all day, its nice to see the time there and the battery I have left. I can't ask for anything more, when Apple decide to do something like this and make it fully customisable all other manufacturers will join in. I guess theres multiple elements of security they need to iron out before opening the bar to devs.

 

[Cashmonee]

Download bettertouchtool and you will find a million more reasons to use it. I dont really use it for applications much, just volume, spotify and brightness.

When working in full screen mode all day, its nice to see the time there and the battery I have left. I can't ask for anything more, when Apple decide to do something like this and make it fully customisable all other manufacturers will join in. I guess theres multiple elements of security they need to iron out before opening the bar to devs.

I like this!

 

[jlc1978]

Download bettertouchtool and you will find a million more reasons to use it. I dont really use it for applications much, just volume, spotify and brightness.

When working in full screen mode all day, its nice to see the time there and the battery I have left. I can't ask for anything more, when Apple decide to do something like this and make it fully customisable all other manufacturers will join in. I guess theres multiple elements of security they need to iron out before opening the bar to devs.

This. I would love a native fully customizable TB. Better touch tool is bit to clunky for my taste. For example, no resizing or moving buttons as far as I can tell, nor replacing the built in buttons. It’s a nice hack just not for me.

While at it, i’d also like native support to allow iOS devices to be used as a second screen.

 

[Premal212]

It will come eventually, they were headed in the right direction by being able to customise it at all.

Theres quite a few things that Apple need to do during the next few releases. Both a second screen and a customisable touch bar are some of them

 

[Cashmonee]

This. I would love a native fully customizable TB. Better touch tool is bit to clunky for my taste. For example, no resizing or moving buttons as far as I can tell, nor replacing the built in buttons. It’s a nice hack just not for me.

While at it, i’d also like native support to allow iOS devices to be used as a second screen.

Yeah I agree that BetterTouchTool is an imperfect solution, but it is pretty good. It is weird though that I cannot put the regular macOS buttons in it. For example, no animated mute button.

 

[rayriceroni00]

Download bettertouchtool and you will find a million more reasons to use it. I dont really use it for applications much, just volume, spotify and brightness.

When working in full screen mode all day, its nice to see the time there and the battery I have left. I can't ask for anything more, when Apple decide to do something like this and make it fully customisable all other manufacturers will join in. I guess theres multiple elements of security they need to iron out before opening the bar to devs.

Are there any options like this for free? Not sure $6.50 is worth it to me just to display battery and some stuff on the touch bar. That program seems very elaborate. I'd like a simple app just to manipulate the touch bar.

 

[Premal212]

Are there any options like this for free? Not sure $6.50 is worth it to me just to display battery and some stuff on the touch bar. That program seems very elaborate. I'd like a simple app just to manipulate the touch bar.

Not sure, I thought the same thing, but then I remembered I spent £21 on a whiskey the Friday before, so this was well justified !

Yeah I'm not sure what else exists for this, maybe there's something else. There's always the 45 day trial you can use, see what kind of mileage you get out of it, failing that.... torrents

 

[afir93]

You can still swipe between browser tabs with a standard keyboard on a MacBook or desktop. When you have multiple tabs open, just hold the command key then hit the numbers 1-9. 1 being your left tab, 2 second over and so on. I use this feature daily because I am one of those that likes to do as much as possible from the keyboard.

I mean that's definitely a useful feature on its own if you only have a small amount of tabs open, but it doesn't take away from the usefulness of the Touch Bar's tab switcher that OP talked about. If you have a few dozen tabs open within a browser window, as I oftentimes tend to do, then the Touch Bar is quite useful to get an overview where in the long list of tabs you are, and to quickly find the one that I am looking for.

The mini-previews on the Touch Bar oftentimes let you quickly determine which tabs have which websites open (e.g. Wikipedia entries tend to have a white-ish preview symbol, for YouTube tabs the rectangle for the video will oftentimes be recognizable in the preview, and so on), and quickly cycling through your tabs to find one you're looking for by just moving your finger across the TB is also a lot more pleasant than spamming "Control + Tab"/"Control + Shift + Tab" dozens of times.

 

[Cashmonee]

Are there any options like this for free? Not sure $6.50 is worth it to me just to display battery and some stuff on the touch bar. That program seems very elaborate. I'd like a simple app just to manipulate the touch bar.

It also has some nice window snapping features with it. I don't think $6.50 is much to give to a developer that put a lot of work into the app. I get what you are saying, but I think it is worth that small amount. Especially with the windowing app that I believe is included. They also have a lengthy trial if you are unsure.

 

[pacmania1982]

The only thing I'd use it for would be for Nyan Cat

https://github.com/avatsaev/touchbar_nyancat

 

[turbineseaplane]

Not sure why we are lauding the TouchBar for going between browser tabs.

That's already done on the keyboard, without needing to look down, with

CMD+SHIFT+[ or ] (for left and right)

or..

CMD+SHIFT+ Arrow key left or right

or..

with BetterTouchTool
(which TouchBar fans usually mention as being the key to unlocking the TB's power)

..by assigning trackpad swipes to either of those key combos for either system wide or just Safari, or your browser of choice.

I use all 3 of those methods, but CMD+SHIFT+[ or ] is probably my favorite as my fingers barely move off the home row - trackpad swipes are nice also when in a more relaxed posture/browsing around. Critically - all of these methods keep my eyes on the screen.

I really maintain that the TouchBar should be on the low end/entry models more so than on the Pro laptops.

The vast majority of longtime/Pro users I know already know so many other more efficient ways to do just about everything I've yet to see the TB do.

 

[jlc1978]

Not sure why we are lauding the TouchBar for going between browser tabs.

I guess it depends on one's preference. I find it easier to use the touchpad or TB than pressing multiple keys. To each his own.\

I really maintain that the TouchBar should be on the low end/entry models more so than on the Pro laptops.

The vast majority of longtime/Pro users I know already know so many other more efficient ways to do just about everything I've yet to see the TB do.

In that case, don't use the touchbar. Just because one group of users don't use a feature doesn't mean it isn't useful to others. To extend your argument if a majority of Mac users don't use keyboard shortcuts they should be deleted as well.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I find it easier to use the touchpad

Yes, it is nice. As I said in my post, I also use and enjoy the trackpad for switching between tabs.

In that case, don't use the touchbar. Just because one group of users don't use a feature doesn't mean it isn't useful to others

Agreed

This is why I really hope they simply make it optional so those of us that don't want it can avoid it completely.

The problem I have is the forcing of the "feature" on all users of MBP's, both in having to deal with and work around the TouchBar (when it's unwanted), but also in having to pay for it. It's very frustrating.

Hopefully this gets remedied so we both could be happy here.

 

[jlc1978]

This is why I really hope they simply make it optional so those of us that don't want it can avoid it completely.

The problem I have is the forcing of the "feature" on all users of MBP's, both in having to deal with and work around the TouchBar (when it's unwanted), but also in having to pay for it. It's very frustrating.

Hopefully this gets remedied so we both could be happy here.

While I agree, I doubt Apple would charge less for a non-TB MBP than one with one. The marginal costs are small, or even the same since they'd have to add back function keys, to add the TB, and by pricing the two the same one would not impact to other's sales. It might even make both more expensive since now they have to manage 2 supply chains, stock an additional model, etc.

Personally, I wish Apple added in a micro SD card slot so I could easily use one for backup like I did on my 2015 MBP with MiniDrive. It was an elegant solution that allowed me to use CCC to backup all my critical documents every hour to a micro SD card.

In the end we are both forced to live with Apple's decisions or look elsewhere but I have not found an OS that I prefer to OS X.

 

[fokmik]

touchbar/BetterTouchTool is/are a bless when working full screen
Also i would love a keyboard with touchbar for imacs and upcoming mac pro and 6k apple display

 

[PeterJP]

When working in full screen mode all day, its nice to see the time there and the battery I have left.

That sounds really good. I'm nearly always in full screen mode, both on my 13” internal screen as well as on my 24” external one, swiping between applications. It's a very good way to keep focus. Having the Touch Bar as an aid for small things like this, is great.