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Did you try embracing the bar? It saves a lot of time in apps that integrate it well and you can customize it easily for other actions that fit your needs more.

by dvcrn 7y ago

Did you try embracing the bar? It saves a lot of time in apps that integrate it well and you can customize it easily for other actions that fit your needs more. It’s especially nice when it doesn’t just display buttons but also sliders and pickers. I also prefer this way Of adjusting my MacBook screen brightness, volume and other quick actions. Of course if you just set it to display F keys it’s a downgrade. I use it a lot when I’m not on an external screen in media apps like photo or video editing, but I’m also the kind of person that never found f keys useful

jryan49 7y ago
I did I can't muscle memory anything because of the lack of tactile feedback. I have to look down everytime. I use the F keys a lot for intellij
zchrykng 7y ago
You have to actually look at it to use it, which makes it categorically worse than the older real keys. Also until you have access to it on desktops and all of the laptops it doesn't make sense to adapt your workflow to it if you use multiple computers.
kossTKR 7y ago
I have one of the first versions from work. And i am all for embracing if it actually made editing/coding faster for me but i just doesn't. I thinks the idea is fine if the function keys were still there. Rant alert on tech-tactility: I know it's pure anecdata but using the "sense of touch" when typing must surely be faster than having to context-switch while you have to precisely target a point on the screen with no sense-data to go with it. I feel "alienated" by the cold dead glass texture of modern interfaces on large hard glass screens. There is just not enough feedback in my opinion which is why i still somewhat miss old cellphones with real keyboards. Also i think our primal brain actually prefers having switches and buttons, just as kids do from the earliest years. I am pretty sure there as also been some research into worsening performance from pilots when testing touch screens because you have loose the sense of both shape, touch and placement (space) - that's a lot of data you are sacrificing for the dynamism of a touchscreen. Humans a tactile creatures and cold/hard/featureless glass screens are just not still as appealing as buttons and switches. It wouldn't actually surprise me if you got less of a dopamine response when typing on a glass screen compared to something with way more feedback, say an old keyboard with a lot of travel or a typewriter if you want to go crazy (as some authors do exactly because they feel like typing on modern keyboards is frustrating and "responseless"). This is also why i think a bit of DIY or gardening can be such a relief especially these days, because when you work with tech there is no feedback at all compared to real toolwork. And it seems to be worsening. Today is already way different than the tactile feedback you got with a computer from 2002 with a keyboard that said "click", where you could feel a "micro sense" of accomplishment/affirmation when you pushed it, then listen to harddisk respond with the "reading" sound. Sounds have also largely been removed and for good reason but this combined with all other feedback being removed and using tech can feel like yelling at a stone wall sometimes. The other day i tried using an old compaq computer from 1999 and i swear i got asmr-tingles and quite a dopamine rush just from the clickity-clack of it all, the harddisk sound, the small thraschan animation and sounds etc. Not just nostalgia but just the joy of getting feedback.
- NeedMoreTea 7y ago
  I entirely and wholly agree. We may be out of fashion with the cool "touch is the answer to everything, even when it's the wrong answer" kids. You may be interested, if you don't already know it, in Brett Victor's marvellous canonical rant on the topic - he calls touch "pictures under glass", as it's not really touch is it? http://worrydream.com/#!/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign http://worrydream.com/#!/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionD...
  - kossTKR 7y ago
    Thanks! That was great.
damnyou 7y ago
When you are kind to your wrists and use an external keyboard 90% of the time, it's hard to embrace a weird alternative input mechanism the other 10%.

by dvcrn 7y ago

jryan49 7y ago

I did I can't muscle memory anything because of the lack of tactile feedback. I have to look down everytime. I use the F keys a lot for intellij

zchrykng 7y ago

You have to actually look at it to use it, which makes it categorically worse than the older real keys. Also until you have access to it on desktops and all of the laptops it doesn't make sense to adapt your workflow to it if you use multiple computers.

kossTKR 7y ago

I have one of the first versions from work. And i am all for embracing if it actually made editing/coding faster for me but i just doesn't. I thinks the idea is fine if the function keys were still there. Rant alert on tech-tactility: I know it's pure anecdata but using the "sense of touch" when typing must surely be faster than having to context-switch while you have to precisely target a point on the screen with no sense-data to go with it. I feel "alienated" by the cold dead glass texture of modern interfaces on large hard glass screens. There is just not enough feedback in my opinion which is why i still somewhat miss old cellphones with real keyboards. Also i think our primal brain actually prefers having switches and buttons, just as kids do from the earliest years. I am pretty sure there as also been some research into worsening performance from pilots when testing touch screens because you have loose the sense of both shape, touch and placement (space) - that's a lot of data you are sacrificing for the dynamism of a touchscreen. Humans a tactile creatures and cold/hard/featureless glass screens are just not still as appealing as buttons and switches. It wouldn't actually surprise me if you got less of a dopamine response when typing on a glass screen compared to something with way more feedback, say an old keyboard with a lot of travel or a typewriter if you want to go crazy (as some authors do exactly because they feel like typing on modern keyboards is frustrating and "responseless"). This is also why i think a bit of DIY or gardening can be such a relief especially these days, because when you work with tech there is no feedback at all compared to real toolwork. And it seems to be worsening. Today is already way different than the tactile feedback you got with a computer from 2002 with a keyboard that said "click", where you could feel a "micro sense" of accomplishment/affirmation when you pushed it, then listen to harddisk respond with the "reading" sound. Sounds have also largely been removed and for good reason but this combined with all other feedback being removed and using tech can feel like yelling at a stone wall sometimes. The other day i tried using an old compaq computer from 1999 and i swear i got asmr-tingles and quite a dopamine rush just from the clickity-clack of it all, the harddisk sound, the small thraschan animation and sounds etc. Not just nostalgia but just the joy of getting feedback.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago
I entirely and wholly agree. We may be out of fashion with the cool "touch is the answer to everything, even when it's the wrong answer" kids. You may be interested, if you don't already know it, in Brett Victor's marvellous canonical rant on the topic - he calls touch "pictures under glass", as it's not really touch is it? http://worrydream.com/#!/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign http://worrydream.com/#!/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionD...
- kossTKR 7y ago
  Thanks! That was great.

damnyou 7y ago

When you are kind to your wrists and use an external keyboard 90% of the time, it's hard to embrace a weird alternative input mechanism the other 10%.