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So did you all adapt to the touch bar ESC key?

V

vmflapem

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 27, 2013
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This is one thing I'm not sure if I'll ever adapt to. I do use the ESC key quite often and I still prefer having a physical key. The abrupt transition between typing on actual keyboard buttons and suddenly to a touch bar ESC doesn't make sense to me at all.

If anyone's adapted to it, please let me know and how you feel about it!
 
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It's one of the two things that don't work so well for me with the whole TouchBar thing. I use Esc quite a lot as well, and it's not the same, partly because it isn't aligned with the top left physical key, which is where touch typing muscle memory expects it to be.

The other thing that isn't so good about TouchBar is that when the keyboard backlight switches off, so does TouchBar. Previously, you could hit a non backlit key and it would still work fine, but that's not the case with TouchBar buttons.
 
Coming from a Windows computer, I find that I am simply using the Esc key a lot less than I did before because of the way the operating system is structured. But when I do use it, the location is still natural for me (even though the key itself is displayed slightly to the right of where it used to be, the Touch Bar still registers a press on the far left).
 
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steve-p said:
...it's not the same, partly because it isn't aligned with the top left physical key, which is where touch typing muscle memory expects it to be.
Click to expand...
The picture isn't aligned but the touch target is. You can touch all the way to left side of the touchbar and it registers.
 
I think it's fine. esc is always displayed in the left corner, and if you want to see the function keys in the touch bar just press the fn key and they instantly appear.
 
It's taking some getting used to. I hadn't even realized that one of my standard web-browsing positions put one of my fingers almost on top of the key (right hand on trackpad, left thumb on command key ready for any of several shortcuts). I've inadvertently canceled several page loads in the last few days.
 
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I'm fine with it but if you aren't there is an option in the settings to set caps lock to esc.
 
Denumerable said:
This.
Click to expand...

So easily solved by mimicking the touchID button (without touchID) on the left side. They obviously believed that the power button was too critical to leave non-physical, but I just don't understand how they didn't come to the same realization with the ESC key. I just can't fathom how this was overlooked by everyone at Apple.
 
Touching the escape is fine on non-terminal applications and I rarely use it outside of terminal. In most apps that are UI heavy I have more visual feedback immediately after hitting the Escape on the TB (for example, when dismissing a popup it goes away).

In terminal, especially in apps like vim, the visual feedback is very subtle. So I'm never sure if I pressed it or not without the feel of a physical button.

So overall it's a hit or miss for me when trying to go for the escape on the TB. Suffice it to say that it's not as satisfying as a physical key and it's a LOT harder to get used to.
 
Thought they would put same physical key as the touch id but as esc on left side.. its a empty space there about same size as the touch id button..

But then again i very rarely use esc and its not gone anyway so nothing much to complain about
 
dashwin said:
Touching the escape is fine on non-terminal applications and I rarely use it outside of terminal. In most apps that are UI heavy I have more visual feedback immediately after hitting the Escape on the TB (for example, when dismissing a popup it goes away).

In terminal, especially in apps like vim, the visual feedback is very subtle. So I'm never sure if I pressed it or not without the feel of a physical button.

So overall it's a hit or miss for me when trying to go for the escape on the TB. Suffice it to say that it's not as satisfying as a physical key and it's a LOT harder to get used to.
Click to expand...

Yep, vim is the only app where I miss the old ESC key. Really, vim is the only app that makes me question the TouchBar. If I didn't have to use vim I'd of loved the TouchBar, and I do whenever I'm not using vim. Then I launch a terminal window and get sad at knowing the hit or miss typing that I'm going to be going through. With that said, I don't actually miss ... ever. Every time I TAP (really wish they made it like the touchID button so that I can PRESS) it registers, it's MY reaction that's the problem and causes me to pause and evaluate whether I'm in normal mode or still in insert mode.
 
steve-p said:
The other thing that isn't so good about TouchBar is that when the keyboard backlight switches off, so does TouchBar. Previously, you could hit a non backlit key and it would still work fine, but that's not the case with TouchBar buttons.
Click to expand...

You can touch the touch bar when the MacBook is asleep and it will awaken. Have you tried it?

Touch Bar switching off does not mean it is not active. Same way as keyboard backlight switching off doesn't mean the keyboard is dead and won't register an input.

You press the keyboard no matter if backlight is on or not. You press the trackpad no matter if laptop is sleeping or not. TB is the same. Consider your TB as a display-capable trackpad. It is alive and waiting for you to touch it all the time. Like a horny woman, if you will.
 
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macintoshmac said:
You can touch the touch bar when the MacBook is asleep and it will awaken. Have you tried it?

Touch Bar switching off does not mean it is not active. Same way as keyboard backlight switching off doesn't mean the keyboard is dead and won't register an input.

You press the keyboard no matter if backlight is on or not. You press the trackpad no matter if laptop is sleeping or not. TB is the same. Consider your TB as a display-capable trackpad. It is alive and waiting for you to touch it all the time. Like a horny woman, if you will.
Click to expand...
I have tried it, but it's not yet intuitive. It's just a question of getting used to it, in the end.

I know you can remap modifier keys like Caps Lock to be a physical escape key. The perfect candidate for me would be the useless one next to the '1' key which has +- and some other squiggly thing on it. I have never ever used it (UK English keyboard), and it's the top left physical key, like Escape used to be. So this would be great, but it's not one of the options in System Preferences. Maybe there's some third party software that can remap this key to Escape.
 
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It's not that bad, you just have to get used to it. I understand not having a physical key doesn't give you the response you are looking for when you click it, but once the muscle memory kicks in I'm able to click it without looking at if I click the right place or not.
 
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