I am just getting used to my new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and while I cannot say that the Touch Bar has changed the way I work, YET; I do think that it may!
The things I use the most now are the Siri button and the fingerprint sensor. I am also using it with AirMail and love the big red “Move to Trash” button. If the app you are using is optimized for the Touch Bar you may be able to customize it for the way you work. When I am working on my inbox we have one set of Touch Bar helpers and when I am in the middle of writing an email I have another set of useful buttons.
But where are my function keys? Well, I never use function keys but if you need your function keys it is simply a matter of pressing the “fn” key at the bottom left of the keyboard and your beautiful Touch Bar is transported back in time to function keys.
When you are in the Finder the Control Strip on the right side of the Touch Bar shows a few familiar buttons like volume, mute, and display brightness, as well as Siri. The Escape (Esc) button appears on the left side of the Touch Bar.
In Safari you can just touch one of your favorites and safari surfs right over. Once you are there, the Touch Bar will show you open tabs, just touch to open, a back and forward arrow, home button and of course, you can customize it to add things like history, autofill or sidebar.
In Photos, the Touch Bar speeds your search for just the right photo as you slide your finger across the thumbnails. You can tap to mark a selected photo as a favorite or tap rotate it. After you select a photo, tap to see editing options (crop, filters, adjust, retouch, and red-eye). You can edit your photo using controls that appear on the Touch Bar.
It is pretty cool in Maps, too, but I don’t know how many people are navigating with their MacBook Pros. You can find yourself by tapping in the Touch Bar to find your location. Tap the search field to type where you want to go. See what’s nearby. The Touch Bar shows buttons with categories of nearby locations, like restaurants, hotels, and gas stations. Get there: When you select a location to visit, you see options for getting directions, calling the business, or viewing its website.
In most apps you can customize the Touch Bar. Choose View -> Customize Touch Bar. The customization window appears on your display, allowing you to choose your favorite items. When you’re customizing the Touch Bar, its buttons jiggle like on your iPhone, and you see the Done button on the left side.
Use your cursor to drag items that you want down into the actual Touch Bar. You can also drag items left and right within the Touch Bar to rearrange them, or drag them up and out of the Touch Bar to remove them. Tap Done in the Touch Bar or click Done on the screen when you finish.
Apple hasn’t forgotten about accessibility either. As an example, you can activate Voice Over by pressing the command key and tapping the Touch ID button three times. VoiceOver tells you what’s on your screen, and walks you through actions like selecting a menu option or activating a button using your keyboard or trackpad. It can also tell you what’s on your Touch Bar.
You can use Touch Bar Zoom to if you enable it in the Accessibility system preference. This allows you to touch and drag with one finger on the Touch Bar to see a zoomed view of the Touch Bar on your display.
You can change the magnification level by holding down the Command key and use a two-finger pinch gesture or while panning with one finger, quickly tap with a second finger to synthesize a tap where your first finger is. Hold the second finger down and move both fingers together to synthesize a tap down and drag where your first finger is. Hold your finger still in one location to enter direct-touch mode, which allows you to interact directly with the control under your finger.
I think that the Touch Bar is a pretty amazing innovation that may really make a difference in how I interact with my Mac. I did not think that I would use it much with my external keyboard and display but I am moving my MacBook Pro closer and closer so I can use the Touch Bar to do things like delete mail or surf through my photos.