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I despised the early incarnation of the TouchBar. I live in Vim, and while I use a 'jj' binding for most Esc scenarios, I still need an actual Escape key. Beyon
by caymanjim 6y ago
I despised the early incarnation of the TouchBar. I live in Vim, and while I use a 'jj' binding for most Esc scenarios, I still need an actual Escape key. Beyond that, I had three brand-new MacBooks die in the first year with TouchBar failures. It also coincided with the disastrous new keyboard (multiple failures there too). It was enough to make me buy a ThinkPad and swear off literally all Apple products for a few years.
My new job just sent me a new MacBook, and I was dreading it. I'm happy to report that it has a physical Escape key (smaller and imperfect, but sufficient), and the keyboard feels better overall. I still don't want the TouchBar, and still get no use out of it, but it no longer enrages me. I'm open to accepting and even embracing it if I ever see a good use case. One thing that continues to bother me is that it changes as I'm typing, and I don't want that. But I can see a path for apps to use it in a positive way.
- bargle0 6y agoI mapped caps lock to escape.
- caymanjim 6y agoThat's where Control belongs!
- rovr138 6y agoThank you!
- draebek 6y agoFYI there are various utilities (Hammerspoon and Karabiner Elements, off the top of my head) that can make caps lock act as escape if pressed and released, control if used in conjunction with other keys. This took some getting used to, but thanks to the Touch Bar, I got used to it and now I find it invaluable. YMMV of course.
- jrib 6y agoI agree with both of you :) https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ has an option that maps caps lock to control when press in conjunction with another key and as escape when pressed alone
- chefandy 6y agoI have 20+ years of muscle memory that pushes my pinky into that upper-left-hand corner. No way that's going to change.
- moe 6y agoIf you want to try it, grab https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ Activate the complex modification called "Change caps_lock to control if pressed with other keys, to escape if pressed alone". Now you have a capslock key that doubles as control and escape and your pinky can begin recovering from the decades of abuse.
- fphilipe 6y agoctrl-[ can also be used as escape (I think escape sends that control sequence in the terminal). With caps-lock mapped to ctrl, typing it is not too far off from the home-row.