You can rearrange the settings buttons in setting, and very few apps let you change up what it can do. Very Limited Versatility – Big surprise, Apple really limits how they want you to use the Touch Bar.It’s particularly galling to see a paste widget as the first Touch Bar option. But even where support does exist, most only offer graphical replacements for keyboard shortcuts. Microsoft Office is actually one of the better implemented. As expected Apple apps are fairly well sorted. Big names like Slack, Tweetbot, and Firefox are dead to the interface. Support is Laughably Incomplete – Of the apps I use every day, about half greet me with a blank Touch Bar.Not having Google Docs or WordPress specific Touch Bar functionality feels so limiting. The Touch Bar is numb to web apps – While most major browsers have some basic Touch Bar functionality, web apps have no hooks into it.But there are substantial issues with this implementation: I think the idea of having application specific buttons still has a lot of potential. ![]() But to be honest, I used it docked with a monitor and external keyboard 95% of the time. If I used it on the road more, I might take issue with the battery life or keyboard. I have a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (even the name is bad) for work. The MBP may be the most popular computer Apple sells right now (although I don’t even know if that’s true or to what degree), but how can you expect developers to invest time and effort into adding interface features a large number of users have no access to? It’s baffling. Low-end MBPs, MacBooks, MacBook Airs, iMacs and Mac Pros have no access to the interface, not even via an accessory. Apple limits the Touch Bar to a subset of a single line of computers, the MacBook Pro. Sure they iterated on it, but outside of the Shuffle, the traditional iPod’s all shared that interaction design. Imagine if they included the scroll wheel on only one generation of iPod. It’s no wonder it doesn’t work all that well.Īpple further exacerbated this by making it an extremely limited interface. This is by definition a compromise on the idea of touch interaction. The Surface tablets have adjustable hinges and detachable keyboards to make the touch experience more native. ![]() Microsoft’s response to this was to create a line of devices that were “lapable” tablets. Personally I think Apple just doesn’t want fingerprints smudging up their pretty displays. ![]() With the introduction of the redesigned MacBook Air in 2010, Steve Jobs said a laptop touch screen is “ergonomically terrible.” This may be a bit of exaggeration, but it’s not ideal on a typical laptop some of the time. I am of course speaking of the Touch Bar.Įven as touch screens have become fairly standard in the Windows world, Apple has purposely resisted the tide for at least the past eight years. But it seems fair to say their attempt at a more reasonable touch interface for laptops hasn’t gone well. The jury is still out if the “digital crown” will carry a similar impact on wearables. When Apple makes interface decisions, there’s a track record of success. Most famously, their choices around multitouch gestures for iOS have come to define touchscreen interactions for more than a decade. They were pretty early on in being bullish on mice for navigating GUIs (albeit with a steadfast hatred of multiple buttons) and they came up with a unique paradigm to make the iPod a one-handed device. Historically, Apple is pretty good about choosing interfaces for their devices. ![]()
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