appleinsider.com — Spaces is an entirely new feature in Mac OS X Leopard, but the idea of virtual desktops -- and multiple desktops -- has been around for a long time. Here's a look at what's new and different about Apple's approach with Spaces, why virtual desktops have run into problems before, and how well Leopard's Spaces actually works in practice.
Oct 11, 2007 View in Crawl 4
4n1m8rOct 12, 2007
I've been using You Control Desktops for months, it's a great virtual desktop program for the Mac.
smhillOct 12, 2007
"Essentially, the DOCK on OSX is the QUICK LAUNCH BAR we've had on Windows since Win95. "Then you aren't really that familiar with the dock. I don't think you have looked into it enough and understand what it is doing. It is way beyond the quick launch bar. The dock provides pretty much the same functionality as the quicklaunch, taskbar and start menu.Quick launch is obvious.Task bar : you get multiple ways to view not only your open apps, but the windows within them and additional application features. Say you have ten safari windows open, right click on the safari icon and you will see a list of all your windows much liked stacked windows in the task bar. Additionally minimized windows appear there with visual representations of what is going on. They don't all show up, only the ones you choose. Right click on an app like iTunes or VLC and your controls are right there. Start menu : You can place any folder there and browse it by right clicking. Your apps folder, even your whole hard drive. Customize it however you want. Granted it is a personal preference, but I prefer visual representations over little boxes with tiny icons and text. If you dont stack and you have a bunch of things open, it becomes almost unreadable.Basically all the things you prefer on the task bar are there in the dock, plus much more. You just need to understand how to use it.----Expose doesn't "fix" what you may think are problems, it simply adds many more ways to access things depending how you like to work. For example, say you have a bunch of safari windows open and you are in a different app and want to get to it. you can: - right-click on safari in the dock and select the window - Cmd+Tab to Safari then Tilde+Tab to the window - Opt+F3 to focus the dock and use the arrow keys to access the window. - Expose(all) to the window - if you have a ton of windows open, Cmd+tab to the app and then Expose(app)Though in truth I rarely use the dock at all. I use Expose + QuickSilver.
antitabOct 12, 2007
Here's what makes Spaces the killer in virtual desktops for me, after years of Linux and VirtueDesktops use: Integration. Spaces integrates flawlessly with the Dock, Exposé, and Growl. If you get a notification from another space, you're sent right to it. If you click an app residing on another space, you're there. If you're in the Spaces overview, you can F9 to see an Exposé on all your windows in every space. It's really fantastic. It's minor, but the one thing it has over VirtueDesktops is visual consistency, in that only applications are paged out, not the entire desktop including Dock and menu bar.
paulgibsonOct 12, 2007
I'm glad to see that apple has considered the behavior of spaces with multiple monitors. I can see this becoming very usefully for me.
tweeOct 12, 2007
Spaces sounds too confusing for me. Although I'm pretty computer savvy, I don't run much other than safari, ichat, and itunes continuously. As soon as I finish reading new messages in mail, I just close the program. I don't need lots of programs to be running in the background, wasting system resources and battery life.
tweeOct 12, 2007
I would assume that if you're in space 1 with no Finder windows open and you have a Finder window open in spaces 2 & 3, then click on the Finder icon, it will just open up a new Finder window. Basically, it will open up a new Finder window if there isn't one open already in the current space. Although I think that Spaces is a bit too complex for my tastes. I'd rather just layer windows and use Exposé to find I want instead of worrying about whatever is off-screen in a different space.
ljharbNov 9, 2007
By default, control-arrow keys cycle between Spaces, and control-X switches you instantly to space #x. If you start to drag a window, and then hit the keystroke, it seamlessly moves the window to the destination space.