Hacker News Reader

Comment by dillondoyle | Hacker News Reader

My biggest beaf with the TouchBar: volume takes two clicks! Instead of an up down and mute button, I get mute and volume which then opens a slider to the left of the click. So instead of just clicking once to lower volume I have to click, move my finger and slide. It would be so easy to allow custom button to add back on (and maybe there is that I haven't been able to find?)

I also accidentally 'touch my pinky finger when typing my password (numbers) and it registers as touch even though I'm not applying downward force. In Chrome thank god I could remove the refresh button, would accidentally refresh login pages all the time.

View on HN

A couple things: you don’t have to click volume and then move to the slider, you can just touch the volume button and begin sliding immediately and it will adjust relative to how you slide. Also, if you go into System Preferences—>Keyboard, you can customize the keys, including adding a dedicated mute button.

When users have to fiddle with settings to do the things they could do before without fiddling, what have you achieved? Apple used to be the UX good guys, now they are the devil in disguise.

You don’t have to fiddle. Just click the default visble one and drag

>>Apple used to be the UX good guys

Apple had one person who was good at UX. And that guy is dead for years now. His product pipeline can't be milked further to make more money.

From here onwards its just your usual managers running the show.

Don Norman may be over 80, but not dead I think ;)

Maybe I'm missing it or my os is not up to date? These are the settings I get, I only see mute and single volume button: https://imgur.com/a/CIgz3

Nevermind comment below showed where to find it, you have to change Touch Bar shows to expanded - which having had this computer for like a year I never found. I'm probably not the most advanced, especially compared to HN users who live in vim like many people here, but still I make a living on my computer and use it 12+ hours a day - feels kind of silly that I'm just now figuring that out (thanks to someone explaining it).

> you don’t have to click volume and then move to the slider, you can just touch the volume button and begin sliding immediately

Woooow, this is a revelation. Thank you!

You can just put your finger on the slider key and slide. No need for tap, let go, slide. It's pretty natural.

A twist on the old if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest riddle: If a hidden gesture exists but nobody knows it, does it really exist?

You know now.

How is it a hidden gesture? It's literally shown in every marketing video and advertisement since demo day.

And yet somehow you still have someone (who I assume is a poweruser) who doesn't know about its existence.

But to answer your question: It's hidden because it doesn't have a graphic representation on the device itself. Nothing on the volume button indicates that it's somehow a hidden slider.

its as hidden as control-alt-delete.

>>It's literally shown in every marketing video and advertisement since demo day.

The whole point of a good UI is you shouldn't be reading a manual and watching videos to do X, Y and Z.

Apple used to be a pioneer at things like this.

Sad things have come down to this.

You can add "Volume Up" and "Volume Down" keys, along with other useful functions, in the initial touchbar view by going to the settings.

I've been wanting to do this for ages, but I can only find the volume slider! Could you tell me how to put Volume Up and Down buttons on there please?

It's hidden weirdly.... go to "Keyboard" prefs pane and "Keyboard" tab (initial one shown when you bring it up.

At "Touch Bar shows".... change that from "App Controls with Control Strip" to "Expanded Control Strip". Then you will see the individual buttons. You can then further "Customize Control Strip..." and you will now see more buttons. But you will also loose "App Control".

Of course, why can't those specific buttons be a customization option there with "App Control with Control Strip" forcing you to choose between volume up/down and "App Control"? Because Apple.

Savior! Thanks. I feel really dumb for not knowing about this, but my ego is going to blame Apple. Just in general feels rushed all over for many many things - this is (was) just my personal biggest gripe!

> But you will also loose "App Control".

For fuck's sake... Thanks for the "upgrade", Apple.

I was having the rogue pinky issue as well. I disabled the app awareness of the touchbar and then added flex space to that area where my pinky would hit. It works great but now the touch bar is useless (which is fine by me).

>Instead of an up down and mute button, I get mute and volume which then opens a slider to the left of the click. So instead of just clicking once to lower volume I have to click, move my finger and slide.

Hah, You couldn't make this stuff up... GUIs were borne out of a hatred of highly context based keyboard behaviour (VI, Xerox Parc), now Apple go full circle and revert to context hell by combining a keyboard with a touchscreen GUI. Goodbye Apple, it was nice knowing you.

Read the other comments here and try it out for yourself. The single volume button is a slider itself. You don't have to touch twice.

This same UI is found on other touch screens including my Honda's dashboard.

aaaaaandd as usual the inevitable fan boy down votes ensue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com