It was described through an opinion piece a few weeks back about the hopes as to how the touch panel can be used. For app developers, a dynamic content update would be available so that one touch shortcuts can be created. This will give you benefits which are similar to the physical keyboard skin; however, there are a few downsides to it.

For these, they are used to adjusting the pause/ play music or even for the volume with the help of a key. The job becomes easy since you already know what has to be done, however with the app, the standard functions are overwritten. When you are in the finder, the standard functions can be displayed through the touch panel along with shortcuts that are app specific. The benefits of providing app shortcuts which are one touch allow you to hit the key directly. In order to switch between functions, the Shift key would be a better approach as it would be easier and faster.

The default state could be toggled in one setting, by default, the standard functions will also be displayed when the Sift key is held down so that the app shortcuts can be accessed, and for the OS X the hit Shift can be used. Another idea could also be swiping right or left to switch between the two, by swiping right when you are in the app so that the shortcuts can be used. To gain the normal functions, it can be accessed by swiping left again. If the preferences for each app can be remembered by the OS X, that would be the icing on the cake. Such as, the Lightroom can be accessed by swiping right. Each time the open Lightroom, it would be automatically switched by the OS X. Well there is a pool that can be taken to know how the touch panel should work so that the comments and thoughts can be shared.