A method is performed at a computing system, the computing system including: a first housing that includes a primary display, and a second housing containing (i) a physical keyboard and (ii) a touch-sensitive secondary display (TSSD). The method includes displaying, on the primary display, a first user interface. While the TSSD is operating in an adaptive display mode, the method includes: displaying, on a respective portion of the TSSD, application-specific user interface elements that are selected based on current state of the first user interface for the application. The method further includes, in response to detecting a press of a key via the physical keyboard: displaying, on the primary display, representations of available display modes for the TSSD. The method additionally includes, receiving a selection of a representation of another display mode of the available display modes; and operating the TSSD in the other display mode.