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How do you use your Spaces?

I

ifjake

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 19, 2004
563
2
i'm still figuring out which way i prefer, and was wondering what other people have got going so far.

right now, it's pretty basic. two spaces, left and right. the left basically has everything, the right has iCal open fullscreen. and iChat is on both, so i can see when people talk back no matter what space i'm in. iCal's nice to look at uncluttered, but some other apps like Mail and Safari work fine windowed. i'm still feeling it out.
 
i have 4 spaces...finder is in its own and full screen...one space is for work related stuff like powerpoint and word...the other is misc...and one for browsing.

i really like the space/expose combination...good stuff.
 
I don't. It is a waste of time. I just use expose, like I have for a while now. Why use an extra step to find a program when I can have them all open in one "space" and just click on the one I need using Expose. Seems like a waste of time and resources.
 
I think it is personal preference and work style, but Spaces is far far better than Expose for my style. One of the big differences for me is that I always know what is in which window, and where it will be. With Expose, the windows are different sizes and move around depending on what I have open. No consistency, which for me slows me down.

I have 9 spaces, activated by sliding my mouse to the upper left corner. I have my apps locked to the various Spaces, so they always open in the same space, which again, makes it faster for me.

Space 1 is always left blank so I can have a clean desktop at the ready. It is part of my OCD...

Space 2: Firefox
Space 3: iChat and IM windows
Space 4: Mail
Space 5: Finder window, full screen
Space 6: Safari
Space 7: iCal.
Space 8: Word processing program and calculator
Space 9: Photoshop.

The best new feature of Leopard IMHO.
 
At work, I've been trying it like this:
Top left: iChat, Safari, Mail, iTunes - the basics of everyday life.

Top right: Terminal - for my Unix activities.

Bottom left: today's project - usually a combination of Safari, Finder, Photoshop, and TextEdit windows.

Bottom right: for temporary distractions - when somebody in the office wants me to look at something they need help with, to look at an iPhoto library, etc.​
I have yet to figure out the best arrangement at home.
 
I've got 9.

One for all my Adium windows and Safari.
One for Mail and Newsfire.
One for Interface Builder.
One for Xcode.
One for Office/iWork.
One for Web Development.
One for Aperture.
One for Photoshop.
And the last one is just empty space for later.
 
I only use them when I am doing both work and play at the same time. For example, over the weekend I had a bunch of terminals going in 1 space and I was importing images from my camera in the other. Keep things nice and separate.

I don't use it other then times like that, too much clutter and too easy to get side tracked.
 
1: Finder
2: Internet apps (Mail, Safari, Firefox)
3: Media players (iTunes, VLC)
4: Remote desktop clients to my other PCs

IMO Spaces + Expose is about as close to perfect as task-switching can get. :apple:
 
Space 1: Finder, Safari
Space 2: iTunes
Space 3: Photoshop CS3, Adobe Lightroom
Space 4: VMWare Fusion (Windows Vista)
 
I don't use them now, but I'm thinking eventually I might be doing some collaboration over iChat (with shared computer screens). In that case, I'll probably add a second space with just the apps I'd be using for the collaboration.
 
I have 4 (Mail & Calender, Photoshop, one for none work related and one for BBEdit and Safari - Im a web designer).

BUT the main thing I do is have my Mighty Mouse button in the middle assigned to spaces so its very easy to see all my spaces at one. Great for hiding the window your in quickly when needed :eek:
 
Here's my setup:

1 - everything else, safari, finder, sys prefs

2 - Mail, iCal, AddressBook, Skype, iChat

3 - Photoshop, Logic, iTunes

4 - Flash, Reason

I tried using more than 4 spaces, but that got confusing. I'm still tweaking it so I'm sure it will change.
 
I keep Safari, TextEdit, and other windows open in more than one Space. I don't mean that the application is set to show in all Spaces. I mean that I have some Safari windows in one Space and other Safari windows in another Space, and the same for TextEdit.

It can make it a little confusing when I click that application in the Dock. I haven't yet figured out which Space it will go to -- there must be an algorithm of some kind.

Is my habit unusual? Do most people keep their apps distinct by Space?
 
Doctor Q said:
Is my habit unusual? Do most people keep their apps distinct by Space?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. I have Finder or Safari windows open in all spaces because I'm usually dragging images off the web into iTunes etc.

I have one Space for general (mainly Safari), one for iTunes, one for Mail, one for iCal and Address Book and Adium shown on all spaces. Everything else usually just goes in the "general" space.
 
I have two spaces. One for Mac OS X desktop and the second space I have VMware running windows in full screen mode. Nice way to switch between OSs
 
I have 4 spaces on my iBook, I'll probably have more on my MacBook Pro once I get one back ( Long story :mad: ):

1: Main space for work.
2: Adium and Skype
3: Mail
4: Safari
 
I have 6 spaces.
1. Mail, iChat, iCal, etc.
2. Safari, Transmission, etc.
3-6. One for each of my 4 major classes.

Helps me keep everything nice and organized.
 
1. Web browsers, iChat, Forklift, iTunes and main finder stuff

2. Flash/Scripting apps, com & src folders

3. FCP, or AE, or both, video folders

4. Entourage, iCal

Every Space: All notifications, settings

Other stuff is wherever I am when i click open.

Spaces was cool until i started doing work. Finder should not jump around unless the window I'm looking for is in another space. If I want to open a window in the current space and another is open, LET ME OPEN the f'n window! Dragging the damn thing over is counter productive. I've earned to open the windows i need in a given space, and have them ready when needed.
 
xenotaku said:
I don't. It is a waste of time. I just use expose, like I have for a while now. Why use an extra step to find a program when I can have them all open in one "space" and just click on the one I need using Expose. Seems like a waste of time and resources.
Click to expand...

Just so you know, it is THAT easy when using spaces as well. You don't have to manually switch to a space. Simply clicking on the dock icon for the program (or even Command + Tab) will auto switch to the space the program is in.

That's what makes Apple's version of spaces so nice. I do most work in Space 1. However, if I get a mail message, I have mail set to open in Space 2. All I have to do is click the Mail icon in the dock, and I'm taken to Space 2. Click Photoshop icon in the dock and I'm taken back to Space 1.

-Kevin
 
4 Spaces

1-Safari
2-Mail
3-Terminal

All - iChat


I use a Hot Corner to invoke. It's become as second nature as Expose. They have two separate purposes. With Spaces, I no longer need to worry about hiding to alleviate clutter.
 
I have dual screens and really don't need any more screen.

But I have 2 spaces just for fun

I do everything on space 1 but only have mail open on space 2

I feel like leaving a bunch of apps open when I am not using them is a waste eventhough I have 2 gigs of ram
 
Space 1: Internet
Safari
Transmission
Mail
Adium
Space 2: A/V
iLife Apps (except iWeb)
Quicktime
VLC
Handbrake
DVD Player
Space 3: Productivity
iWork (for most stuff
NeoOffice (Im mostly just checking it out
Office 04 (for when I want to guarantee compatibilty)
Fusion (XP Pro or Ubuntu, not enough RAM for both)
Space 4: Web Dev
Coda
CyberDuck
iWeb

Finder, TextEdit, Terminal all appear on every space.
 
Space 1 (PRIMARY):
Safari, xCode (trying to learn some programming), iTunes for streaming radio

Space 2:
Mail, Work Apps like iWork '08 apps (refuse to use Office until a Universal Binary)

Space 3:
iCal

Space 4:
Parallels running Windows XP (512MB RAM) and small other apps

I think spaces is better than Virtue Desktops, it's lightning fast (Have a MBP with 2GB of RAM soon to be upgraded to 3GB) and it keeps all your main apps together. It's what I've always wanted! I haven't installed Photoshop yet, I'd probably use Space 3 for Photoshop apps.
 
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