Touch Bar — better to start over than to rely on old promises
2002 — first iMac experience in a Museum. Input: Mouse
2008 — first iMac used as a working device in agencies. Input: Keyboard + mouse
2010 — first MacBook Pro, own work device. Input : Keyboard + graphic tablet
2016 — second MacBook Pro, own working device. Input: Keyboard + Touch Bar + graphic tablet
All the years that I worked with different customers in different companies I always matched my working process with the right applications. So, in the last two years when I used Sketch instead of Photoshop for UI/UX designs it means that I decided myself for a small but powerful App because its focus is made for that kind of projects. One has to consider that Photoshop once started as photo editor program but changed to a product which is overfilled with functions which are not useful for my daily projects.
„New” doesn’t really mean „better”, nope!, but I just like to see all sides and get an overview of what is used nowadays, and get to know why it should be better of what is used as a standard. Similar to Photoshop and Sketch I think about the F-Buttons and the Touch Bar.
What they do here is essential for the view on a control input which is used daily- which means that buttons that always have been there but anyway never get used as simple F1-F12/19 buttons anymore are unnecessary now. Seems like the F buttons have a double life since a long time ago. Their description has been repressed and replaced by new icons which are responsible for the regulation of a screen and the volume.
The days of DOS when the F-1 button where connected with an option window or the F-2 button were responsible for renaming of files and folders are over. These functions have never been accessible in a visual way for the customers so they often stood unknown for the user.
In my own view as a designer, I can see the change clearly:
Icons before Text / depiction for everyone before hiding for some
In 2016 it finally came better to start over than to rely on old promises.
Remove F buttons, replace them by OLED touch. My theory that the McBook Pro starts with that new style is not a coincidence. New technology is expensive and the pro series has always been at the top of the price class.
Now you get a group of users with the following features:
a) the ones who use their MacBooks to work with and earn money
b) Users who are willing to pay more for new technology and are hungry for new knowledge
c) Users in a professional environment, where you can see if and how the new input can be used
After the new technology got cheaper and the expert user gave their seal on it, there will be an update on other devices too, which are not labeled as „pro” products.
The question is not if the new input makes sense or not but how the input can be used to optimize my workflow without remembering new shortcuts and make it able to work faster.
After 72 hours of using, I can see many benefits, no matter if it is the replacing of a Mouse by a graphic tablet or the F buttons by the Touch Bar. I am looking forward to new apps which will be optimized for the Touch Bar.
Zeus
