Do you use Spaces? I don't get it... why do I need it?

[roadbloc]

At the studio, two screens are plugged into the Mac, so I can have the Edit window and the Mix window on Pro-Tools on separate screens.

My macbook does not have 2 screens. That is where spaces comes useful when whipping up a quick mix of a track on my mac.

 

[WeegieMac]

...any more. (Surely Leopard was not your first computing experience!)


No sense of humor, eh? ...and that should be "...you might be a Spaces user."

I don't see the need for the overly sarcastic attempt at a reply. My comment was a serious one.

I've been using computers since Windows 3.1 and switched to the Mac 9 years ago now. Obviously Leopard was not my first computing experience, I'm a 30 year old man. Spaces is a feature that expanded on the excellent Expose, but while Expose solved the problem of having numerous windows open at one time, Spaces was just a great feature that uncluttered the computer.

That's my opinion, and unlike many others in this thread, I feel I've put it across fairly enough to warrant less of the replies like yours.

 

[Gregg2]

I don't see the need for the overly sarcastic attempt at a reply. My comment was a serious one.

Sensitive are we? My direct reply to your post was simply completing your thought. I was just observing that you must have used computers before Apple came out with Spaces, thus, you "can't see using one without it" any more. If that's being sarcastic in your world, you need a new dictionary.

The humor in my other post, not in response to yours or remotely related to it, may be lost on those both within and outside of the U.S. who are not familiar with the comedian Jeff Foxworthy, or the TV quiz show Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? which Mr. Foxworthy hosts.

Since that seems to be the case, I'll explain the joke: If you keep everything in the same place elsewhere in your life, maybe Spaces isn't for you. Jeff Foxworthy is known for his "redneck" zingers that always start with "If you" and end with "you might be a redneck" or now, "you might not be smarter than a fifth grader."

So, as they say, if you have to explain a joke, it's probably lost its humor. That certainly seems to be the case now with this one. But, if anyone who is familiar with the above read it, I'm sure they got it right away, and at least got a chuckle out of it.

Moral to the story:
A. Don't attempt to use humor in case someone doesn't understand that.
B. Don't assume you know the intent without asking.

Have a good day.

 

[mac2x]

Indeed I did! I love Jeff Foxworthy's redneck jokes. One of my favorites:

"If you can eat a hamburger, nurse a baby, and drive a stick shift all at the same time, you might be a redneck."

 

[MacBH928]

I think it is made for those with a lot of work and machines that don't shutdown.

For example , if you are a programmer, you are more likely to use
2-3 programming tools, so you have your programming space
3 internet apps, safari, ichat, and something else, their own space
2 media apps, maybe itunes and vlc, so you give them their own space

instead of launching 7 programs each time you reboot your OS, you have it on all the time and organized is different spaces.

If you are like me where you witch your laptop for Safari , then use VLC, then a little photoshop. You realize that your are light user and do not need Spaces.

In older times (2002) Apple provided a lot of cool software (sherlock?) and I always wanted to use that stuff, but it was a solution for a problem that I did not have, so I never got to use it even though I wanted. I guess this is your case too. Spaces is really cool, but you have no use for it.

 

[Ironduke]

Spaces doesnt cut it for me, its too behaviour is too buggy, especially when you get a simple Confirmation dialogue like delete trash go missing and you have to go through each space searching for it.

EPIC FAIL APPLE

 

[Gregg2]

Spaces has worked flawlessly for me in Leopard. I've read about issues with it in Snow Leopard, but I presume those will be fixed sooner or later.

 

[ViViDboarder]

Spaces doesnt cut it for me, its too behaviour is too buggy, especially when you get a simple Confirmation dialogue like delete trash go missing and you have to go through each space searching for it.

EPIC FAIL APPLE

That's strange... I never had that happen. The only issue with Spaces that I ever had was with M$ Office '08. I stopped using that anyway for OpenOffice so I don't have any issues at all anymore. Leopard or Snow Leopard.

Sucks for you.

 

[Signal-11]

Sensitive are we? My direct reply to your post was simply completing your thought. I was just observing that you must have used computers before Apple came out with Spaces, thus, you "can't see using one without it" any more. If that's being sarcastic in your world, you need a new dictionary.

Before Apple came out with Spaces, every major DE/WM for UNIX-like OS since the mid 90s has had support for multiple virtual desktops.

Before I switched back to Macs around 10.3, I went looking for a virtual desktop implementation. This was a dealbreaker for me. Found one, then eventually switched to a PB as my primary machine. Never used OS X on a personal machine without VDs.

I know I wasn't alone in N*X -> OSX switchers for whom this mattered, so I imagine there's a lot of guys out there for whom that "...anymore" comment wouldn't apply.

 

[Gregg2]

That's interesting. I suspect that the former Unix (or is it UNIX?) users here are in the minority. As you can tell, I'm not. That wouldn't have occurred to me without your input, since I only have a Mac. Thanks!

 

[Signal-11]

That's interesting. I suspect that the former Unix (or is it UNIX?) users here are in the minority. As you can tell, I'm not. That wouldn't have occurred to me without your input, since I only have a Mac. Thanks!

Sorry dude, didn't mean to come off sounding like a pedantic ass.

FWIW, I've seen a LOT of Unix/Linux guys who have switched to OS X as their primary personal machines. Heck, looking at the headers of the Linux kernel developers' mailing list, sometimes it looks like half the Real Serious kernel hackers are on Macs.

But you're right though, that's a pretty small slice of the overall pie.

 

[polotska]

I don't find it useful, myself. Then again, I've never cared for virtual desktops on any platform.

 

[teknikal90]

spaces, expose and screen corners is how I use my mac.
top left hand side is expose, top right hand side is spaces.
that way if i want to access a window burried deep under other windows in my current space, i move my mouse to top left hand corner.
if i want to go to a window burried deep under othar windows, in ANOTHER space, i point my mouse to top right hand corner, and then top left hand corner...to activate expose within spaces.
how quick and easy is that. two strokes.

spaces is good casue i can organize my windows accordingly. i dont know how I can sue a mac without these features now. it just seems natural

 

[ViViDboarder]

spaces, expose and screen corners is how I use my mac.
top left hand side is expose, top right hand side is spaces.
that way if i want to access a window burried deep under other windows in my current space, i move my mouse to top left hand corner.
if i want to go to a window burried deep under othar windows, in ANOTHER space, i point my mouse to top right hand corner, and then top left hand corner...to activate expose within spaces.
how quick and easy is that. two strokes.

spaces is good casue i can organize my windows accordingly. i dont know how I can sue a mac without these features now. it just seems natural

Haha, that's how I do it too!

I have Top Left is Expose, Top Right is Current Application Expose, Bottom Left is Dashboard, Bottom Right is Spaces. This is much more useful on my Macbook Pro than my iMac though.

 

[rerelease]

i have two. the upper i call "default" and the lower I call "misc".

 

[TheSpaz]

Well, I would just have all that stuff open and when I needed to switch to one I'd click on the corresponding dock icon. So, I don't see the need for spaces.

I agree completely.

1) I hide my dock, and I prefer to use the keyboard rather than a mouse
2) with spaces, your relative window arrangements are preserved. However you like things spread out, partially overlapped, etc. When you switch using the dock, if you are using more than one app at a time you may have to rearrange everything each time.

1.) CMD-Tab
2.) Who says you have to re-arrange everything each time? I just CMD-H the app when I want it out of the way. I never have to re-arrange anything.

I just don't see the point of spaces. I just need one space.

 

[witness]

1.) CMD-Tab
2.) Who says you have to re-arrange everything each time? I just CMD-H the app when I want it out of the way. I never have to re-arrange anything.

I just don't see the point of spaces. I just need one space.

I've always wanted to like Spaces, but in the end I always stick with CMD-Tab/CMD-H. Everything seems so much simpler that way.

 

[ViViDboarder]

1.) CMD-Tab
2.) Who says you have to re-arrange everything each time? I just CMD-H the app when I want it out of the way. I never have to re-arrange anything.

I just don't see the point of spaces. I just need one space.

I don't think you quite understood...

When I'm working in XCode I ususally have my editor window opened so it's side by side with another window, ususally Safari, with a terminal console (partly transparent) over the bottom portion of the safari window. Then on another space I have two finder windows side by side so I can drag and drop between them. I also usually have Mail or another safari window open on another space for leisure.

With what you're suggesting it's way more complicated to switch between my finder tasks, coding and leisure tasks. Lets say I had all this on one space...

I'm using the finder windows, the two finder windows are side by side with everything else underneith. I Cmd+Tab to get back to XCode... Now I have Xcode up front but one of my finder windows completely overlaps my Safari and Terminal... So I really need to Cmd+Tab to Safari, then Cmd+Tab to Terminal then finally Cmd+Tab to XCode just to get the windows in the correct order. This happens a lot if you have multiple windows open. With my spaces I just Ctrl+Left/Right/Down/Up and I'm right where I left off on my other tasks.

If you don't need it, that's great. Spaces DOES offer additional functionality that is not easily replicated with Cmd+Tab or `+Tab.

 

[-aggie-]

I don't think you quite understood...

When I'm working in XCode I ususally have my editor window opened so it's side by side with another window, ususally Safari, with a terminal console (partly transparent) over the bottom portion of the safari window. Then on another space I have two finder windows side by side so I can drag and drop between them. I also usually have Mail or another safari window open on another space for leisure.

With what you're suggesting it's way more complicated to switch between my finder tasks, coding and leisure tasks. Lets say I had all this on one space...

I'm using the finder windows, the two finder windows are side by side with everything else underneith. I Cmd+Tab to get back to XCode... Now I have Xcode up front but one of my finder windows completely overlaps my Safari and Terminal... So I really need to Cmd+Tab to Safari, then Cmd+Tab to Terminal then finally Cmd+Tab to XCode just to get the windows in the correct order. This happens a lot if you have multiple windows open. With my spaces I just Ctrl+Left/Right/Down/Up and I'm right where I left off on my other tasks.

If you don't need it, that's great. Spaces DOES offer additional functionality that is not easily replicated with Cmd+Tab or `+Tab.

In that case, don't tab and just click on the dock icons. No? Seems simple to me.

 

[ViViDboarder]

In that case, don't tab and just click on the dock icons. No? Seems simple to me.

Still you get the same issue... Clicking the dock is the same as tabbing.

I'd still have to click safari, click the correct window I want, click terminal, then click XCode otherwise I'd have my second finder window overlapping something.

Spaces does serve a purpose.

 

[TheSpaz]

Still you get the same issue... Clicking the dock is the same as tabbing.

I'd still have to click safari, click the correct window I want, click terminal, then click XCode otherwise I'd have my second finder window overlapping something.

Spaces does serve a purpose.

You obviously have a specific workflow that you use it for. I don't need certain windows to remain side-by-side at all times. That's why you need Spaces and I don't.

 

[ViViDboarder]

You obviously have a specific workflow that you use it for. I don't need certain windows to remain side-by-side at all times. That's why you need Spaces and I don't.

Exactly!

It's just that suggesting Cmd+Tab as an alternative is crazy and when people say, "why not just click?" just "Cmd+Tab is simpler" they have no concept of another users work flow! Cmd+Tab serves a purpose. I'm very familiar with what it does and it fits into my work flow very well.

 

[TheSpaz]

Exactly!

It's just that suggesting Cmd+Tab as an alternative is crazy and when people say, "why not just click?" just "Cmd+Tab is simpler" they have no concept of another users work flow! Cmd+Tab serves a purpose. I'm very familiar with what it does and it fits into my work flow very well.

I said cmd-tab because you made the argument "I hide the Dock and prefer to use the keyboard instead of the mouse". Well, cmd-tab navigates around in the Dock without using the mouse, so that's what I meant.

 

[Signal-11]

In that case, don't tab and just click on the dock icons. No? Seems simple to me.

Because using the Dock to switch is inherently slower.

A Dock switch is at least two clicks and fine cursor aiming and movement.

Spaces is one flick with very little aiming (Fitt/corners), plus one mouse click on an extremely large target.

 

[Gregg2]

ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*ding!*

We have a winner! (pick one)