4 ms·

I really thought the Touch Bar would grow on me, and now a year or so later it's just as frustrating and unintuitive as it was on day one. My wife and I rarely

I really thought the Touch Bar would grow on me, and now a year or so later it's just as frustrating and unintuitive as it was on day one. My wife and I rarely watch television, but when we do it's on our MBP. There literally isn't a way to adjust the volume on full screen video using just the keyboard; you have to exit full screen mode (to revert the Touch Bar to its default set of buttons), and then adjust the volume slider (which is still another screen deep). It's infuriating.

Fnoord 7y ago
(Disclaimer: I never owned a TouchBar Mac.) There are a few applications which enhance the TouchBar in one way or another. Perhaps the best idea I've seen is the one where it put the Dock in the TouchBar.
IggleSniggle 7y ago
Have only and exactly the controls you want on your touchbar: https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-touch-bar-ui-replacement-preset/1281 https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-t...
- factotvm 7y ago
  A solution to a problem that shouldn't exist, in my opinion. That's fine if you want to try and sell TouchBars, but still give me the option to buy a laptop without one. I'm still holding out hope for a good keyboard and a proper row of keys along the top. In the meantime, I'm typing this on a 2012 MacBook Pro.
dkthehuman 7y ago
If you go to System Preferences > Keyboard, you can change the "Touch Bar shows" option from "App Controls" to "Expanded Control Strip" to have the default set of buttons showing all the time.
- the_watcher 7y ago
  If you set the default to function keys, you can also set the fn key to show the expanded control strip too.
- zerocrates 7y ago
  Of course if it's just going to show the default set of buttons all the time, that's a feature also achievable with... actual keys.
- dankohn1 7y ago
  Thank you! I couldn't figure out how to do that.
- bhl 7y ago
  Default keys won’t prevent the touchbar from freezing or bugging out, which has occurred multiple times for me. It’s odd to make such important keys software based and prone to non mechanical failure.
  - EForEndeavour 7y ago
    I wonder what fails more often, the touchbar or mechanical keys. In any case, though, the touchbar is the anti-feature nobody asked for.
    - cassianoleal 7y ago
      I've had a TouchBar MacBook Pro for about 2 years now. The TouchBar has frozen or crashed on me multiple times. Apart from the terrible butterfly keyboard on this same computer which also tends to fail, literallyt never in 35-ish years using computers I had a mechanical key failing on me.
bradbatt 7y ago
This doesn't excuse Apple's poor design, but I highly recommend Keyboard Maestro to solve this problem for you. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to actions in specific programs (and much, much more) ... super useful program. https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/ https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/
nhooyr 7y ago
Not sure what you're talking about. Volume control works normally for me full screen.
outoftheabyss 7y ago
Works normally for me, no need to exit full screen. I would say the more frustrating thing is that once you change the volume, the Touch Bar takes a while to turn off so you are left with the distraction when watching video.
pryce 7y ago
Touchbar Volume controls on fullscreen video work for me - can I ask which video application are you using?
GordonS 7y ago
I felt the same way, and after maybe 2 years I still hate it - the only thing I ever want to use on it is the F-keys, rendering it useless. Actually, worse than useless - I also run Bootstrap on my MBP, and when using keys on the touch bar you have to leave something like a 2s delay between each press for it to register. Maddening when F5 stepping through code!
- cpuguy83 7y ago
  When I first got it I was like "This isn't as bad as people make it out to be"... but now 1 year in and I want to throw this thing across the room at least once a day because my finger grazed something on the touchbar and totally messed up whatever I was doing.
nfoz 7y ago
When I bought a Macbook in 2006, it came with a remote-control. I guess they don't do this anymore?
- schpaencoder 7y ago
  They certainly don’t come with anything nonessential anymore.
  - redwall_hp 7y ago
    They don't even come with a three prong extension cord anymore.
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      The replacement USB-C chargers don't even come with any way of connecting to the computer.
  - Corrado 7y ago
    This is part of my frustration with Apple lately. Buying an Apple product, any Apple product, used to be a premium experience. You received everything you needed, and more. There were plenty of cords, controllers, etc. and even stickers! The packaging was beautiful to look at, easy to work with (no squeaky Styrofoam!), and cleverly constructed. You were excited to get the package home and open it. Now, Apple seems to cut corners where ever possible; as someone else mentioned the power brick no longer includes an extension cable. To make matters worse, the USB-C cable they do include is a "power only" cable and won't allow you to hook up other things to your MBP. This means to hook up your monitor to your new computer you have to remember to purchase a "real" USB-C cable. This is on a product that costs thousands of dollars! Can they not afford to provide a usable set of cables with your $2,500 computer?
koiz 7y ago
It's cheap crap. If they had real buttons that could be be completely dynamic it would be better. Basically what we see with a stream deck.
xz0r 7y ago
In VLC, you could use up/down arrow keys to control volume.
mitchellgoffpc 7y ago
I 100% agree with you, but definitely check out pock.dev. Saw it on HN a little while ago, it shows your dock in the touchbar and you can customize it to add music/brightness/volume controls as well. At least for me, it actually makes the touchbar useful since I can hide the on-screen dock and still see at a glance if I have notifications, which apps are open, and what Spotify is playing (I’ve heard bettertouchtool can do something similar too)
wodenokoto 7y ago
You can set the bar to always show certain widgets. I have mine always show keyboard light, brightness and volume control. This doesn’t require any 3rd party software But it still lights up whenever you want it to be dark (like when a full screen video starts), and is dark whenever you actually need to look it it (when you decide to adjust the volume a few minutes later).

Fnoord 7y ago

(Disclaimer: I never owned a TouchBar Mac.) There are a few applications which enhance the TouchBar in one way or another. Perhaps the best idea I've seen is the one where it put the Dock in the TouchBar.

IggleSniggle 7y ago

Have only and exactly the controls you want on your touchbar: https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-touch-bar-ui-replacement-preset/1281 https://community.folivora.ai/t/goldenchaos-btt-a-complete-t...

factotvm 7y ago
A solution to a problem that shouldn't exist, in my opinion. That's fine if you want to try and sell TouchBars, but still give me the option to buy a laptop without one. I'm still holding out hope for a good keyboard and a proper row of keys along the top. In the meantime, I'm typing this on a 2012 MacBook Pro.

dkthehuman 7y ago

If you go to System Preferences > Keyboard, you can change the "Touch Bar shows" option from "App Controls" to "Expanded Control Strip" to have the default set of buttons showing all the time.

the_watcher 7y ago
If you set the default to function keys, you can also set the fn key to show the expanded control strip too.
zerocrates 7y ago
Of course if it's just going to show the default set of buttons all the time, that's a feature also achievable with... actual keys.
dankohn1 7y ago
Thank you! I couldn't figure out how to do that.
bhl 7y ago
Default keys won’t prevent the touchbar from freezing or bugging out, which has occurred multiple times for me. It’s odd to make such important keys software based and prone to non mechanical failure.
- EForEndeavour 7y ago
  I wonder what fails more often, the touchbar or mechanical keys. In any case, though, the touchbar is the anti-feature nobody asked for.
  - cassianoleal 7y ago
    I've had a TouchBar MacBook Pro for about 2 years now. The TouchBar has frozen or crashed on me multiple times. Apart from the terrible butterfly keyboard on this same computer which also tends to fail, literallyt never in 35-ish years using computers I had a mechanical key failing on me.

bradbatt 7y ago

This doesn't excuse Apple's poor design, but I highly recommend Keyboard Maestro to solve this problem for you. You can assign keyboard shortcuts to actions in specific programs (and much, much more) ... super useful program. https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/ https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/

nhooyr 7y ago

Not sure what you're talking about. Volume control works normally for me full screen.

outoftheabyss 7y ago

Works normally for me, no need to exit full screen. I would say the more frustrating thing is that once you change the volume, the Touch Bar takes a while to turn off so you are left with the distraction when watching video.

pryce 7y ago

Touchbar Volume controls on fullscreen video work for me - can I ask which video application are you using?

GordonS 7y ago

I felt the same way, and after maybe 2 years I still hate it - the only thing I ever want to use on it is the F-keys, rendering it useless. Actually, worse than useless - I also run Bootstrap on my MBP, and when using keys on the touch bar you have to leave something like a 2s delay between each press for it to register. Maddening when F5 stepping through code!

cpuguy83 7y ago
When I first got it I was like "This isn't as bad as people make it out to be"... but now 1 year in and I want to throw this thing across the room at least once a day because my finger grazed something on the touchbar and totally messed up whatever I was doing.

nfoz 7y ago

When I bought a Macbook in 2006, it came with a remote-control. I guess they don't do this anymore?

schpaencoder 7y ago
They certainly don’t come with anything nonessential anymore.
- redwall_hp 7y ago
  They don't even come with a three prong extension cord anymore.
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    The replacement USB-C chargers don't even come with any way of connecting to the computer.
- Corrado 7y ago
  This is part of my frustration with Apple lately. Buying an Apple product, any Apple product, used to be a premium experience. You received everything you needed, and more. There were plenty of cords, controllers, etc. and even stickers! The packaging was beautiful to look at, easy to work with (no squeaky Styrofoam!), and cleverly constructed. You were excited to get the package home and open it. Now, Apple seems to cut corners where ever possible; as someone else mentioned the power brick no longer includes an extension cable. To make matters worse, the USB-C cable they do include is a "power only" cable and won't allow you to hook up other things to your MBP. This means to hook up your monitor to your new computer you have to remember to purchase a "real" USB-C cable. This is on a product that costs thousands of dollars! Can they not afford to provide a usable set of cables with your $2,500 computer?

koiz 7y ago

It's cheap crap. If they had real buttons that could be be completely dynamic it would be better. Basically what we see with a stream deck.

xz0r 7y ago

In VLC, you could use up/down arrow keys to control volume.

mitchellgoffpc 7y ago

I 100% agree with you, but definitely check out pock.dev. Saw it on HN a little while ago, it shows your dock in the touchbar and you can customize it to add music/brightness/volume controls as well. At least for me, it actually makes the touchbar useful since I can hide the on-screen dock and still see at a glance if I have notifications, which apps are open, and what Spotify is playing (I’ve heard bettertouchtool can do something similar too)

wodenokoto 7y ago

You can set the bar to always show certain widgets. I have mine always show keyboard light, brightness and volume control. This doesn’t require any 3rd party software But it still lights up whenever you want it to be dark (like when a full screen video starts), and is dark whenever you actually need to look it it (when you decide to adjust the volume a few minutes later).