5 ms·

My sole use of the touchbar is adjusting sound volume. Sometimes adjusting brightness. That's it. I like the idea of a dynamic input system. But in my opinion

My sole use of the touchbar is adjusting sound volume. Sometimes adjusting brightness. That's it. I like the idea of a dynamic input system. But in my opinion the execution is just terrible. Sometimes when I'm typing something in the terminal I accidentally press the touchbar and the man page pops up, which is mildly infuriating.

varispeed 5y ago
These little things is what stops me from buying a Mac. I am sure the touchbar would drive me crazy and removed any joy from using the machine. I have not looked lately, but remember also the keyboard had some important keys missing that would be useful for me.
- brokenmachine 5y ago
  On that note, can any of you Apple people tell me how to access the Insert key and Function keys on a Mac laptop?
mFixman 5y ago
It's a pity because holding and sliding the Touchbar to change the volume and brightness using the touch bar is much faster and more accurate than pressing buttons N times. There's a lot of good customisation options for the Touchbar if you use a third party tool like BetterTouchTool. It's Apple's loss to not give the user full control of it in the first place.
- whywhywhywhy 5y ago
  Can you do it without looking though? I can adjust my MBP volume without opening my eyes if I'm using it to play podcasts when trying to sleep. We moved from a brightness and sound ui that can be operated by touch and feel alone to one that required a context switch.
- makecheck 5y ago
  It really wasn’t, though; you could always hold down modifier keys like Option for really precise volume adjustments, for example. And since these keys can be found by feeling for them, it was a lot easier to just memorize how to tweak settings. I for one will never miss the Touch Bar.
  - erikpukinskis 5y ago
    Adjusting the volume on the touchbar for me is very stressful. I have to look down and aim very carefully to find the button. The buttons still don’t make sense to me, I know there’s a visual indication when I’m muted, but there’s also a button to mute, and I’m not sure what I’m looking at. Then I have to tap and wait until I have visual confirmation that I have the grabber. Then I can adjust and hope I don’t confuse the trackpad by moving my finger at slightly the wrong angle. Then I have to pray that it doesn’t crash the touchbar, which seems to happen ~50% of the time. Adjusting volume on my new MBP has been a nightmare compared to my old MBA. I actually added the volume control to the menu bar because, while slower to operate, that seems less likely to crash.
    - mFixman 5y ago
      You don't have to tap the touchbar, you can just hold and slide it. It's easier to make both large and precise movements with your fingers. I just like it. Maybe it's because I can find the button in the touchbar without looking, but I don't really understand why increasing the volume in their laptop so very stressful for some people.
      - erikpukinskis 5y ago
        The delay is awful though. I slide my finger, and then the slider takes a full second to animate over to the right position. If I try to slide it back, the thing jumps around like a crazed monkey. All the while the volume goes up to ear melting levels and back down again while I’m frantically trying to control it. It’s like riding a mechanical bull. If the latency were something under a second it might be reasonable, but it’s not.

varispeed 5y ago

These little things is what stops me from buying a Mac. I am sure the touchbar would drive me crazy and removed any joy from using the machine. I have not looked lately, but remember also the keyboard had some important keys missing that would be useful for me.

brokenmachine 5y ago
On that note, can any of you Apple people tell me how to access the Insert key and Function keys on a Mac laptop?

mFixman 5y ago

It's a pity because holding and sliding the Touchbar to change the volume and brightness using the touch bar is much faster and more accurate than pressing buttons N times. There's a lot of good customisation options for the Touchbar if you use a third party tool like BetterTouchTool. It's Apple's loss to not give the user full control of it in the first place.

whywhywhywhy 5y ago
Can you do it without looking though? I can adjust my MBP volume without opening my eyes if I'm using it to play podcasts when trying to sleep. We moved from a brightness and sound ui that can be operated by touch and feel alone to one that required a context switch.
makecheck 5y ago
It really wasn’t, though; you could always hold down modifier keys like Option for really precise volume adjustments, for example. And since these keys can be found by feeling for them, it was a lot easier to just memorize how to tweak settings. I for one will never miss the Touch Bar.
- erikpukinskis 5y ago
  Adjusting the volume on the touchbar for me is very stressful. I have to look down and aim very carefully to find the button. The buttons still don’t make sense to me, I know there’s a visual indication when I’m muted, but there’s also a button to mute, and I’m not sure what I’m looking at. Then I have to tap and wait until I have visual confirmation that I have the grabber. Then I can adjust and hope I don’t confuse the trackpad by moving my finger at slightly the wrong angle. Then I have to pray that it doesn’t crash the touchbar, which seems to happen ~50% of the time. Adjusting volume on my new MBP has been a nightmare compared to my old MBA. I actually added the volume control to the menu bar because, while slower to operate, that seems less likely to crash.
  - mFixman 5y ago
    You don't have to tap the touchbar, you can just hold and slide it. It's easier to make both large and precise movements with your fingers. I just like it. Maybe it's because I can find the button in the touchbar without looking, but I don't really understand why increasing the volume in their laptop so very stressful for some people.
    - erikpukinskis 5y ago
      The delay is awful though. I slide my finger, and then the slider takes a full second to animate over to the right position. If I try to slide it back, the thing jumps around like a crazed monkey. All the while the volume goes up to ear melting levels and back down again while I’m frantically trying to control it. It’s like riding a mechanical bull. If the latency were something under a second it might be reasonable, but it’s not.