Josh Centers wanted to do a TidBITS piece on innovative uses of the MacBook Touch Bar. Things did not go as planned.
What’s wrong with the Touch Bar
Josh Centers wanted to do a TidBITS piece on innovative uses of the MacBook Touch Bar. Things did not go as planned.
I completely agree with the article. To make the Touch Bar useful, to be what we all initially envisioned, it has to be able to do things that you otherwise couldn’t do with the standard row of function keys or without jumping though hoops with the regular app interface. As long as Apple keeps it limited to things like “Bold, Italics, Underline” or “Volume Up or Down”, it’s actually worse than what we had before.
We need “Free the Touch Bar!” t-shirts! My guess is they will once they’re shipping a Touch Bar enabled keyboard for desktops.
Apple needs to make the Touch Bar a build to order option for MacBook Pro. It would bring down the cost of the MBP too. I imagine if they did make it BTO, orders of the Touch Bar would plummet to perhaps 20% of machines.
Perhaps Touch Bar would be more tolerated if it was above the ESC & FN keys rather than replacing them?
Personally I have not met a single “pro” user who likes the Touch Bar or who wants the Touch Bar. Even in the prominent online Mac community, many semi-famous users are getting the weaker 13″ model because it does not have a Touch Bar. Is Apple listening?
It was also very revealing to me that I don’t recall a single mention of the Touch Bar during WWDC keynote. Surely Apple is aware that few users want this thing and that it hobbles a “pro” machine with the very unprofessional lets-look-at-your-keyboard as if we’re all learning how to type in 2nd grade again. Make it optional
PS: I want a physical escape key, I use it constantly throughout the day.
Since its introduction, the Touch Bar has struck me as one of those new Apple ideas that takes at least a couple of product cycles to nail down.
My continuing thanks to all those out there who are generously testing it for me. 😉