Keyboard-only use with no Esc

[jamesraward]

Since the announcement of the new MBPs I've really taken notice of how much I use the keys they've ditched in favour of the touch bar (I forgot that I also have a mouse button mapped to Esc for CAD work - thanks for reminding me).

I have wondered what will be there to replace those functions, the f-keys I figure will be fairly straightforward (and app-specific), but the lack of being able to locate them by touch will be a massive issue for me (I use them extensively by feel). What's not clear is what will be better than (there's no point removing something unless you replace it with something better, right?) the Esc key.

I'm probably not the target for this new laptop (not entirely sure who is; rich students?) but it's a shiny new toy and I would consider it to replace my 2011 if it didn't frustrate me to tears. To alleviate these concerns I was hoping someone might be able to help:
- When you're typing and want to reject a spelling suggestion, do you need to now use the mouse?
- How do you cancel a selection/drop down
- How to exit a cell in Excel without committing changes
- Exit a full-screen app (though I would like to know how to STOP Esc doing this as it often does it when you go 'one too many' on any of the above)

Cheers

 

[jackoatmon]

clarification:

Esc is still there. But it's a button now, not a key.

So in the spot your escape key is right now, there will always be a button that does the escape function. Sometimes it will say "Cancel" or "Done", but it will always be exactly where the escape key is and do exactly what it does.

There's no opportunity to whine about this one, I'm afraid.

 

[dma550]

Since the announcement of the new MBPs I've really taken notice of how much I use the keys they've ditched in favour of the touch bar (I forgot that I also have a mouse button mapped to Esc for CAD work - thanks for reminding me).
Cheers

I agree, I am a very tactile person. I am typing this on a DAS keyboard with clicky clacky cherry MX mechanical keys. I am a developer, and I am hitting Fkeys all day long to control the debugger in visual studio. I have worn the text off several keys but could hit them in my sleep.

I think if I continue with the MBP (I have a maxed 2012 edition, 2.7GHz Quad with 750GB flash, 16GB Ram) I will probably still continue to use it in clamshell when I can, tied to a pair of 27" monitors when I am at home or in my office. That said, I hate touch screen interfaces on car audio and navigation. I had an 09 porsche that did this, and the touch screen required hand eye coordination for functions you might hit 6x+ for a short ride. They couldn't even map a region for the "back" but the "back" changed based upon context. It was like whack a mole.

Seeing something so tactile as a keyboard turn into a flat touch surface isn't good IMO. I would have preferred the e-paper type keyboard like the Jaasta. still a physical key but with a c

 

[leman]

I also frequently use Esc in a number of editors. I think I'd want to wait and experience the new keyboard before I pass judgement. Some people describe it as a gimmick, which is true of course if it only replicates functionality that one can access via short keys. However, I can imagine a lot of useful utility there, like intelligent autocompletion and access to more complex functions where keyboard+mouse are more tricky to use.

 

[jjlannoo]

If you use the function keys by feel extensively like you say, this won't work out well for you. I would buy a different computer.

 

[viljamip]

I already changed my capslock to function as esc on my iMac. I quite like it there, other than hitting it by accident while typing.

 

[Wildkraut]

You can also map ESC to something else of your choice.

 

[knudsen2]

One thing is the ESC key, but other keys I use all the time are brightness up/down and volume up/down. Regardless of what I'm doing on the mac I can quickly turn the volume down for example, if I receive a phone call. Would'nt it be safe to say that this will become more cumbersome with the touch bar? If the buttons are always context specific these standard buttons will be gone most of the time, and even if I can customize the buttons I will probably have to do it for each application. Or am I misunderstanding something?

 

[nostrum]

clarification:

Esc is still there. But it's a button now, not a key.

So in the spot your escape key is right now, there will always be a button that does the escape function. Sometimes it will say "Cancel" or "Done", but it will always be exactly where the escape key is and do exactly what it does.

There's no opportunity to whine about this one, I'm afraid.

Do you even escape bro?

 

[viljamip]

One thing is the ESC key, but other keys I use all the time are brightness up/down and volume up/down. Regardless of what I'm doing on the mac I can quickly turn the volume down for example, if I receive a phone call. Would'nt it be safe to say that this will become more cumbersome with the touch bar? If the buttons are always context specific these standard buttons will be gone most of the time, and even if I can customize the buttons I will probably have to do it for each application. Or am I misunderstanding something?

It still hard say when nobody has used it other than a quick hands-on. I have similar concerns as you. I think the touch bar will always have an area on the right side that expands to full controls of volume, playback and brightness. That doesn't sound even nearly as convinient as physical controls though. I hope they have it figured out.

 

[kanyehameha]

I already changed my capslock to function as esc on my iMac. I quite like it there, other than hitting it by accident while typing.

have you changed caps lock to another key since Escape is in its place? Also, is there a way on macOS to enable caps lock by double pressing the Shift key (similar to the way iOS works)

soz for the amateur questions lol, haven't used the OS much and will be getting my first Mac soon

 

[viljamip]

have you changed caps lock to another key since Escape is in its place? Also, is there a way on macOS to enable caps lock by double pressing the Shift key (similar to the way iOS works)

soz for the amateur questions lol, haven't used the OS much and will be getting my first Mac soon

I don't use capslock so I didn't bother binding it elsewhere. I think it can be done as easily as binding esc to it was. If you need more control, you can download Karabiner Elements. It is still in beta and I had some problems with my wireless mouse when I had it installed but it should get better. I haven't seen double tap shift to capslock anywhere but I'm sure that could be added to Karabiner Elements.