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A comment on Return of the Mac (2005). Parent comment

Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by nilkn on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:01PM (#12850454)
I think the Touch Bar has potential, to be honest. The main selling point is that it offers apps a way to make previously hidden functionality much more discoverable. The traditional row of function keys is flexible and simple, but it also places a lot of demands on the user -- it's up to you to research what each key does in all possible contexts and to commit that to memory. The odds are very high that there exists at least one context in which some function key performs a function that would be useful to you but you weren't aware of it. The Touch Bar could be a remedy to this situation.

That said, I haven't used it and don't want to sing its praises too early. But I also don't want to wish it dead on arrival.

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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by tiglionabbit on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:10PM (#12850547)
Macbooks don't have a row of "function keys" though. They have a row of keys that do very specific things in the OS:

* Adjust screen brightness (x2)

* Adjust volume and mute (x3)

* Adjust keyboard brightness (x2)

* Power button (x1)

* Play/pause and next/previous (x3)

* Rearrange the desktop windows (x2)

So, if you launch an app that uses the touch bar, will you lose the ability to adjust the brightness and volume?

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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by glhaynes on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:12PM (#12850558)
No, a portion of the bar (the "Control Strip") is always reserved for system stuff and can be expanded to full width with a tap.
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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by DashRattlesnake on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:25PM (#12850644)
> Macbooks don't have a row of "function keys" though. They have a row of keys that do very specific things in the OS

If you look closely, those keys have things like "F1", "F2", etc. written on them. They're function keys.

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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by redbeard0x0a on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:34PM (#12850726)
They are actually 2 modes (you switch between the OS keys and the Fx keys by pressing the fn key). There is also an OS setting to switch which mode is enabled by-default (without pressing the fn key).
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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by jimbokun on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @07:15PM (#12850993)
Right, so TouchBar increases the number of possible modes to basically infinity. Isn't there already a way to make the TouchBar just render the function keys?
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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by Jtsummers on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @07:51PM (#12851195)
Yes. Now the Touch Bar will (by default) display the function keys when the `fn` key is pressed, and display the current set of functionality per the application otherwise. There is, per the presentation and reports, an OS setting that allows you to switch which is the default.
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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by cauterized on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:34PM (#12850725)
One of the first things I do on a new Mac is to toggle the preference that lets you use the function keys and function keys and the "fn" modifier to coerce them to do things like volume control. Macs (until now) absolutely do have function keys for anyone who wants them.
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Re:Return of the Mac (2005) by tdb7893 on Tuesday November 01, 2016 @06:19PM (#12850609)
The only one of those I use regularly is volume. As long as they have an easy way to change volume I think the touchbar is a good thing
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