Since the old function keys never memory learn where each key are when i need it them, still looking down, for me , especially in everything that use full screen of the MBP...TB is a bless
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I was a TouchBar hater...
- Thread starter MBX
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
With my brief time with the TB macbook my thoughts are I kinda wish they use more colour. It's a colour OLED screen, yet I swear probably 90% of the buttons/use cases are just white on black. I also sometimes wish you could adjust the brightness slightly. Sometimes I find it a bit too dim for my liking.
Mines still untouched, especially as the laptop is docked most of the time so it can't be used anyway.
No fingerprint enrolled either as it can't be used with the lid closed.
Meh.
No fingerprint enrolled either as it can't be used with the lid closed.
Meh.
I have been upgrading my PowerBook/ MacBook Pro every 2/3 years since 2003. The 2016 touch bar MBP was the first time I experienced buyers remorse. Love Touch ID, hate the touch bar, rarely use it, and it is a right royal pain in the ass. As the key is touch sensitive, it is far to easy to brush you hand over and activate the Esc key while editing, thus losing everything you just typed. I also hate the person at Microsoft who thought putting the send button on the Outlook bar on the far left was a great idea. The number of half composed emails I have accidentally sent to people....
Only works if you have an Apple Watch. Touch ID on the Mac is a pretty great thing.
only reason I like the Touch Bar is to fast forward through advertisements in youtube
So many negative comments. I just don't get it. Obviously people's Mac's are different things to different people.
My experience is that I'm a developer of 25 years and use plenty of different tools. The first thing that I find is superb is that I no longer have to care about whether IDE X uses F8 for Step over vs IDE Y that uses F10. I just press the 'Step Over' image on the tool bar. Sorted.
The other thing is that the buttons on the touch bar change according to context. So when I'm debugging they have the debug controls, When I'm coding they have the build tools and so on. SO much easier than trying to learn 50 different key binds for each IDE / Tool I use.
My biggest gripe is that you have to use the built in laptop keyboard to do it (obviously!) and that thing attracts grease and oil from my fingers like you wouldn't believe. I don't eat at my desk or anything, oily fingers is just something that I suffer with.
Apple need to create and sell a Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar. The problem is that when they do they will want the price of a small computer for it and so I still won't buy it. It would be great to have the TB when running in clamshell mode or with an iMac.
My experience is that I'm a developer of 25 years and use plenty of different tools. The first thing that I find is superb is that I no longer have to care about whether IDE X uses F8 for Step over vs IDE Y that uses F10. I just press the 'Step Over' image on the tool bar. Sorted.
The other thing is that the buttons on the touch bar change according to context. So when I'm debugging they have the debug controls, When I'm coding they have the build tools and so on. SO much easier than trying to learn 50 different key binds for each IDE / Tool I use.
My biggest gripe is that you have to use the built in laptop keyboard to do it (obviously!) and that thing attracts grease and oil from my fingers like you wouldn't believe. I don't eat at my desk or anything, oily fingers is just something that I suffer with.
Apple need to create and sell a Magic Keyboard with Touch Bar. The problem is that when they do they will want the price of a small computer for it and so I still won't buy it. It would be great to have the TB when running in clamshell mode or with an iMac.
Its simple, people don't like, or find useful the Touch Bar. I personally feel like its a solution in search of a problem. By and large there are better ways of doing tasks then taking your hand off the keyboard eyes off the screen and doing an action on the the TB, i.e., hitting a key combination.
I guess you chose to not read, or ignore the rest of what I posted then. Far too many keyboard combinations for me to try and remember / learn on the development products that I use so the TB removes that need. Also also, since the Touch Bar is in the same place as the keyboard why are you taking you hand off the keyboard to use it? Or do you have a different TB to the rest of us that is located externally to your keyboard??
nope I read it.
my fingers are resting on the home keys and I need to lift said fingers off, and move them up to the TB. Since the TB screen has no "buttons" I need to look down at what I need to do, where has with the keyboard I do not need too.
Even using the mouse and screen is more efficient. I can move the pointer to what I want on the menu or or selection and not stop what I'm doing. With the TB, I literally have to stop, look and do. the time penalty is tiny, yes I get it, but why slow down when I'm more efficient using existing technology
Never knew I could to this, learn something new every day,. Thanks!
I disagree. I think it looks more unified & pro with monochrome icons that fits the keyboard. Too many colors would look distracting and toyish. Just my opinion.
Yes! Wow, I wondered if we (our development team) were the only ones who found this. We have to bounce between IDEs a lot (Xcode to Visual Studio as an example), and having unified Touchbar buttons makes life so much easier than having to memorize myriad key combinations that differ between environments.
We also have a DropBox full of shared Touchbar macros (using Better Touch Tool) that unify coding conventions like method studs and comment tags. We modify them in one place, and all the developers have quick/easy access to them. The studs even cross languages, so for example, we have a macro that produces a method stud that spits out Swift in Xcode, and Javascript in Visual Studio Code. Same button in both environments. We really love it.
[doublepost=1534522999][/doublepost]
True, although a couple of my team members have found that if they make the Touchbar buttons line-up with the number keys, they can slide their fingers up from the number keys and hit the right Touchbar button without looking. (They also get feedback by having the Touchpad's haptic fire.) Takes a tiny bit of practice, but they use the Touchbar with certain apps without looking now, as quickly as if they were real keys.
I still glance, but I also find the glance is quick enough that I don't actually lose focus from the screen (almost like using peripheral vision).
This I totally disagree with. There is nothing more frustrating than when you are coding or writing to have to lift you hands off the keys, move to the trackpad, select something on the screen, and return to the keyboard. A lot of macros I use on the Touchbar replace actions that can only be done with the mouse. Having to glance at the Touchbar is slower than using a hard-key, but much faster than using the mouse. If hitting "Cmd-Q" takes 1 unit of time, and selecting "File -> Quit" with the mouse takes, say 10 units of time, I would put using the Touchbar at about 2.5 units of time.
Last edited:
I had a nTB 2016 to start for very short time. Returned and went with the TB. I find the TB is more useful if you think about using it. You just have to change the mind set of not having one. Its a different way of thinking. And it looks way cooler then nTB
What baffles me with the Touch Bar is that simple gestures could make it so much more useful and quick to use.
Two finger and swipe right or left wherever on the TB should control volume, Three finger should control brightness. No need to aim.
Same thing with quick tap. A quick two finger tap could do something, same with three, maybe even four.
Just like most of the other goodies Apple gives us, it’s up to app developers to fully implement the feature (including the developers of Apple’s own apps).
I like the Touch Bar for utility apps like Grab where I can’t always remember the obscure keyboard shortcuts. The color selector in Pages is pretty slick. And it’s nice for jumping to specific parts of a video or audio clip.
Again, it really depends on how well individual apps take advantage of it. That makes or breaks the Touch Bar.
I like the Touch Bar for utility apps like Grab where I can’t always remember the obscure keyboard shortcuts. The color selector in Pages is pretty slick. And it’s nice for jumping to specific parts of a video or audio clip.
Again, it really depends on how well individual apps take advantage of it. That makes or breaks the Touch Bar.
I am not sure the touch bar is going to last. If you have a desktop and a laptop like me then the issue is you never modify your workflow to use the touchbar as it not currently available on the desktop macs. I hate to think how much Apple would charge for a touch bar external keyboard, which is probably why they have not released one as I don’t think they would sell many.
Or even an external keyboard. I'm typing on one of those right now. Lack of developer embrace is telling and even apple hasn't done much to improve the TB in three years, whether we're talking the display or macOS to take more advantage of it (AFAIK)
This is the first I heard of someone doing that, but to me it highlights a flaw in that the Touch Bar should've had haptic feedback itself to begin with.
Is this an option in the Better Touch Tool app?
This is the app they are most likely using to get the haptic:
https://www.haptictouchbar.com/
There was an article about it on 9-5 a while back.
Use-fullness aside, I went insane with my TouchBar time due to the change in lighting/what was on screen per App with every time I CMD+Tab'd around, which I do a. TON.
Obviously you could just set the thing up to be static F-keys, but at that point I'd just prefer real F-keys again.
Also - It needs a dimming feature/setting I thought. It was always too bright to me.
If they wanted some re-mappable keys up there (sliders wouldn't work so much), E-ink would have been better for my particular desires.
Obviously you could just set the thing up to be static F-keys, but at that point I'd just prefer real F-keys again.
Also - It needs a dimming feature/setting I thought. It was always too bright to me.
If they wanted some re-mappable keys up there (sliders wouldn't work so much), E-ink would have been better for my particular desires.
I think developers have embraced it to the extent most apps now have custom toolbars. Apple is adding more support for it in the new APIs and Mojave. I agree Apple needs to provide an external keyboard -- it has been 21 months since they introduced it. I think the T1/T2 chip that drives it needs to be on the motherboard for various reasons, so it may have required new Mac designs... I'm hoping we will see one this fall with the new Mac's...
[doublepost=1534703661][/doublepost]
Yes, BTT provides this function. You can control the strength and number of repetitions the haptic fires when you press a button. Definitely helps with feedback.
[doublepost=1534703908][/doublepost]
You can do this with the Better Touch Tool app... you are right, it is really nice to just put two or three fingers on the Touchbar without looking and drag the full length of it right or left to control brightness/volume. Hopefully Apple will add that feature directly.
Last edited: