Desktop keyboards often have the function keys in groups of 4, making touch typing all of them easy.
Re:16-inch MacBook Pro
by jcranberry on Wednesday November 13, 2019 @10:43AM
(#21525334)
The latter. Maybe it's not that hard to learn but I suppose I've never really felt inclined to try and touch type since hitting the wrong function key can have a higher "cost" than just typing a wrong letter. Bringing up a help dialog, going full screen, developer console, etc.
Re:16-inch MacBook Pro
by Wowfunhappy on Thursday November 14, 2019 @09:07AM
(#21535411)
fwiw, this isn't something I've consciously "learned", just something I've discovered I can do over time.
I can't do the former, but I can absolutely do the latter. I can change the volume and brightness without looking down, and do so all the time.
Maybe I'm unusual, but I don't think I am—it's not that hard to learn by feel which keys are towards the opposite ends of the top row.
What I can't do without looking is access the middle keys, namely F4–F9. If Apple wanted to put a touch-bar there, I'd find that perfectly acceptable—I wouldn't consider it a downgrade, at least. The bar would be pretty small by that point though.