GoldenChaos-BTT: The complete Touch Bar UI replacement

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! This one is a big boi update, with several long-awaited features and fixes for the settings window and dock.

If the updates in this version are successful, we've finally crossed the biggest hurdle preventing me from calling this release stable, and there are only small items left on my list after that.

GoldenChaos-BTT 2.814 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Settings Window] The settings window should now work properly even if you've never used GC-BTT before.
  • If you are encounter any red boxes in the settings window in this update, please post in the support thread and let me know.
  • If this works, this completes the first version of the settings window!
• [Dock Badges] Dock badges now get their value from a built-in BTT variable that uses MUCH less energy
  • Because of this energy improvement, all dock badge scripts are now enabled by default and can display their numbers even if the corresponding app isn't running.
  • If a badge for an app that is not running is present, tapping it will launch the app.
  • You can still disable individual dock badges in the settings window.
    • This may not be necessary, but I'm curious what energy gains there are to be had by turning some off. I haven't tested this myself, so please give it a shot and let me know if it matters. If it doesn't, I'll just leave them all on all the time and remove the settings panel for dock badges entirely.
• [Do Not Disturb Detection] GC-BTT now uses the new built-in BTT Do Not Disturb variable to detect this setting instead of manually checking the system.
  • It's faster and more reliable than the previous detection method.
• [Microphone Mute] Added GoToMeeting detection to the Microphone Mute key.
• [Open GC-BTT Settings Window Key] Fixed the settings gear being rendered black for some reason.
  • It's got a fresh new gear icon, too!

Known Issues

• [BTT Issue] The menu bar will briefly blink when modifier menus are invoked. (@Andreas_Hegenberg - any updates on fixing this?)
• [BTT Issue] The Play/Pause button may not update properly inside the Now Playing Actions group.

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 2.814 (Experimental)

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version!

GC-BTT now initializes the settings menu properly, guaranteed. No more red rows, no more settings not flipping, things should work now even if you've never installed GC-BTT before.

This new version uses a much more intelligent way of making sure that all of the GC-BTT settings variables are set before you are let into the settings window. This way also has redundancy in two stages, so even if the first stage fails it gets caught by the second stage and finishes the GC-BTT setup before the settings window finishes loading.

The first stage was added to the latest BTT alpha, 2.825, and lets you run a named trigger on import. This new trigger sets all the variables to their default settings if they're not already set, and then sets the variable "init_complete" to "complete".

If the first stage was not able to finish for whatever reason - for example, BTT restarting in the middle of the import - the second stage is a pretty foolproof fallback. A JS loop in the settings window itself checks the "init_complete" variable to see if the initialization from the import actually finished. If it didn't, it runs the initialization on-the-fly before it finishes loading the settings menu.

Both of these stages actually trigger the same script - it just gets two chances to finish running. The result is that all the switches in the settings menu should be finally flipped properly when you first install GC-BTT.

We're just a few more versions away from stable now, I'd say

GoldenChaos-BTT 2.825 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Settings] Improved initialization trigger with "init_complete" variable detection
• [Settings] Renamed initialization trigger so that works with the new BTT feature to run itself on preset import
• [Settings Window] Added "init_complete" check to settings window to prevent against import issues

Known Issues

• [BTT Issue] The menu bar will briefly blink when modifier menus are invoked.
• [BTT Issue] The Play/Pause button may not update properly inside the Now Playing Actions group.

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 2.825 (Experimental)

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! Another big update. With the settings menu now (mostly) out of the way, I've been able to focus on highly requested features and polish.

GoldenChaos-BTT 2.850 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Menu Bar] New Battery widget with optional percentage display
  • You can long-press on it to view the in-progress system information modal, but it's still a ways from being done and only shows battery information at the moment.
• [Menu Bar] New Connect to Bose widget
• [Things] You can now long-press on the Things widget to see your next ten tasks
  • I don't use Things, so I can't test this one. Could anyone using Things confirm that this feature works properly?
• [Dock Badges] Reverted default dock badge settings to Apple apps only
  • The new dock badges use almost no energy, but there are still performance benefits to disabling unused badges!
• [Settings Window] Made it more obvious how to upgrade with a new "Upgrading" section label and improved button text
• [Settings Window] Better logical grouping and annotations for settings in the Menu Bar tab
• [Settings Window] Links in the About tab actually work now
• [BetterTouchTool Preferences] Added some basic upgrading instructions inside the BTT Preferences window under the GC-BTT keyboard shortcuts
• [Initialization] Added GC-BTT version number variable and version number check to initialization script to ensure that it re-initializes new variables after upgrading

Known Issues

• The Battery and Bose menu bar items fail to update properly when restoring settings.

• [BetterTouchTool Issue] The Now Playing widget stays visible even if no players are open.
• [BetterTouchTool Issue] The Play/Pause button does not update its appearance inside of widget groups.
• [BetterTouchTool Issue] The menu bar will briefly blink when modifier menus are invoked.

Screenshots

^{New battery and Bose menu bar widgets.}

^{Optional battery percentage display.}

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 2.850 (Experimental)

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! I swear these are actually close to stable. To prove it, I am listing my remaining roadmap to the next stable release!

You can absolutely use this version as a daily driver, it's just not something I'd recommend using for six months straight without an upgrade.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.061 (Experimental) Changelog

• Full compatibility with macOS 10.15 Catalina
  • Truth be told, the only thing that needed to be added was support for the new Music app! And it was as easy as copying the iTunes scripts and changing "iTunes" to "Music". Behold, full Catalina compatibility!
• [Dock Badges] New dock badges for:
  • Apple Calendar
  • Reminders
  • Fantastical
  • Things
  • WeChat
  • QQ
  • Maipo (Weibo client)

Roadmap to Stable

• Updated handoff support for badges based on @yuuiko's provided code
• The "last" round of new app badges (lol)
  • Carrot
  • Deliveries
  • OmniFocus
• Finish system information group
  • Polish up battery widget displays
  • CPU usage widget
  • CPU temperature widget
  • Memory usage widget
  • Storage information (multi-volume maybe?)
• Completely disable modifier menus (without side effects)
  • This one is the big boi that I've been putting off. Until I do this, disabling modifier menus just doesn't behave how I want it to.
• Add the ability to name your AirPods/Beats/Bose inside GC-BTT settings
  • Okay, this one is also another big boi.
• OmniFocus support with OmniFocus tasks widget group
• Picture in Picture button
• Finish window snapper multi-monitor support
• Window snapper style tuneups
• Split Safari and Chrome browser tab widgets
• Add True Tone button state toggle color
• Add Night Shift button state toggle color

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.061 (Experimental)

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! Emergency bug fix for the new Apple Calendar and Reminders badges.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.063 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Settings] Fixed Apple Calendar and Reminders setting switches being accidentally set to switch the wrong things

New Mirrors

Since a few folks reported about the sharing site downtime yesterday, I've decided to upload mirrors of the current stable and experimental versions to GitHub. The sharing site will still always be the canonical way to get the preset, but I just wanted to provide a mirror in case the sharing site ever does experience issues.

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.063 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! More bug fixes, plus a brand new Dock widget to replace the App Switcher widget!

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065 (Experimental) Changelog

• [App Switcher] App Switcher is now Dock, it always reflects your current dock and can launch apps!
• [Things] Fixed Things widgets not calling the correct app name
• [Fantastical] Improved reliability when launching or activating Fantastical from Fantastical widgets

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! This adds improved handoff support to dock badges.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065-2 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Dock Badges] Updated badges with @yuuiko's new badge code
  • Improved handoff detection using BTT's dock variables
  • Number badges only appear if the app is running
  • Handoff badges can still appear when the app is closed
  • If a number badge and handoff badge are present at the same time, the number badge will take priority.
    • Would people prefer that Handoff take priority? If you have feelings about this please post in the support thread

Roadmap to Stable

• The "last" round of new app badges
  • Carrot
  • Deliveries
  • OmniFocus
• Finish system information group
  • Polish up battery widget displays
  • CPU usage widget
  • CPU temperature widget
  • Memory usage widget
  • Storage information (multi-volume maybe?)
• Completely disable modifier menus (without side effects)
• Add the ability to name your AirPods/Beats/Bose inside GC-BTT settings
• OmniFocus support with OmniFocus tasks widget group
• Picture in Picture button
• Finish window snapper multi-monitor support
• Window snapper style tuneups
• Split Safari and Chrome browser tab widgets
• Add True Tone button state toggle color
• Add Night Shift button state toggle color
• Fix for play/pause button not changing states in Now Playing Actions group

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065-2 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! Things should finally work now. I tested it with an actual copy of Things! (Whaaaaaaaat?!)

I've also made some changes to how often various scripts run. All scripts that previous ran every second will now run every two seconds. Hopefully this results in a noticeable drop in energy usage without a hit to perceived performance. This preset's energy usage is still unwieldily and I'd like to get it to a state where it isn't nuking your battery life, but there's definitely only so much I can limit the scripts before they completely lose their utility. This is definitely an ongoing investigation so please report energy consumption stats in the support thread

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065-3 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Energy Consumption] All scripts previously set to run every 1s now run every 2s
• [Menu Bar] Switched from scripts to conditional activation groups for the following keys:
  • Browser Tabs
  • Emoji Picker
  • Current Language
  • Dock
  • This results in a noticeably snappier transition when opening these groups, and uses less energy.
• [Things] Things dock badge and widgets should actually work now

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065-3 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! Critical bug fixes for the previous version.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065-4 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Things] Fixed remaining Things widget and badge issues (hopefully)
• [Menu Bar] Fixed a critical configuration issue with the new conditional activation group implementation that would cause unwanted menu bar items to appear in certain widget groups

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.065-4 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! Weather widget icon fix + new native calendar widget integration!

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.167 (Experimental) Changelog:

• [Calendar] Replaced built-in calendar support with BetterTouchTool's new native calendar widgets
  • iCalBuddy is still required for reminders until the next GC-BTT version
• [Weather] Fixed the day and night icons for Partly Cloudy being swapped in the menu bar
• [Dock Badges] New dock badges for:
  • Carrot Weather
  • OmniFocus
  • Deliveries

Known Issues

• The home strip calendar widget will take up empty space if there are no events.
• The text on the calendar widget is too small.

Roadmap to Stable

To get to the next stable version faster, I've cut a few smaller features. I'll revisit them as soon as the new stable version is out.

Once this stable version is released I'm going to rethink how I brand these releases, since the experimental channel ended up becoming more stable than the stable version.

• Integrate upcoming native Reminders widget
  • Finally removing the iCalBuddy dependency
• Finish system information group
  • Polish up battery widget displays
  • CPU usage widget
  • CPU temperature widget
  • Memory usage widget
  • Storage information (multi-volume maybe?)
• Completely disable modifier menus (without side effects)
• Finish window snapper multi-monitor support
• Window snapper style tuneups
• Add True Tone button state toggle color
• Add Night Shift button state toggle color

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.167 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! This one includes critical bug fixes for the previous version. Thank you to everyone who reported these issues!

Make sure you update BTT to 3.172 before installing this GC release!

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.172 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Imports and Upgrades] Fixed various issues with the initialization and upgrade path
  • Fixed various issues causing the initialization/upgrade script to fail to run
  • Fixed dock badge variables not being set correctly
  • Fixed battery widget variables not being set correctly
  • Tested fresh import via direct import from web and download
  • Tested upgrade path via direct import from web and download
• [Settings] Fixed the settings window being accidentally removed in the previous version
• [Settings] Removed the icalBuddy link from the Calendar settings
• [Calendar] Fixed calendar widgets losing their configuration settings on import
  • This was causing events to not show up in the home strip.
  • Props to @Andreas_Hegenberg for the timely BTT fixes in 3.172
• [Calendar] Fixed calendar widget font size
• [Menu Bar] Added Calculator menu bar widget
  • Launches the Calculator app!

Notes

I think this experimental release is particularly stable, especially with the import and upgrade improvements, so I've asked @Andreas_Hegenberg to verify it! A rare occurrence for an experimental version

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.172 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version!

With the upgrade path fully developed and tested, I now feel confident enabling settings auto-restore - if GC-BTT detects existing settings on import, it will now automatically restore them for you.

This makes upgrading much easier - and it works with all GC-BTT versions back to 2.641, the current stable version, so everyone will be able to upgrade easily now

Please give it a shot. Hopefully it just works!

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.172-2 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Imports and Upgrades] GC-BTT will now automatically restore your settings on import
• [Default Settings] Added GC-BTT Settings button to default menu bar button set
• [Settings] Fixed an issue where the Show Finder settings switch would not reflect the actual setting state when set to Off
• [Settings] Fixed an issue where the AirDrop settings switch would not reflect the actual setting state when set to Off
• [Settings] Removed broken "Always Show Now Playing Widget" and "Always Show Media Controls" options until they're working with the new conditional activation group structure
• [Calculator] Fixed an issue where Calculator would not launch on Mojave
• [Emoji Picker] The emoji picker will now stay open until you switch applications instead of closing after you select an emoji
• [System Information] The "time remaining" indicator is now formatted nicely
• [System Information] CPU% now gets the correct number (thanks @Katertier!)
  • But it's not formatted nicely
  • In general, the System Information modal is still under construction

Notes for Testers

Please report on the success or failure of settings auto-restore.

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.172-2 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

Critical new experimental version - this fixes a huge issue with the settings menu that settings auto-restore uncovered where settings were not be saved persistently. This, in combination with the new settings auto-restore code, would cause GC-BTT to reset to the default settings after a BTT restart.

Additionally, the fact that until now settings were not saving persistently explains the vast majority of peoples' upgrade issues. I think this should finally nip all upgrading issues in the bud.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.172-3 Changelog

• [Settings] Fixed a critical issue where GC-BTT settings were not being saved persistently and would disappear after a BTT restart
  • A huge thank you to binzokun on the MacRumors forums for discovering this bug.
• [Settings] Fixed an issue where the album art portion of the Now Playing widget would not hide if set to never show

Notes for Testers

Please continue banging on settings and auto-upgrading!

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.172-3 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! The floating window snapping grid has gotten its long-awaited tune-up, with more intuitive multi-monitor support and its own menu bar widget

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.173 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Window Snapper] New version of the window snapper with improved multi-monitor support
  • Use the new left/right monitor buttons to easily move your windows across monitors!
• [Menu Bar] Added Show Window Snapper widget
• [Settings] Added an option to disable the window snapper entirely
  • You can find this setting under "General > Window Snapping".
• [Keyboard Shortcuts] Fixed an issue where GC-BTT keyboard shortcuts would not adapt to non-English keyboard layouts

Coming Very Soon: One-Click Upgrades

@Andreas_Hegenberg has been hard at work on a new build of BTT that will offer to replace your existing version of GC-BTT. It's possible that it could be ready as soon as today. Once this new build is out, the only thing you'll need to do to upgrade GC-BTT is click "Direct Import to BTT" and confirm the upgrade

GC-BTT 3.173 is totally prepared for this feature, so please try it out when it's available!

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.173 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror .

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! Critical bug fixes, plus big improvements to the System Information modal.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.176 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Installation/Upgrading] BetterTouchTool 3.176 will now prompt you to update BTT before installing a GC-BTT with a higher version requirement.
  • Please update to BTT 3.176!
  • Hopefully this will stop people from importing incompatible GC versions into their BTT installations.
• [Keyboard Shortcuts] Fixed a configuration issue that could accidentally crash versions of BetterTouchTool older than 3.173
  • GC-BTT 3.173 was also silently updated with a fix for this issue this morning before it was verified.
• [Language Switcher] Languages without a flag will now display with a globe icon
  • This may only work on Mojave; it appears to be broken on Catalina.
• [System Information] Design improvements, placeholder icons, and new stats
  • More accurate CPU %
  • CPU Temperature in Celcius
  • Network Usage (Download/Upload)

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.176 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New experimental version! This adds a new clipboard manager, and tidies up a lot of the default UI in preparation for being declared the next stable version. I'd say we're just one or two builds away! Really all that's left is to tidy up the System Information widget group.

Please take this time to test and report any bugs that persist, especially with upgrading/restoring settings.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.186 (Experimental) Changelog

• [Upgrades] When upgrading, BetterTouchTool will now detect your existing version of GC-BTT and offer to replace it for you!
  • This means no need to uninstall your old preset version anymore!!
• [Clipboard History] Added Clipboard History menu bar item and widget group
  • Contains your last 64 clipboard items.
  • Tap on an item to copy it to your clipboard.
  • Long-press on any clipboard item to get extra options!
  • You can also tap the item’s icon to show the options.
• [Emoji Picker] Restored missing "Favorite" emoji
• [Language Switcher] Fixed globe icon not showing up in menu bar item
• [Control Strip] True Tone toggle button now changes color to reflect whether True Tone is on or off
• [Misc] Improved padding/spacing of many widgets on default layout
  • Many widgets now used a fixed width
  • Scrollable widgets adjust their size more precisely when resizing the menu bar
  • Generally reduced the number of overlapping widgets
  • Default layout w/normal esc key will be fixed before stable!

Roadmap to Stable

• Formatting/final icons for System Information group
• Add Night Shift button state highlighting (may skip this one as it doesn't seem possible help?)
• Spacing tune-up for default settings when using a normal esc key

Screenshots

^{Spacing improvements for the default layout.}

^{True Tone button state color!}

^{New Clipboard History menu bar item and widget group.}

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.186 (Experimental)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

Release candidate time! If no major bugs are found, the next build will be declared stable.

This RC adds a ton of stuff - I've been sprinting to the finish line. You'll see a number of visual updates, and lots of polishing up. A lot of things that were previously left unoptimized to keep development moving are now optimized and ready for production. Overall, GC-BTT should feel snappier as odd blinks and slowdowns across the UI have been eliminated. Upgrades should work flawlessly every time.

This version also introduces new designs for modifier menus that make better room for the normal esc key style. The structure of these new designs finally allows you to truly disable modifier menus without side effects.

Finally, this version eliminates the need for icalBuddy by adding a native Reminders widget - a huge step forward for the preset, as it is now completely dependency-free!

A huge thank you to everyone who has tested and reported bugs over the last year, you guys made this happen.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.187 (Stable RC1) Changelog

• [Imports/Upgrades] Added upgrade listener script to ensure that auto-updates run even if BTT doesn't work for some reason
• [Escape Keys] Tuned padding/spacing of default layout with normal esc key
• [Escape Keys] Normal escape key now matches the macOS system esc key size
• [Modifier Menus] You can now completely disable any combination of the three modifier menus without side effects
  • Requires BTT 3.187 to work
  • More huge thanks to @Andreas_Hegenberg for his help and effort here!
• [Modifier Menus] Eliminated blinking when invoking modifier menus
• [Modifier Menus] New designs for option and command menus
  • Option menu is now full-width
  • Command menu is now full-width
• [Modifier Menus] All modifier menus now work across BTT in all Touch Bar groups and modal widgets
• [Control Strip] New icon for dark mode consistent with iOS 13
• [Control Strip] Eliminated overlapping elements when enabling the regular esc key or when resizing the menu bar
• [Option Menu] New pixel-perfect icons for window snapping actions
• [Dock Badges] Telegram dock badge now supports both App Store and non-App Store versions
• [System Information] Finalized system information layout
  • New icons for CPU and RAM usage
  • Removed "CPU temperature" display as it was actually reporting battery temperature
• [Reminders] Native Reminders widget
  • icalBuddy is no longer required!! GC-BTT is dependency-free, babyyyyyy
  • Tap on a reminder to open in BTT's internal reminders manager (this will be changed to open Reminders once BTT supports it)
  • Long-press the Home Strip widget for a new Reminders Actions modal that uses the native calendar widget to display your reminders by date
• [Now Playing] Disabled broken "Add to Library/Download" button for Music.app in macOS Catalina
• [Clipboard History] Clipboard History widget group now scrolls infinitely through your clipboard history
  • Requires BTT 3.187 to work
• [Home Strip] Swapped "Center Window" for "Maximize Window" in the window snapping widget
• [Misc] Loads of performance improvements and optimizations to prepare GC-BTT for production release
  • Eliminated duplicate hide/show widget codes used for testing
• [Misc] Organization and formatting of widgets inside the BTT config window
  • Fixed colors on text labels so that they look nice in both dark and light modes
  • Organized and renamed conditional activation groups
  • Moved dock badges into conditional activation group
  • Moved remaining Home Strip widgets into conditional activation groups
  • Sorted all "other triggers" into folders to make them easier to manage

Screenshots

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.187 (Stable RC1)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

RC2 is here with serious bugfixes! Please update to BTT 3.194, then update from RC1.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.194 (Stable RC2) Changelog

• [Imports/Upgrades] Optimized the initialization script
  • Removed some things that were running twice
  • Organized initialization triggers a lot more
  • Restoring settings is a lot faster now and easier to tell when it's done
• [Modifier Menus] Fixed a critical export issue where the modifier menu disabling logic was not included in the previous build
  • Disabling modifier menus should actually work now.
• [Gestures] Disabled "global" option for all gestures which was causing many issues
  • Apparently this option comes with a huge performance hit, and a host of import bugs, so was not worth it to keep enabled.
• [Escape Keys] Fixed separate fullscreen key sometimes being to the left of the normal escape key
• [Calendar] Fixed calendar widget settings not being exported correctly
• [Calendar] Fixed an issue where the calendar widget would sometimes display empty space
  • Requires BTT 3.194 to work
• [Reminders] Tapping on reminder items now opens Reminders.app
  • Requires BTT 3.194 to work
• [Reminders] Fixed an issue where the reminders widget would sometimes display empty space
  • Requires BTT 3.194 to work
• [ColorSnapper] ColorSnapper menu bar item will now only appear if ColorSnapper is running
• [1Password] 1Password menu bar item will now only appear if either 1Password or 1Password Extension Helper is running
• [HazeOver] HazeOver menu bar item will now only appear if HazeOver is running
• [Day One] Day One menu bar item will now only appear if Day One Helper is running

Screenshots

^{It's now much easier to see when the upgrade is running.}

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.194 (Stable RC2)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.200 Stable is here!

It brings massive improvements and a ton of new features to GC-BTT. And this stable version of GC-BTT has been thoroughly tested by the community over the last year, making this a Touch Bar you can truly depend on.

From this point forward, my plan is to make stable releases more frequent. Most of the time on this release was spent eliminating dependencies, working on the settings window, and ensuring that upgrades work reliably. These were major behind-the-scenes endeavors that provide the foundation to expand GC-BTT's capabilities much further while also making it much easier for me to manage adding and maintaining all these new features.

As you can imagine, a decent portion of these features are thanks to @Andreas_Hegenberg, who's help and continued development on BTT made many of these features and updates possible. BetterTouchTool 3.200, on its own, is a huge update that adds auto-updating presets for the whole community, not just for GC-BTT. And the new native calendar and reminders widgets have finally allowed us to ditch icalBuddy. F's in the chat y'all.

Another huge thanks to everyone who spent the last year testing and reporting issues with the experimental versions to make this the most stable GC-BTT release to date.

Finally, since this is a stable release, I'll be going over everything that's been added since the previous stable version. The first post's instructions and screenshots will be updated shortly as well. Here we go!

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.200 (Stable) Changelog

• Full compatibility with macOS Catalina
  • Support for Music.app
• No longer requires icalBuddy (or any other helper app!)
• Significant performance and energy efficiency improvements over the previous stable version
  • Most duplicate widgets have been eliminated
  • All features were refactored to use BTT's conditional activation groups feature instead of running power-hungry AppleScripts
  • The refresh rate of all remaining AppleScripts has been fine-tuned for the best performance-to-power ratio
  • GC-BTT, on average, now uses about as much energy as a normal app like Safari
• [Imports/Upgrades] One-click upgrades straight from the sharing site
  • BetterTouchTool will now offer to replace your existing version of GC-BTT
  • BetterTouchTool will alert you if your version of BTT is too low for the GC-BTT you are trying to install
  • GC-BTT now has a suite of initialization and upgrade scripts that work with BTT's import process to seamlessly check and migrate your settings between versions
• [Window Snapping] Added floating window snapping grid with multi-monitor support
  • Press ⌘⇧W to show the grid
• [Settings] New GC-BTT Settings window
  • Completely new windowed UI for managing and customizing GC-BTT
  • Settings button is now a part of the default layout
• [Modifier Menus] You can now enable/disable modifier menus individually
• [Modifier Menus] Control Strip moved to control menu
• [Modifier Menus] Window Snapping moved to option menu
• [Modifier Menus] Option and command menus are now full-width
• [Modifier Menus] Command menu now shows the Dock
• [Control Strip] True Tone toggle key now changes color when activated
• [Control Strip] New icon for Dark Mode consistent with iOS 13
• [Escape Keys] Resized the normal escape key to match the macOS system escape key
• [Escape Keys] Eliminated overlapping buttons when using the normal escape key
• [Home Strip] Settings to make Finder/AirDrop keys just icons
• [Home Strip] Changed "Center Window" button to "Maximize Window"
• [Now Playing] Album artwork is now full-height
• [Calendar] Native Calendar widgets that no longer require icalBuddy to work
• [Calendar] New Calendar modal design
  • Swap between today and month view
  • Calendar items are now color-coded based on their set color in Calendar.app
  • Tap an item to open in your preferred calendar app, set in the GC-BTT settings window
• [Reminders] Native Reminders widgets that no longer require icalBuddy to work
• [Reminders] New Reminders modal design
  • Swap between today and month view
  • Reminders are color-coded based on their list
  • Tap an item to open in Reminders.app
• [Things] Added Things Home Strip widget and modal
  • Long-press to access your next ten reminders
• [Dock] Added Dock widget group
  • Replaces the old App Switcher widget group
• [Clipboard History] Added Clipboard History widget group
  • Scrolls infinitely through your clipboard history
  • Tap on an item to copy it to your clipboard
• [System Information] Added System Information modal
  • Long-press Battery widget widget to view
  • Contains:
    • Battery percentage
    • Charge time remaining
    • CPU usage
    • Available RAM
    • Network usage
      • Upload speed
      • Download speed
    • Show Activity Monitor
    • Open System Information.app
• [Menu Bar] New menu bar widgets for:
  • Battery
    • Optional percentage display
    • Long-press to access System Information modal
  • Connect to Bose
    • Long-press to access Connectivity Actions modal
  • Caffeinate
  • Calculator
    • Launches Calculator.app
  • Show Paste
  • 1Password
  • Day One
  • HazeOver
  • ColorSnapper
  • Show Floating Window Snapping Grid
• [Dock Badges] Dock badges now automatically hide when Do Not Disturb is enabled
• [Dock Badges] Dock badges are now powered by BetterTouchTool’s built-in dock support and are far more energy efficient
• [Dock Badges] New dock badges for:
  • Carrot
  • Apple Calendar
  • Fantastical
  • Reminders
  • Things
  • OmniFocus
  • News
  • Maps
  • Deliveries
  • WeChat
  • QQ
  • Superhuman
  • MailMate
  • Abstract
  • Zeplin
  • Bodo
  • Maipo

Touch Bar Screenshots

^{New menu bar widgets like Battery and Clipboard History, and design improvements like full-height album artwork.}

^{Native calendar and reminders widget eliminate the need for icalBuddy.}

^{New System Information modal shows you information about your system.}

^{Modifier menus are now full-width, can be individually disabled, and support the normal escape key.}

^{BetterTouchTool will now offer to replace your existing version of GC-BTT, while a new set of upgrade scripts seamlessly migrates your previous settings automatically.}

Settings Window Screenshots

Floating Window Snapping Grid

^{A huge thanks to @yuuiko for doing most of the code for the window snapping grid!}

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.200 (Stable)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.

[GoldenChaos]

New stable version! Minor bug fix for yesterday's release.

GoldenChaos-BTT 3.201 (Stable) Changelog

• [Menu Bar] Fixed an issue where some menu bar items would randomly swap places

Download: GoldenChaos-BTT 3.201 (Stable)

Download link not working? Try the GitHub mirror.