16 ms·

Pock: Display macOS Dock in Touch Bar

584 points by dustinfarris 7y ago

saltsaltsalts 7y ago
Thanks for this. I never use the touchbar on my macbook. It's been years and I only use it for esc and sometimes the volume.
dustinfarris 7y ago
This is what Touch Bar should have been from the beginning IMO. I've been on the fence to upgrade my 2012 MBP. I've been concerned about buying into the Touch Bar hardware when it seems like it is not coming to any other Macs. Why should I devote time to learning Touch Bar and trying to find ways to integrate it with my workflow when keyboard shortcuts are more than enough—and probably better? What happens when I sit down at my iMac where I spend >50% of my time? Pock. has the answer. Turn the Touch Bar into the Mac Dock. Full screen everything and still have quick visuals on app notifications. Don't have to command-tabtabtabtab to get to a different open app—just tap it on the dock in Touch Bar. It's the perfect solution to an actual problem—give me more space on a small screen without sacrificing any of the experience.
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  If you also have an iPad, the Touch Bar will make an appearance on that when using it as a second screen in Catalina's upcoming Sidecar feature: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/05/apple-sidecar-app-has-touch-bar/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/05/apple-sidecar-app-has-t... Not as useful as when it's right next to the keyboard, but that's probably the closest other Macs are going to get. I could sort of imagine Apple making a desktop keyboard with one, but it seems better suited to a wired keyboard than bluetooth. You'd have to recharge the battery way more often.
- na85 7y ago
  I'm hoping sooner or later someone figures out how to bind/call arbitrary elisp functions from the touchbar. That for me would be the real killer app.
- mattoxic 7y ago
  I use Logic Pro heaps - and the touch par is actually useful there. The issue for me is remembering that it's there. I am so used to the keyboard commands.
- elamje 7y ago
  Just downloaded it! I have to agree that this is a much better use than the default one. The original one was hardly usable in many applications besides music players. This gives me the ability to switch apps quicker than before, especially with many full screen apps open. Thanks man.
- snek 7y ago
  You could also just set your dock to autohide. That's what I do on my MBA 2015 and it's great, especially considering how small 1440x900 already is.
  - nomel 7y ago
    If you’re hiding the dock, reducing the delay is very useful: defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0 && killall Dock
- jbigelow76 7y ago
  I've been concerned about buying into the Touch Bar hardware when it seems like it is not coming to any other Macs. If Apple was going to try and open a new front on the "hearts and minds of Touch Bar skeptics" war then the Mac Pro reveal at WWDC a few weeks ago would have been the time to do it, that they didn't makes me think it's not long for this world. Not because the Mac Pro sales would have been hampered by it, if a workstation class modular PC running macOS was what you have been waiting for then wrapping the cost of a Touch Bar keyboard wouldn't be a make or break price modifier (and you could always swap out keyboards later if you hate it). If the MBP is a quasi-halo product (expensive but incredibly ubiquitous) and the Touch bar isn't coming to the Mac Pro which is a true halo product I don't think you'll see it ever get pushed to any other product category either.
  - nickflood 7y ago
    I tended to agree with this, but really with the desktop setup you have to move your eyes and head much farther to see the keyboard because the monitor is not fixed to it. This may be why they don't produce keyboards with the touchbar - the experience would be even less appealing.
  - bredren 7y ago
    I had forgotten the Touchbar was possibly to get life on the magic keyboard. I agree if this was to happen, it should have been bundled with the Mac Pro. I also think the Touchbar apps being migrated to Sidecar may be a clue that a deprecation path exists should the dedicated hardware go away. “They live in sidecar now.”
  - eddieroger 7y ago
    If memory serves, the logic to drive the Touch Bar is something that came from the Watch, which also included the Secure Enclave and other features that were more mobile than desktop. If that was true, then you can't trust the USB cable alone (or Bluetooth) to maintain the trust that circuit needs, and a keyboard with a Touch Bar would require a new circuit or at least design change to only do the display part, not the rest. It makes sense they won't put it in standalone keyboards just yet.
- nodesocket 7y ago
  Agree, the dock is what the touch bar should default to. I do wonder, if any, what the battery impact is with Pock?
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  > devote time to learning Touch Bar How complicated do you think it is that you need to spend time learning it?
  - isolli 7y ago
    It's also about unlearning one's previous workflows.
  - lloeki 7y ago
    Not complicated at all, it just requires an open mindset. Some tips: Customise it to your liking in the keyboard pref pane. You can press-and-drag on volume and brightness buttons of the collapsed control strip. No need to tap then slide. You can create services (now Quick Action) in Automator and they show up with the Show Quick Actions setting set. Since services can be contextual (input+app) you can get creative and do some whacky stuff in there. I have contextless Safari and Terminal there to pop up new windows whatever the focused app is.
    - mgkimsal 7y ago
      What I CAN NOT do, however, is move the 'ESC' key (or any, really) all the way to the left. There's always a 'Touch ID'-size spacer on the left of the Touch Bar.
      - a_c_s 7y ago
        That spacer still activates the 'ESC' key
        lloeki 7y ago
        Indeed the ESC button is much wider than it appears to be.
        Crontab 7y ago
        That's correct. I am currently considering upgrading from my 13" 2013 Macbook Air to a 15" 2019 Macbook Pro (I want it for the IPS/bigger display) and I noticed this while I was testing it at Bestbuy. Personally, if I make the purchase, I will probably just remap the Caps Lock key to ESC - assuming I can remove ESC from the Touch Bar. The one thing I didn't care for is that the Touch Bar display can time out. I would personally prefer that it stay on - or at least have the option of it staying on.
- LoyCog 7y ago
  We have ubar for that https://brawersoftware.com/products/ubar https://brawersoftware.com/products/ubar
- nautilus12 7y ago
  The thing that should concern you more about upgrading is the fact that they now solder the hard drive into the motherboard and the keys break and once broken also requires replacing the whole machine. Oh and they have no travel either. Maintainability? Who cares about that!
- sundvor 7y ago
  Now they just need to add the missing row of keys, and everything will be fine.
- jxdxbx 7y ago
  The lack of a Touch Bar on desktop Macs is ridiculous, but I generally like it. Especially when I realized that you don't for example, touch volume, wait, and slide, but just start sliding from the little button in the quick menu.
- bunkydoo 7y ago
  I'll agree here - I always saw it as a gimmick that was poorly implemented but this takes the cake late in the game. This would make it a worthy thing to have. Now besides that, I am in the camp that the physical keyboard and trackpad should be eliminated entirely in favor of haptics along with a palm tracking system that would know 'keyboard' from 'mouse' usage allowing the entire space to be utilized freely. But now we are entering a whole new territory of cracked screens. I've dropped a lot of shit on my keyboard before.
- geekles 7y ago
  Sidecar adds a Touch Bar on the iPad to all Macs that support Sidecar.
- s_dev 7y ago
  I've been using TouchSwitcher for a good while now: https://hazeover.com/touchswitcher.html https://hazeover.com/touchswitcher.html
intellix 7y ago
I'd recommend BetterTouchTool and things like finger swipes for volume up/down and brightness up/down and showing things like Spotify. Originally started with Vas3k preset but eventually replaced things with the built in widgets and gestures
- wlesieutre 7y ago
  Another small but nice utility is Haptic Touch Bar. It uses the click feedback mechanism in your trackpad to make the computer tap slightly when you hit the Touch Bar. Makes it feel a bit more tactile and I'm surprised Apple didn't build some sort of feedback like that in by default. Using the trackpad mechanism is a little cheesy, but it could have its own haptic hardware.
- hunter2_ 7y ago
  My favorite BTT mapping: 3 finger click (touchpad and/or magic mouse) generates a middle click event. I have no idea how people open and close browser tabs without this, since browsers have great middle click response but Apple pointing devices don't natively generate such clicks.
  - igpay 7y ago
    Command clicking a link will also open it in a new tab.
  - sysbin 7y ago
    I think command+t and command+w are usually my go to methods. I don't have to move my hands from my keyboard.
  - guiambros 7y ago
    I also love BTT, but opening/closing tabs is much faster using ⌘-T and ⌘-W.
    - _eLRIC 7y ago
      Also using cmd+L to enter the address bar and then ALT + Return to open the selected address in a new tab
pram 7y ago
Coincidentally I also just upgraded my personal laptop from a 2012 retina MacBook Pro to the 2019 i9 MacBook Pro! Long story short I think the touchbar is totally useless. I have it set to emulate regular function keys right now (expose, launchpad etc) However everything else is top notch and well worth it. The touchid is fantastic, and you will immediately enjoy the difference. Screen is amazing, 8 cores is super nice. Also I might be in the minority but I actually prefer the feel of the keyboard vs the previous unibody keys. Touchbar is a dud but the 2019 version is well worth it otherwise imho.
- bodegajed 7y ago
  I'm also on the fence about upgrading. I am thinking of just buying a mac keyboard so I have an escape key. That key is very essential to my workflow. Do you think it's a good idea?
  - stdclass 7y ago
    I use karabiner [1] to remap the capslock key to esc. [1] https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/
    - bodegajed 7y ago
      Interesting.. so this is how the esc key is now? I guess it's compromise. Maybe I'll get used to it eventually. Sigh I'm just sad apple wont budge on a high end non-touchbar model
      - 8draco8 7y ago
        Touchbar can be useful especially with apps like Pock to save some screen real estate. The only thing that they should do is to bring back ESC key and maybe allow for switching numbers row to F-keys with Fn. That would allow for rich media control and whatever you want on touchbar and still have proper, tactile functionality of keys.
    - atomwaffel 7y ago
philliphaydon 7y ago
I used to love the mac keyboard. Of any non Apple laptop it was superior... until I tried out a ThinkPad just over a year ago. I honestly don’t think I could own anything other than a ThinkPad from now on for the keyboard alone.
- killjoywashere 7y ago
  you should try the old ThinkPad keyboards, like the X201. So nice. For the MacBook, if they had a version with a physical escape key, I'd be fine. Just make it a little shorter. It will be okay. I promise.
  - jakear 7y ago
    I remapped capslock to esc and never looked back. In fact, I’ve gotten so used to it that I remap “normal” keyboards too. I use esc way more often than I’d ever use capslock, so having it at the pinky is perfect.
    - reaperducer 7y ago
      I remapped that way, and had to go back. I work on a lot of different computers in a week, and some of them aren't mine, so it's more useful for me to stick to the default map instead of getting things wrong on half of the machines.
      - o-__-o 7y ago
        This thread reminds me of using Dvorak back in 1999. Sure it may be better, it may even be faster.. but what happens in 20 years when I’m the only sucker using that layout? Take my own keyboard everywhere?
    - wyclif 7y ago
      Even though I have a 2017 MBP 13" with the Escape key, I still use Ctrl-[ to change modes in Vim. I'm not a fan of the Touch Bar, but it probably wouldn't interfere with my Vim workflow.
eugene3306 7y ago
Isn't this usecase patented by Apple?
whalabi 7y ago
This makes sense There's extra vertical space on the lower half of a MacBook, and the dock wastes vertical space on the screen I normally put the dock on the side, but putting it above the keyboard works too Now if only the damn keyboard had a proper escape key. Who signed off on that. Honestly.
- emidln 7y ago
  It's just mislabeled as Caps Lock and has bad default behavior. A quick visit to Preferences can sort you out.
  - ghayes 7y ago
    I will say, Apple at least did a good job making the remap (Caps to Esc) a really easy preferences change.
  - AtHeartEngineer 7y ago
    Did this about a month ago, definitely worth it
  - applecrazy 7y ago
    This remapping is the #1 thing that made using Vim easier. Not to mention escaping out of dialogs in macOS is much easier than lifting my hands off my keyboard.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
ghayes 7y ago
In a similar vein, I’ve been using TouchBarEmojis[0] which turns the TouchBar into a most frequently used emoji selector and really enjoy it now. [0] https://github.com/gabriellorin/touch-bar-emojis https://github.com/gabriellorin/touch-bar-emojis
alganet 7y ago
I use MTMR[1], My TouchBar My Rules. Great JSON-based customization. Built in Dock applet included (a great pomodoro applet as well, my fav). The sample presets are kind of cluttered, but removing some of the items and making others was ultra simple. If you know AppleScript you can pretty much any button. [1] https://github.com/Toxblh/MTMR/ https://github.com/Toxblh/MTMR/
- dfee 7y ago
  Aw man, this looks even cooler! I fear that the momentum has swayed to Pock though.
RubenSandwich 7y ago
I'll plug another touch bar tool here. Know how your $3,000 MacBook Pro keyboard keeps breaking? Know what's not broken and close to your keyboard? The touch bar. So I built a keyboard into the touchbar: https://github.com/RubenSandwich/TouchBarKeyboard https://github.com/RubenSandwich/TouchBarKeyboard. Problem solved. But seriously, OP's tool has way more utility then mine.
- etxm 7y ago
  This is stupid... I love it.
- Phlarp 7y ago
  I'll plug another one: https://www.haptictouchbar.com/ https://www.haptictouchbar.com/ This uses the trackpad haptic engine to (poorly) emulate a key click when pressing touchbar items. I'm unsure how they overlooked putting a haptic engine in the touchbar itself but it feels way too late to attempt to salvage now. They need a new keyboard that people will fall in love with.
  - sq_ 7y ago
    Bringing back something that essentially matches the 2015 keyboard's characteristics would go a long way with most users, in my opinion.
    - Phlarp 7y ago
      "But then how will they make it thinner!?"
keyle 7y ago
I was skeptical then I installed it and I can't believe MacOS doesn't ship with this! It's actually making the bar useful. One bug I noticed is you can get in a <esc> <esc> situation, with twice the button. But since you miss <esc> button all the time, why not having it twice; or more?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
sbr464 7y ago
Late to the party, but I just randomly realized today that copy & paste syncs across iOS and my iMac. Was surprisingly convenient. Apparently it’s been around since Sierra, but my settings are now in sync enough to just work.
- cududa 7y ago
  Wait how the hell do you do that??
  - sbr464 7y ago
    https://support.apple.com/kb/ph25168?locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/ph25168?locale=en_US It worked for me today for the first time (that I realized). I copied a link from twitter on an iPhone, then pasted on an iMac.
    - cududa 7y ago
      Ahhh I have handoff disabled (I cant stand getting phone calls on my laptop)
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
      - sbr464 7y ago
        I got around it by having do not disturb on 24 hours.
      - dhritzkiv 7y ago
        I believe you can turn this off from your phone: Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  You also can’t disable this without disabling handoff entirely.
wmeddie 7y ago
This is pretty great. Only I wish it only showed when I clicked on the desktop (Since Finder does nothing else with the TouchBar) or swipe up from the bottom. Parallels actually does this same thing (minus swiping) for the task bar in Windows guests but switches to app specific bars when you open Office or a browser. I'm in the camp that finds the TouchBar really awesome. Never used function keys (except F5) but I use the TouchBar all the time in IntelliJ, iTunes, Word/Excel and it's great in PowerPoint when scrolling to just the slide you want. I also love the clicky feel of the keyboard so maybe I'm just special...
blondin 7y ago
omg! and no one, even apple, thought about it before!
Justsignedup 7y ago
The touch bar doesn't give you the ability to touch it without click like a key. It also replaces all the f keys and the escape key. It is by far the worst thing made when working say on the bus. There is no world in which the touch bar is good in any way. There are zero benefits to it. On two years with this monstrosity I have regretted having it. And now I am seriously considering moving to windows with the new Linux subsystem.
- stephenr 7y ago
  > There is no world in which the touch bar is good in any way. There are zero benefits to it. Ok, I guess those of us who either aren't affected by it, or actually find it useful are just wrong?
  - eknkc 7y ago
    I'm kind of neutral about it but haven't met anyone who said it was good. Seems like people either hate it or don't care about it. There are a lot of people who like the butterfly keyboard (apart from reliability) but I thought the sentiment on the touch bar was universal.
    - stephenr 7y ago
      My experience is that when I use the F-keys I'm almost always using the 'default' action on macOS (i.e. not sending a native F12 for example, I'm adjusting volume), and for those tasks the Touch Bar is a little more useful, because it can do more things intuitively, but, I don't do those things a lot. So I don't think it's "not good" it's just so far down on the list of how I use a computer that it isn't worth raving on about how great it is. I did like the IntelliJ integration, to get debug controls, but now that I'm back on a desktop keyboard I don't really miss the Touch Bar. What I miss is Touch ID.
      - mastazi 7y ago
        I can imagine a lot of workflows like yours, where the function keys are not very important. However I can’t imagine using a keyboard without Escape key. In my opinion, the touch bar should have been a little bit smaller, and the physical esc key should have stayed. The product linked at the top of this discussion lists the Escape key as one of the main features, I think that’s telling!
nerdwaller 7y ago
I'm not a lawyer, but I would consider revisiting your icon[0]. It looks identical to Patreon's[1] with a period/full-stop. On a technical note, this looks pretty cool and may have helped me hold off on ditching my mac products if I knew about it sooner! [0] https://pock.dev/assets/img/brand/pock_logo_w.png https://pock.dev/assets/img/brand/pock_logo_w.png [1] https://c5.patreon.com/external/logo/guidelines/icon_color_variations.jpg https://c5.patreon.com/external/logo/guidelines/icon_color_v...
- Etheryte 7y ago
  This is also the first thing I noticed and regardless of it not being related to the software itself it is a red flag. Ironically the favicon on the page is sufficiently different and wouldn't be mistaken for Patreon's logo, at least in my opinion.
  - huskyr 7y ago
    A red flag for what? For not properly looking up if a design already exists?
    - Etheryte 7y ago
      A red flag for dishonesty, if you want a broader answer — it is entirely possible that the author hasn't indeed seen Patreon before, but as it is, Patreon is a very widely known company and it looks like a rip-off, even if it isn't. Much in the same vain you could make an apple with a bite your logo, but it would look like you're just a copycat.
      - huskyr 7y ago
        I've supported multiple Patreon campaigns, and i didn't recognise this logo. It's not featured prominently on their homepage and mailings. Calling something that looks like a simple oversight 'a red flag for dishonesty' sounds a bit unfair to me.
- tylermw 7y ago
thomastruett 7y ago
Am I able to see both the app icons and the control keys at the same time like the screenshot (https://pock.dev/assets/img/preview/pock_preview.png https://pock.dev/assets/img/preview/pock_preview.png) shows?
- boringg 7y ago
  I was wondering the same thing - so far i can only get control keys or the app icons
intothemild 7y ago
Notice how all these have an esc key. That should have been a hardware key! A message from the Vim gang.
- kristiandupont 7y ago
  As a member of the Vim gang, I have to say that using caps-lock is better anyway and MacOS has a built-in setting for it now, so go and fix that right away. That said, I had a MBP with touch bar for half a year and even though I was quite excited when they announced it, I hated it. I will not buy another laptop with that thing on it.
  - reustle 7y ago
    TIL it's now a native option. Thanks! https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127591/using-caps-lock-as-esc-in-mac-os-x/40254864#40254864 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127591/using-caps-lock-a...
  - enneff 7y ago
    I've been using caps lock as my control key for too long to make this leap. :-(
    - acupofnope 7y ago
      Karabiner Elements has this template where caps lock can behave as an esc key if you tap it, and a ctrl key if you hold it down.
      - tazard 7y ago
        Thanks! That sounds exactly like what I need, and I'm already using Karabiner.
    - viddo 7y ago
      You can also use it for both ctrl and esc with a little help by Hammerspoon (http://hammerspoon.org http://hammerspoon.org), e.g. I've been using this for the past year and it works great https://github.com/jasonrudolph/keyboard#a-more-useful-caps-lock-key https://github.com/jasonrudolph/keyboard#a-more-useful-caps-...
pySSK 7y ago
This makes so much sense! The location of the Touch Bar UI is conceptually unfriendly. We're accustomed to a touch pad closest to us but now we have two touch interfaces separated by a huge keyboard-gulf. Moving the dock to the Touch Bar makes sense for the Touch Bar because i. it's a very small shift in location, and ii. dock icons are more direct action buttons compared to more abstract pointing and gestures we can to with the touch pad.
savolai 7y ago
I have a Windows/gnome history. So I still miss switching between windows, not apps, easily. Could this deliver that too? Pretty please.
- cujo 7y ago
  Check out this app. I believe it is the utility you're after... https://manytricks.com/witch/ https://manytricks.com/witch/
- sdoering 7y ago
  As I am currently on my mobile, I am trying to remember the keyboard combination. It's stored in muscle memory, but I believe it is <ctrl> <tab>. But it might be <alt> <tab>. As said, not sure which of the two it is.
- codemusings 7y ago
  It's <Command> + the key that's to the right of the shift key. On the German Layout that's where angle brackets are.
- raja 7y ago
  Not sure if this is what you are after but you can use `cmd` + `~` to switch between windows of the same app.
- njitram 7y ago
  I use https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch to see the windows
epaga 7y ago
Great idea. A related tool I highly, highly recommend is BetterTouchTool - you can completely customize your Touch Bar to show and do almost anything you want it to do, based on the app context you're in. You can do what this does but 100 other things as well. It's made the Touch Bar actually worth it for me.
zuppy 7y ago
i would recommend to take a look at https://goldenchaos.net/goldenchaos-btt.html https://goldenchaos.net/goldenchaos-btt.html too. it has the list of open apps and more (and it's highly configurable). it's not exactly the dock, though, but i find it more useful. it needs better touch tool (https://folivora.ai https://folivora.ai), but that's quite cheap for how much it offers.
- closetohome 7y ago
  I was hoping someone would recommend Better Touch Tool. It introduces a ton of customization and functionality to the Touch Bar, including 'live' buttons that I use to show things like outside temperature and (until it got depressing) current Bitcoin price.
tyiz 7y ago
Any info about the people behind? Only dumbf*cks would install software without info from where it is coming, so I am sure, that there must be info about the identity somewhere?!
heydev 7y ago
Maybe credits to https://github.com/billziss-gh/EnergyBar https://github.com/billziss-gh/EnergyBar ?
bitL 7y ago
If you want to have Esc/Fn keys back on models with touch bar, buy one of those keyboard covers for non-touchbar 13" model, glue some little/low pieces of gum under Esc/Fn keys on the cover and then just place over the keyboard/touch bar. You'll have some tactile feedback and a lower chance of accidentally executing some function you didn't need. You can also glue gorilla glass strip on top of touch bar to reduce sensitivity/number of unwanted touches. Frankly, I am not sure why there is no "glueable" 3rd party Esc/Fn rubber membrane over touch bar with USB-C output produced by anyone to address this major design flaw for high-performance Apple devices...
hberg 7y ago
Interesting idea, but I've found that making my own custom static touchbar has been the most useful way to use this hardware. Followed this article: http://vas3k.com/blog/touchbar/ http://vas3k.com/blog/touchbar/ I personally have a mix of app launchers, brightness/volume controls and a play/pause button.
dreen 7y ago
I dont know, I use Rocket which seems to be similar to Pock but after almost a year with it I havent actually made use of it once. edit: IMHO the problem is the dock itself. it just sucks. even windows 10 taskbar is way better
natrik 7y ago
How do you run this after cloning?
- _fzslm 7y ago
  You would have to build the project in Xcode. It might be easier to download the prebuilt binary on the website.
  - natrik 7y ago
    I see the download button now, site wasn't loading fully earlier. Thanks!
monkeynotes 7y ago
IMO cmd+tab is far superior since it requires less movement from the rest position. I can navigate contexts extremely efficiently. I also use cmd+~ a lot for in-app window switching. I do like the idea of having the touch-bar as a notification center though, that would be pretty helpful. I have my Macbook on a stand with an external keyboard. Besides being ergonomically better like that, I also missed the physical esc button way too much and would often accidentally hit the touch escape with my left pinky. Being a touch button all you need to do is graze it and ESCAPE!!1
- canadaduane 7y ago
  I find that cmd+tab switching beyond 2 or 3 applications is not "superior" as it requires more recall of state than should be necessary. I've started using Alfred more often to switch to specific apps so that it doesn't matter where I'm coming "from" to get where I want to go "to." I also use Karibiner to switch the capslock key to "escape when pressed once" and "ctrl" when used in combination with any other key. Completely agree that a missing escape key was a stupid design decision.
  - bluedino 7y ago
    Swipe up on the trackpad and just pick your window. Better than alt-tabbing all over the place.
    - 52-6F-62 7y ago
      I use this all of the time. I love the trackpad workflow. Now—if you are using an external keyboard and don't have the magic trackpad, then it's a larger PITA. I have bound those commands to keys as well. So in my case I can swap workspaces by using CTRL+<arrow> and get that same view with CTRL+UP (but then still have to switch to mouse to select. I bought the apple trackpad recently because I prefer it that much—being able to do this actions one-handed. That said I'm also testing an ergonomic mouse so I lose some of that again—as I'm sure some of the case is for a lot of people. Hence all these other workarounds.
bluedino 7y ago
This is neat. However, I use the dock for dragging/dropping so it doesn't help me. I detest the TouchBar and think it's one of the worst ideas to come out of Apple in a long time. I'm waiting for them to end this joke.
- hellofunk 7y ago
  It's also quite an expensive joke that consumers pay for. Hundreds of dollars equivalent extra in price for this "feature."
  - wildrhythms 7y ago
    The non-touchbar version has 2 fewer USB-C ports inexplicably. So they're paying for the touchbar and 2 extra ports, all in all.
- rock_artist 7y ago
  The return to PCIe convinced me Apple gets some response to feedback. I have a mbp 13" 2018 and as most. The touchbar is the most unused feature (vs sdcard slot they've ditched for example). However since the conversation here is about this app. It's the best dock on touchbar I've seen so far and it's open source. So it might not be that hard allowing some drag and drop. With that said, I've installed pock this morning but with auto-hidden dock it feels that I don't waste so much screen real estate for the dock. The main problem of the touchbar and any screen with touch is the fact you must engage your sight to it. Physical "static" devices avoids that (keyboard...) So the touchbar at least for me, breaks productivity vs engaging to it.
b3b0p 7y ago
I kind of like the Touch Bar. It's hackable, programmable, and versatile. I have never used F keys and making Caps Lock the new Escape key works better for me anyway since I have small hands. How can you not like having Lemmings in your Touch Bar? [0] I have no problems with the keyboard (my favorite is actually the PowerBook Pro Aluminum Keyboard), but it being basically the only moving part and arguably gets the most use of any component on the computer, it would be nice if it was user replaceable (the battery too, but ...). I'd like to always have a spare around or the ability to take it out and every once in a while get any dirt or whatever can get in under the keys out. [0] https://github.com/erikolsson/Touch-Bar-Lemmings https://github.com/erikolsson/Touch-Bar-Lemmings
rgejman 7y ago
Suggestions: an option to only show open/active applications.
pushcx 7y ago
I've been using this for the last two months on my work machine and really like it. The first week I used this machine the touch bar was an irritating distraction; then I removed everything except esc, sleep, mute, and the brightness/volume sliders. Pock makes the touch bar useful, especially the red dots for notifications. My Pock settings: refresh every 30s, uncheck "hide control strip" and "hide persistent items" so I can put often-used folders in the dock to see them on the touch bar. Check "hide finder", "hide trash", and "launch at login". (On this last: once or twice an update or wake has left me with the default touch bar and I've had to manually restart Pock.) My Dock settings: shrink the size down, move it to the left or right, uncheck "minimize windows into application items", check "automatically show and hide the Dock", uncheck "show recent applications in Dock". Unfortunately there is still no way to entirely remove the Dock.
hackskills 7y ago
Would be more useful if there was a way to reach the touch bar with the mouse. That way, the Dock can completely move to the touch bar permanently.
techslave 7y ago
can’t understand the love for this here. the touch bar is not a HUD (heads up display). you still have to context switch and you can’t touch type the app you want. it might be better than the default touch bar it’s not better and adds no value over the auto hiding dock.

584 points by dustinfarris 7y ago

Thanks for this. I never use the touchbar on my macbook. It's been years and I only use it for esc and sometimes the volume.

dustinfarris 7y ago

This is what Touch Bar should have been from the beginning IMO. I've been on the fence to upgrade my 2012 MBP. I've been concerned about buying into the Touch Bar hardware when it seems like it is not coming to any other Macs. Why should I devote time to learning Touch Bar and trying to find ways to integrate it with my workflow when keyboard shortcuts are more than enough—and probably better? What happens when I sit down at my iMac where I spend >50% of my time? Pock. has the answer. Turn the Touch Bar into the Mac Dock. Full screen everything and still have quick visuals on app notifications. Don't have to command-tabtabtabtab to get to a different open app—just tap it on the dock in Touch Bar. It's the perfect solution to an actual problem—give me more space on a small screen without sacrificing any of the experience.

wlesieutre 7y ago
If you also have an iPad, the Touch Bar will make an appearance on that when using it as a second screen in Catalina's upcoming Sidecar feature: https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/05/apple-sidecar-app-has-touch-bar/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/05/apple-sidecar-app-has-t... Not as useful as when it's right next to the keyboard, but that's probably the closest other Macs are going to get. I could sort of imagine Apple making a desktop keyboard with one, but it seems better suited to a wired keyboard than bluetooth. You'd have to recharge the battery way more often.
na85 7y ago
I'm hoping sooner or later someone figures out how to bind/call arbitrary elisp functions from the touchbar. That for me would be the real killer app.
mattoxic 7y ago
I use Logic Pro heaps - and the touch par is actually useful there. The issue for me is remembering that it's there. I am so used to the keyboard commands.
elamje 7y ago
Just downloaded it! I have to agree that this is a much better use than the default one. The original one was hardly usable in many applications besides music players. This gives me the ability to switch apps quicker than before, especially with many full screen apps open. Thanks man.
snek 7y ago
You could also just set your dock to autohide. That's what I do on my MBA 2015 and it's great, especially considering how small 1440x900 already is.
- nomel 7y ago
  If you’re hiding the dock, reducing the delay is very useful: defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0 && killall Dock
jbigelow76 7y ago
I've been concerned about buying into the Touch Bar hardware when it seems like it is not coming to any other Macs. If Apple was going to try and open a new front on the "hearts and minds of Touch Bar skeptics" war then the Mac Pro reveal at WWDC a few weeks ago would have been the time to do it, that they didn't makes me think it's not long for this world. Not because the Mac Pro sales would have been hampered by it, if a workstation class modular PC running macOS was what you have been waiting for then wrapping the cost of a Touch Bar keyboard wouldn't be a make or break price modifier (and you could always swap out keyboards later if you hate it). If the MBP is a quasi-halo product (expensive but incredibly ubiquitous) and the Touch bar isn't coming to the Mac Pro which is a true halo product I don't think you'll see it ever get pushed to any other product category either.
- nickflood 7y ago
  I tended to agree with this, but really with the desktop setup you have to move your eyes and head much farther to see the keyboard because the monitor is not fixed to it. This may be why they don't produce keyboards with the touchbar - the experience would be even less appealing.
- bredren 7y ago
  I had forgotten the Touchbar was possibly to get life on the magic keyboard. I agree if this was to happen, it should have been bundled with the Mac Pro. I also think the Touchbar apps being migrated to Sidecar may be a clue that a deprecation path exists should the dedicated hardware go away. “They live in sidecar now.”
- eddieroger 7y ago
  If memory serves, the logic to drive the Touch Bar is something that came from the Watch, which also included the Secure Enclave and other features that were more mobile than desktop. If that was true, then you can't trust the USB cable alone (or Bluetooth) to maintain the trust that circuit needs, and a keyboard with a Touch Bar would require a new circuit or at least design change to only do the display part, not the rest. It makes sense they won't put it in standalone keyboards just yet.
nodesocket 7y ago
Agree, the dock is what the touch bar should default to. I do wonder, if any, what the battery impact is with Pock?
chrisseaton 7y ago
> devote time to learning Touch Bar How complicated do you think it is that you need to spend time learning it?
- isolli 7y ago
  It's also about unlearning one's previous workflows.
- lloeki 7y ago
  Not complicated at all, it just requires an open mindset. Some tips: Customise it to your liking in the keyboard pref pane. You can press-and-drag on volume and brightness buttons of the collapsed control strip. No need to tap then slide. You can create services (now Quick Action) in Automator and they show up with the Show Quick Actions setting set. Since services can be contextual (input+app) you can get creative and do some whacky stuff in there. I have contextless Safari and Terminal there to pop up new windows whatever the focused app is.
  - mgkimsal 7y ago
    What I CAN NOT do, however, is move the 'ESC' key (or any, really) all the way to the left. There's always a 'Touch ID'-size spacer on the left of the Touch Bar.
    - a_c_s 7y ago
      That spacer still activates the 'ESC' key
      - lloeki 7y ago
        Indeed the ESC button is much wider than it appears to be.
      - Crontab 7y ago
        That's correct. I am currently considering upgrading from my 13" 2013 Macbook Air to a 15" 2019 Macbook Pro (I want it for the IPS/bigger display) and I noticed this while I was testing it at Bestbuy. Personally, if I make the purchase, I will probably just remap the Caps Lock key to ESC - assuming I can remove ESC from the Touch Bar. The one thing I didn't care for is that the Touch Bar display can time out. I would personally prefer that it stay on - or at least have the option of it staying on.
LoyCog 7y ago
We have ubar for that https://brawersoftware.com/products/ubar https://brawersoftware.com/products/ubar
nautilus12 7y ago
The thing that should concern you more about upgrading is the fact that they now solder the hard drive into the motherboard and the keys break and once broken also requires replacing the whole machine. Oh and they have no travel either. Maintainability? Who cares about that!
sundvor 7y ago
Now they just need to add the missing row of keys, and everything will be fine.
jxdxbx 7y ago
The lack of a Touch Bar on desktop Macs is ridiculous, but I generally like it. Especially when I realized that you don't for example, touch volume, wait, and slide, but just start sliding from the little button in the quick menu.
bunkydoo 7y ago
I'll agree here - I always saw it as a gimmick that was poorly implemented but this takes the cake late in the game. This would make it a worthy thing to have. Now besides that, I am in the camp that the physical keyboard and trackpad should be eliminated entirely in favor of haptics along with a palm tracking system that would know 'keyboard' from 'mouse' usage allowing the entire space to be utilized freely. But now we are entering a whole new territory of cracked screens. I've dropped a lot of shit on my keyboard before.
geekles 7y ago
Sidecar adds a Touch Bar on the iPad to all Macs that support Sidecar.
s_dev 7y ago
I've been using TouchSwitcher for a good while now: https://hazeover.com/touchswitcher.html https://hazeover.com/touchswitcher.html

intellix 7y ago

I'd recommend BetterTouchTool and things like finger swipes for volume up/down and brightness up/down and showing things like Spotify. Originally started with Vas3k preset but eventually replaced things with the built in widgets and gestures

wlesieutre 7y ago
Another small but nice utility is Haptic Touch Bar. It uses the click feedback mechanism in your trackpad to make the computer tap slightly when you hit the Touch Bar. Makes it feel a bit more tactile and I'm surprised Apple didn't build some sort of feedback like that in by default. Using the trackpad mechanism is a little cheesy, but it could have its own haptic hardware.
hunter2_ 7y ago
My favorite BTT mapping: 3 finger click (touchpad and/or magic mouse) generates a middle click event. I have no idea how people open and close browser tabs without this, since browsers have great middle click response but Apple pointing devices don't natively generate such clicks.
- igpay 7y ago
  Command clicking a link will also open it in a new tab.
- sysbin 7y ago
  I think command+t and command+w are usually my go to methods. I don't have to move my hands from my keyboard.
- guiambros 7y ago
  I also love BTT, but opening/closing tabs is much faster using ⌘-T and ⌘-W.
  - _eLRIC 7y ago
    Also using cmd+L to enter the address bar and then ALT + Return to open the selected address in a new tab

pram 7y ago

Coincidentally I also just upgraded my personal laptop from a 2012 retina MacBook Pro to the 2019 i9 MacBook Pro! Long story short I think the touchbar is totally useless. I have it set to emulate regular function keys right now (expose, launchpad etc) However everything else is top notch and well worth it. The touchid is fantastic, and you will immediately enjoy the difference. Screen is amazing, 8 cores is super nice. Also I might be in the minority but I actually prefer the feel of the keyboard vs the previous unibody keys. Touchbar is a dud but the 2019 version is well worth it otherwise imho.

bodegajed 7y ago
I'm also on the fence about upgrading. I am thinking of just buying a mac keyboard so I have an escape key. That key is very essential to my workflow. Do you think it's a good idea?
- stdclass 7y ago
  I use karabiner [1] to remap the capslock key to esc. [1] https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/ https://pqrs.org/osx/karabiner/
  - bodegajed 7y ago
    Interesting.. so this is how the esc key is now? I guess it's compromise. Maybe I'll get used to it eventually. Sigh I'm just sad apple wont budge on a high end non-touchbar model
    - 8draco8 7y ago
      Touchbar can be useful especially with apps like Pock to save some screen real estate. The only thing that they should do is to bring back ESC key and maybe allow for switching numbers row to F-keys with Fn. That would allow for rich media control and whatever you want on touchbar and still have proper, tactile functionality of keys.
  - atomwaffel 7y ago

philliphaydon 7y ago

I used to love the mac keyboard. Of any non Apple laptop it was superior... until I tried out a ThinkPad just over a year ago. I honestly don’t think I could own anything other than a ThinkPad from now on for the keyboard alone.

killjoywashere 7y ago
you should try the old ThinkPad keyboards, like the X201. So nice. For the MacBook, if they had a version with a physical escape key, I'd be fine. Just make it a little shorter. It will be okay. I promise.
- jakear 7y ago
  I remapped capslock to esc and never looked back. In fact, I’ve gotten so used to it that I remap “normal” keyboards too. I use esc way more often than I’d ever use capslock, so having it at the pinky is perfect.
  - reaperducer 7y ago
    I remapped that way, and had to go back. I work on a lot of different computers in a week, and some of them aren't mine, so it's more useful for me to stick to the default map instead of getting things wrong on half of the machines.
    - o-__-o 7y ago
      This thread reminds me of using Dvorak back in 1999. Sure it may be better, it may even be faster.. but what happens in 20 years when I’m the only sucker using that layout? Take my own keyboard everywhere?
  - wyclif 7y ago
    Even though I have a 2017 MBP 13" with the Escape key, I still use Ctrl-[ to change modes in Vim. I'm not a fan of the Touch Bar, but it probably wouldn't interfere with my Vim workflow.

eugene3306 7y ago

Isn't this usecase patented by Apple?

whalabi 7y ago

This makes sense There's extra vertical space on the lower half of a MacBook, and the dock wastes vertical space on the screen I normally put the dock on the side, but putting it above the keyboard works too Now if only the damn keyboard had a proper escape key. Who signed off on that. Honestly.

emidln 7y ago
It's just mislabeled as Caps Lock and has bad default behavior. A quick visit to Preferences can sort you out.
- ghayes 7y ago
  I will say, Apple at least did a good job making the remap (Caps to Esc) a really easy preferences change.
- AtHeartEngineer 7y ago
  Did this about a month ago, definitely worth it
- applecrazy 7y ago
  This remapping is the #1 thing that made using Vim easier. Not to mention escaping out of dialogs in macOS is much easier than lifting my hands off my keyboard.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

ghayes 7y ago

In a similar vein, I’ve been using TouchBarEmojis[0] which turns the TouchBar into a most frequently used emoji selector and really enjoy it now. [0] https://github.com/gabriellorin/touch-bar-emojis https://github.com/gabriellorin/touch-bar-emojis

alganet 7y ago

I use MTMR[1], My TouchBar My Rules. Great JSON-based customization. Built in Dock applet included (a great pomodoro applet as well, my fav). The sample presets are kind of cluttered, but removing some of the items and making others was ultra simple. If you know AppleScript you can pretty much any button. [1] https://github.com/Toxblh/MTMR/ https://github.com/Toxblh/MTMR/

dfee 7y ago
Aw man, this looks even cooler! I fear that the momentum has swayed to Pock though.

RubenSandwich 7y ago

I'll plug another touch bar tool here. Know how your $3,000 MacBook Pro keyboard keeps breaking? Know what's not broken and close to your keyboard? The touch bar. So I built a keyboard into the touchbar: https://github.com/RubenSandwich/TouchBarKeyboard https://github.com/RubenSandwich/TouchBarKeyboard. Problem solved. But seriously, OP's tool has way more utility then mine.

etxm 7y ago
This is stupid... I love it.
Phlarp 7y ago
I'll plug another one: https://www.haptictouchbar.com/ https://www.haptictouchbar.com/ This uses the trackpad haptic engine to (poorly) emulate a key click when pressing touchbar items. I'm unsure how they overlooked putting a haptic engine in the touchbar itself but it feels way too late to attempt to salvage now. They need a new keyboard that people will fall in love with.
- sq_ 7y ago
  Bringing back something that essentially matches the 2015 keyboard's characteristics would go a long way with most users, in my opinion.
  - Phlarp 7y ago
    "But then how will they make it thinner!?"

keyle 7y ago

I was skeptical then I installed it and I can't believe MacOS doesn't ship with this! It's actually making the bar useful. One bug I noticed is you can get in a <esc> <esc> situation, with twice the button. But since you miss <esc> button all the time, why not having it twice; or more?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

sbr464 7y ago

Late to the party, but I just randomly realized today that copy & paste syncs across iOS and my iMac. Was surprisingly convenient. Apparently it’s been around since Sierra, but my settings are now in sync enough to just work.

cududa 7y ago
Wait how the hell do you do that??
- sbr464 7y ago
  https://support.apple.com/kb/ph25168?locale=en_US https://support.apple.com/kb/ph25168?locale=en_US It worked for me today for the first time (that I realized). I copied a link from twitter on an iPhone, then pasted on an iMac.
  - cududa 7y ago
    Ahhh I have handoff disabled (I cant stand getting phone calls on my laptop)
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - sbr464 7y ago
      I got around it by having do not disturb on 24 hours.
    - dhritzkiv 7y ago
      I believe you can turn this off from your phone: Settings > Phone > Calls on Other Devices
SomeOldThrow 7y ago
You also can’t disable this without disabling handoff entirely.

wmeddie 7y ago

This is pretty great. Only I wish it only showed when I clicked on the desktop (Since Finder does nothing else with the TouchBar) or swipe up from the bottom. Parallels actually does this same thing (minus swiping) for the task bar in Windows guests but switches to app specific bars when you open Office or a browser. I'm in the camp that finds the TouchBar really awesome. Never used function keys (except F5) but I use the TouchBar all the time in IntelliJ, iTunes, Word/Excel and it's great in PowerPoint when scrolling to just the slide you want. I also love the clicky feel of the keyboard so maybe I'm just special...

blondin 7y ago

omg! and no one, even apple, thought about it before!

Justsignedup 7y ago

The touch bar doesn't give you the ability to touch it without click like a key. It also replaces all the f keys and the escape key. It is by far the worst thing made when working say on the bus. There is no world in which the touch bar is good in any way. There are zero benefits to it. On two years with this monstrosity I have regretted having it. And now I am seriously considering moving to windows with the new Linux subsystem.

stephenr 7y ago
> There is no world in which the touch bar is good in any way. There are zero benefits to it. Ok, I guess those of us who either aren't affected by it, or actually find it useful are just wrong?
- eknkc 7y ago
  I'm kind of neutral about it but haven't met anyone who said it was good. Seems like people either hate it or don't care about it. There are a lot of people who like the butterfly keyboard (apart from reliability) but I thought the sentiment on the touch bar was universal.
  - stephenr 7y ago
    My experience is that when I use the F-keys I'm almost always using the 'default' action on macOS (i.e. not sending a native F12 for example, I'm adjusting volume), and for those tasks the Touch Bar is a little more useful, because it can do more things intuitively, but, I don't do those things a lot. So I don't think it's "not good" it's just so far down on the list of how I use a computer that it isn't worth raving on about how great it is. I did like the IntelliJ integration, to get debug controls, but now that I'm back on a desktop keyboard I don't really miss the Touch Bar. What I miss is Touch ID.
    - mastazi 7y ago
      I can imagine a lot of workflows like yours, where the function keys are not very important. However I can’t imagine using a keyboard without Escape key. In my opinion, the touch bar should have been a little bit smaller, and the physical esc key should have stayed. The product linked at the top of this discussion lists the Escape key as one of the main features, I think that’s telling!

nerdwaller 7y ago

I'm not a lawyer, but I would consider revisiting your icon[0]. It looks identical to Patreon's[1] with a period/full-stop. On a technical note, this looks pretty cool and may have helped me hold off on ditching my mac products if I knew about it sooner! [0] https://pock.dev/assets/img/brand/pock_logo_w.png https://pock.dev/assets/img/brand/pock_logo_w.png [1] https://c5.patreon.com/external/logo/guidelines/icon_color_variations.jpg https://c5.patreon.com/external/logo/guidelines/icon_color_v...

Etheryte 7y ago
This is also the first thing I noticed and regardless of it not being related to the software itself it is a red flag. Ironically the favicon on the page is sufficiently different and wouldn't be mistaken for Patreon's logo, at least in my opinion.
- huskyr 7y ago
  A red flag for what? For not properly looking up if a design already exists?
  - Etheryte 7y ago
    A red flag for dishonesty, if you want a broader answer — it is entirely possible that the author hasn't indeed seen Patreon before, but as it is, Patreon is a very widely known company and it looks like a rip-off, even if it isn't. Much in the same vain you could make an apple with a bite your logo, but it would look like you're just a copycat.
    - huskyr 7y ago
      I've supported multiple Patreon campaigns, and i didn't recognise this logo. It's not featured prominently on their homepage and mailings. Calling something that looks like a simple oversight 'a red flag for dishonesty' sounds a bit unfair to me.
tylermw 7y ago

thomastruett 7y ago

Am I able to see both the app icons and the control keys at the same time like the screenshot (https://pock.dev/assets/img/preview/pock_preview.png https://pock.dev/assets/img/preview/pock_preview.png) shows?

boringg 7y ago
I was wondering the same thing - so far i can only get control keys or the app icons

intothemild 7y ago

Notice how all these have an esc key. That should have been a hardware key! A message from the Vim gang.

kristiandupont 7y ago
As a member of the Vim gang, I have to say that using caps-lock is better anyway and MacOS has a built-in setting for it now, so go and fix that right away. That said, I had a MBP with touch bar for half a year and even though I was quite excited when they announced it, I hated it. I will not buy another laptop with that thing on it.
- reustle 7y ago
  TIL it's now a native option. Thanks! https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127591/using-caps-lock-as-esc-in-mac-os-x/40254864#40254864 https://stackoverflow.com/questions/127591/using-caps-lock-a...
- enneff 7y ago
  I've been using caps lock as my control key for too long to make this leap. :-(
  - acupofnope 7y ago
    Karabiner Elements has this template where caps lock can behave as an esc key if you tap it, and a ctrl key if you hold it down.
    - tazard 7y ago
      Thanks! That sounds exactly like what I need, and I'm already using Karabiner.
  - viddo 7y ago
    You can also use it for both ctrl and esc with a little help by Hammerspoon (http://hammerspoon.org http://hammerspoon.org), e.g. I've been using this for the past year and it works great https://github.com/jasonrudolph/keyboard#a-more-useful-caps-lock-key https://github.com/jasonrudolph/keyboard#a-more-useful-caps-...

pySSK 7y ago

This makes so much sense! The location of the Touch Bar UI is conceptually unfriendly. We're accustomed to a touch pad closest to us but now we have two touch interfaces separated by a huge keyboard-gulf. Moving the dock to the Touch Bar makes sense for the Touch Bar because i. it's a very small shift in location, and ii. dock icons are more direct action buttons compared to more abstract pointing and gestures we can to with the touch pad.

savolai 7y ago

I have a Windows/gnome history. So I still miss switching between windows, not apps, easily. Could this deliver that too? Pretty please.

cujo 7y ago
Check out this app. I believe it is the utility you're after... https://manytricks.com/witch/ https://manytricks.com/witch/
sdoering 7y ago
As I am currently on my mobile, I am trying to remember the keyboard combination. It's stored in muscle memory, but I believe it is <ctrl> <tab>. But it might be <alt> <tab>. As said, not sure which of the two it is.
codemusings 7y ago
It's <Command> + the key that's to the right of the shift key. On the German Layout that's where angle brackets are.
raja 7y ago
Not sure if this is what you are after but you can use `cmd` + `~` to switch between windows of the same app.
njitram 7y ago
I use https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch to see the windows

epaga 7y ago

Great idea. A related tool I highly, highly recommend is BetterTouchTool - you can completely customize your Touch Bar to show and do almost anything you want it to do, based on the app context you're in. You can do what this does but 100 other things as well. It's made the Touch Bar actually worth it for me.

zuppy 7y ago

i would recommend to take a look at https://goldenchaos.net/goldenchaos-btt.html https://goldenchaos.net/goldenchaos-btt.html too. it has the list of open apps and more (and it's highly configurable). it's not exactly the dock, though, but i find it more useful. it needs better touch tool (https://folivora.ai https://folivora.ai), but that's quite cheap for how much it offers.

closetohome 7y ago
I was hoping someone would recommend Better Touch Tool. It introduces a ton of customization and functionality to the Touch Bar, including 'live' buttons that I use to show things like outside temperature and (until it got depressing) current Bitcoin price.

tyiz 7y ago

Any info about the people behind? Only dumbf*cks would install software without info from where it is coming, so I am sure, that there must be info about the identity somewhere?!

heydev 7y ago

Maybe credits to https://github.com/billziss-gh/EnergyBar https://github.com/billziss-gh/EnergyBar ?

bitL 7y ago

If you want to have Esc/Fn keys back on models with touch bar, buy one of those keyboard covers for non-touchbar 13" model, glue some little/low pieces of gum under Esc/Fn keys on the cover and then just place over the keyboard/touch bar. You'll have some tactile feedback and a lower chance of accidentally executing some function you didn't need. You can also glue gorilla glass strip on top of touch bar to reduce sensitivity/number of unwanted touches. Frankly, I am not sure why there is no "glueable" 3rd party Esc/Fn rubber membrane over touch bar with USB-C output produced by anyone to address this major design flaw for high-performance Apple devices...

hberg 7y ago

Interesting idea, but I've found that making my own custom static touchbar has been the most useful way to use this hardware. Followed this article: http://vas3k.com/blog/touchbar/ http://vas3k.com/blog/touchbar/ I personally have a mix of app launchers, brightness/volume controls and a play/pause button.

dreen 7y ago

I dont know, I use Rocket which seems to be similar to Pock but after almost a year with it I havent actually made use of it once. edit: IMHO the problem is the dock itself. it just sucks. even windows 10 taskbar is way better

natrik 7y ago

How do you run this after cloning?

_fzslm 7y ago
You would have to build the project in Xcode. It might be easier to download the prebuilt binary on the website.
- natrik 7y ago
  I see the download button now, site wasn't loading fully earlier. Thanks!

monkeynotes 7y ago

IMO cmd+tab is far superior since it requires less movement from the rest position. I can navigate contexts extremely efficiently. I also use cmd+~ a lot for in-app window switching. I do like the idea of having the touch-bar as a notification center though, that would be pretty helpful. I have my Macbook on a stand with an external keyboard. Besides being ergonomically better like that, I also missed the physical esc button way too much and would often accidentally hit the touch escape with my left pinky. Being a touch button all you need to do is graze it and ESCAPE!!1

canadaduane 7y ago
I find that cmd+tab switching beyond 2 or 3 applications is not "superior" as it requires more recall of state than should be necessary. I've started using Alfred more often to switch to specific apps so that it doesn't matter where I'm coming "from" to get where I want to go "to." I also use Karibiner to switch the capslock key to "escape when pressed once" and "ctrl" when used in combination with any other key. Completely agree that a missing escape key was a stupid design decision.
- bluedino 7y ago
  Swipe up on the trackpad and just pick your window. Better than alt-tabbing all over the place.
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    I use this all of the time. I love the trackpad workflow. Now—if you are using an external keyboard and don't have the magic trackpad, then it's a larger PITA. I have bound those commands to keys as well. So in my case I can swap workspaces by using CTRL+<arrow> and get that same view with CTRL+UP (but then still have to switch to mouse to select. I bought the apple trackpad recently because I prefer it that much—being able to do this actions one-handed. That said I'm also testing an ergonomic mouse so I lose some of that again—as I'm sure some of the case is for a lot of people. Hence all these other workarounds.

bluedino 7y ago

This is neat. However, I use the dock for dragging/dropping so it doesn't help me. I detest the TouchBar and think it's one of the worst ideas to come out of Apple in a long time. I'm waiting for them to end this joke.

hellofunk 7y ago
It's also quite an expensive joke that consumers pay for. Hundreds of dollars equivalent extra in price for this "feature."
- wildrhythms 7y ago
  The non-touchbar version has 2 fewer USB-C ports inexplicably. So they're paying for the touchbar and 2 extra ports, all in all.
rock_artist 7y ago
The return to PCIe convinced me Apple gets some response to feedback. I have a mbp 13" 2018 and as most. The touchbar is the most unused feature (vs sdcard slot they've ditched for example). However since the conversation here is about this app. It's the best dock on touchbar I've seen so far and it's open source. So it might not be that hard allowing some drag and drop. With that said, I've installed pock this morning but with auto-hidden dock it feels that I don't waste so much screen real estate for the dock. The main problem of the touchbar and any screen with touch is the fact you must engage your sight to it. Physical "static" devices avoids that (keyboard...) So the touchbar at least for me, breaks productivity vs engaging to it.

b3b0p 7y ago

I kind of like the Touch Bar. It's hackable, programmable, and versatile. I have never used F keys and making Caps Lock the new Escape key works better for me anyway since I have small hands. How can you not like having Lemmings in your Touch Bar? [0] I have no problems with the keyboard (my favorite is actually the PowerBook Pro Aluminum Keyboard), but it being basically the only moving part and arguably gets the most use of any component on the computer, it would be nice if it was user replaceable (the battery too, but ...). I'd like to always have a spare around or the ability to take it out and every once in a while get any dirt or whatever can get in under the keys out. [0] https://github.com/erikolsson/Touch-Bar-Lemmings https://github.com/erikolsson/Touch-Bar-Lemmings

rgejman 7y ago

Suggestions: an option to only show open/active applications.

pushcx 7y ago

I've been using this for the last two months on my work machine and really like it. The first week I used this machine the touch bar was an irritating distraction; then I removed everything except esc, sleep, mute, and the brightness/volume sliders. Pock makes the touch bar useful, especially the red dots for notifications. My Pock settings: refresh every 30s, uncheck "hide control strip" and "hide persistent items" so I can put often-used folders in the dock to see them on the touch bar. Check "hide finder", "hide trash", and "launch at login". (On this last: once or twice an update or wake has left me with the default touch bar and I've had to manually restart Pock.) My Dock settings: shrink the size down, move it to the left or right, uncheck "minimize windows into application items", check "automatically show and hide the Dock", uncheck "show recent applications in Dock". Unfortunately there is still no way to entirely remove the Dock.

hackskills 7y ago

Would be more useful if there was a way to reach the touch bar with the mouse. That way, the Dock can completely move to the touch bar permanently.

techslave 7y ago

can’t understand the love for this here. the touch bar is not a HUD (heads up display). you still have to context switch and you can’t touch type the app you want. it might be better than the default touch bar it’s not better and adds no value over the auto hiding dock.