Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Hide My Bar 1.5

ClemStation (via Dave Teare):

Double press a control key to Turn off the Touch Bar and keep focusing on your current task.

Don’t let an accidental tap on the Touch Bar slow you down or ruin your work. With Hide My Bar never hit the Touch Bar by accident, again!

ClemStation:

The API used to turn off the Touch Bar is private and Apple only allows use of public APIs for apps to be published on the App Store.

Francisco Tolmasky:

Also, I love that the TouchBar has fully grown into a bizarre Pro-only feature that Pros hate but that’s excused away as “you don’t get it because it’s for the average user!”

Previously:

3 Comments RSS · Twitter

I really don’t understand why so many people hates it and the at the same time aren't they just fogy?

I've found a way to disable the touch bar until you hit the FN key. The downside is you need to choose between function keys and the control strip - you can't have both. YMMV

1. In Automator create a new workflow
2. Save the workflow. I used an emoji for the filename - whatever you use, keep in mind this will appear in the touch bar
3. In System Preferences > Keyboard set it up like this: http://nlee.me/1JlvoG. Set "Press and hold Fn key to" to whatever you prefer

Not a perfect solution by far, but this has made a huge difference in my general frustration level now that I no longer accidental trigger stuff in the touch bar while typing.

For me at least, the Touch Bar is fundamentally flawed because in order to use it, I have to look away from what I'm doing and shift my gaze down at the keyboard. The whole point of a keyboard is to not look at it and instead focus on what you're using the keyboard for. A Touch Bar that keeps stealing attention from the main screen with its ever-changing modes and appearances is, for me, a recipe for frustration.

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