Spaces - do you actually use it and why?

[sk3pt1c]

i really can't find a use for it, still.
i mean, the way our os works, you don't really maximize windows, so you don't really care if you've got lots of them on your desktop, you just do an "all windows" and pick the one you want, much faster than Spaces.
and when you want to drag something from one to another it's faster the normal way than with Spaces.
and if you wanna hide something you can always Command-H it, no need to have it somewhere else...
i don't know, it looks cool but i'm having a hard time finding an actual use for it and not just start using it for the sake of showing leopard off or just cause it's a cool new feature...

 

[Schtumple]

I really wanted to get into it, but so far i haven't, I'm starting to put azureus and transmission in their own space, just so they're open but out the way

 

[eetu]

I didn't care about spaces at the beginning, but I love it nowadays. I'm used to open tens of windows, so it really helps keeping my desktops organized. Usually one space for itunes, mail and downloads, and another space for working and browsing.

but i was disappointed that background image cannot be different.

 

[eetu]

oh, and in an open office must be a great feature when the boss is around...

 

[yetanotherdave]

I only use it for when I really want to separate out one set of apps from another. If I'm downloading stuff while browsing and listening to iTunes and chatting, have mail open, doing some coding/working on a website, messing around in garageband, basically my usual day to day personal stuff, it'll all be in one space.
I only use a second space (i only have it set up for two spaces) when I am working, I have a part time job working from home, and when I'm working I want to concentrate on just that without being distracted by my other stuff, which I want to leave open for conveniences sake. So when I'm working I'll leave all my normal stuff open, switch to a second space and fire up a different browser there (firefox for work, safari for personal), my work app and a different messenger app with just my work account on it.
I don't see the advantage of using spaces as an app switcher, expose is much better for that.

 

[smooth]

i've added as a test my usual browsers and adium in space one, my web dev apps in space two, and my ilife apps in space 3...
i'm still a bit skeptical as to how helpful this whole thing is.
i mean, i know have to use a key combo to get from one space to the other.
before i just moved my mouse to a hot corner and i got all the windows.
plus if i need to drag something from my browser to say, fireworks, it's more of a hassle.
i know it's more organized, but is it as helpful and as fast as doing it the old way?

I think Spaces is the best feature of my Mac. Having been used to all the minimized windows on one screen, this is a much more organized way to do things.

Currently, I use 6 spaces:
Firefox - always launches and I use it to check my Yahoo email
iTunes - always launches
iWork Apps - I tend to only need one at a time, so I just open whichever one I need
Yahoo Messenger and iMail - Messenger always launches and I've synced my iMail with Yahoo only to send fancy emails
MacSword - My online Bible
One empty space for the other apps that I don't use as often

All I do is click the icon in the dock for the app I want and it switches to that space automatically. No more minimizing/maximizing and no more sorting through windows. Damn that's awesome.

 

[koobcamuk]

i really can't find a use for it, still.
i mean, the way our os works, you don't really maximize windows, so you don't really care if you've got lots of them on your desktop, you just do an "all windows" and pick the one you want, much faster than Spaces.
and when you want to drag something from one to another it's faster the normal way than with Spaces.
and if you wanna hide something you can always Command-H it, no need to have it somewhere else...
i don't know, it looks cool but i'm having a hard time finding an actual use for it and not just start using it for the sake of showing leopard off or just cause it's a cool new feature...

I only use it for when I really want to separate out one set of apps from another. If I'm downloading stuff while browsing and listening to iTunes and chatting, have mail open, doing some coding/working on a website, messing around in garageband, basically my usual day to day personal stuff, it'll all be in one space.
I only use a second space (i only have it set up for two spaces) when I am working, I have a part time job working from home, and when I'm working I want to concentrate on just that without being distracted by my other stuff, which I want to leave open for conveniences sake. So when I'm working I'll leave all my normal stuff open, switch to a second space and fire up a different browser there (firefox for work, safari for personal), my work app and a different messenger app with just my work account on it.
I don't see the advantage of using spaces as an app switcher, expose is much better for that.

I can't just use exposé - it gets silly... if I want to find a graph - it's insane on a 12" screen!

 

[JSchwage]

At the moment all I'm using it for is iTunes in my second space. It's much easier for me to just press Ctrl + > to get to iTunes instead of using Exposé. I imagine when I start doing a bunch more web development projects again, a third space will be really helpful.

 

[Dizzee]

i really can't find a use for it, still.
i mean, the way our os works, you don't really maximize windows, so you don't really care if you've got lots of them on your desktop, you just do an "all windows" and pick the one you want, much faster than Spaces.
and when you want to drag something from one to another it's faster the normal way than with Spaces.
and if you wanna hide something you can always Command-H it, no need to have it somewhere else...
i don't know, it looks cool but i'm having a hard time finding an actual use for it and not just start using it for the sake of showing leopard off or just cause it's a cool new feature...

what you said makes no sense at all to me...
and its still one of the biggest things that urks me with OS X is the lack for full screen windows!
i love all of my windows to be full screen, i only have 15.4" of screen, so i might as well use it all!
and i also cant stand the clutter and look of having multiple windows floating around everywhere...

spaces is my fav feature of leopard, i loved watching it in the previews, and i love being able to use it.
before leopard i used virtue desktops, and its so nice to have a built in virtual desktop manager.

here is how my spaces are set up:
1. Opera, Thunderbird
2. iChat, Skype
3. iTunes, Azureus
4. Photoshop, iPhoto (general design and random stuff)

 

[koobcamuk]

i love all of my windows to be full screen, i only have 15.4" of screen, so i might as well use it all!

Try 12"!

I use mine as follows (see above screen for why):

1: Work (IGOR PRO, Keynote, Word, Excel)
2: Mail (full screen)
3: iTunes, Safari, [Chat apps, Mac Mini]
4: Chat [PowerBook] - Mac Mini has a free space for random things

 

[jacg]

I have 3 vertical spaces (because I sometimes connect to a 2nd screen).

2: Mail and iCal, positioned to fill the screen but overlapping so that mailboxes and todo's in iCal are always visible.

3: iTunes (always open)

1: everything else.

This is pretty efficient. Slightly annoying when pasting or referring to stuff in emails.

CTRL 1, 2, 3 are very easy shortcuts.

 

[CashGap]

I love it.

Space 1 - "Home". Most of my real work.
Space 2 - "Enemy Territory". VMWare Fusion with Windows XP full-screen
Space 3 - "Under the hood". Console, Activity Monitor, Network Activity and Terminal.
Space 4 - "This space for rent". No use for it yet.

 

[TBi]

I can't just use exposé - it gets silly... if I want to find a graph - it's insane on a 12" screen!

Use F10 rather than F9.

 

[Sky Blue]

1. Mail/iCal
2. iTunes
3. iWork/Office/FM9
4. Safari
5. MS Remote Desktop / ARD
6. Fusion

 

[koobcamuk]

Use F10 rather than F9.

Doesn't help if there are 20 graph windows... nothing will help that. The new keyboards have F10 omitted. Anyway, it doesn't matter - I love spaces.

 

[TBi]

Doesn't help if there are 20 graph windows... nothing will help that. The new keyboards have F10 omitted. Anyway, it doesn't matter - I love spaces.

Command-` Will work!

 

[tkidBOSTON]

I use 4 spaces arranged as:

1 2
3 4

Space 1: Intensive App Desktop- Doesn't get used too often but this houses popcorn or toast or mtr or similar programs when they're in use.

Space 2: Active Desktop- This is where I'm at most of the time... iChat, Safari, etc.

Space 3: Resource Desktop- iCal, Address Book, Mail... These things I don't need all the time and actually rarely use but its nice to be able to just flip over and have the info ready for me if I need it.

Space 4: iTunes (full screen)- I have this here 'cause I don't actively need it when its playing but its nice to have it available ready to go instead of having a mini player in the way. I usually set an album and play it through instead of actively skipping songs and all that so its nice to have off on its own.

 

[yeroen]

I still prefer the virtual desktops that have been present on Unix/X11 systems for the past 20 years.

The current implementation of Spaces is just too buggy for me to use w/o worrying that my desktop will freeze up and I'll have to hard-reboot to get the machine back. I also wish Spaces would dispense with the zooming animation when toggling between desktops. It's distracting.

 

[sk3pt1c]

perhaps it all comes down to computer power...
i mean, i have a powerbook, so i can't really have 10 apps running at the same time realistically fast, so i usually have a couple of browsers running,
iTunes on the miniplayer, Adium and Mail. these are the ones that run all the time. and then i may want to run Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Photoshop when i do my web-dev work and it's fine going from one to the other.
I think that with Spaces enabled when using these apps my computer will be slower (actually it is slower, i've tried it) so it's better for me to use just one desktop.
and i detect a slight oxymoron here, you want to keep your windows tidied up but you have loads of apps running at the same time.i mean, if you really wanna be tidy, just run the ones you need to at any given time, if you have a computer that can afford to run loads of apps simultaneously then it will probably launch and quit them pretty fast too, innit?

 

[onebloodonelife]

i really can't find a use for it, still.
i mean, the way our os works, you don't really maximize windows, so you don't really care if you've got lots of them on your desktop, you just do an "all windows" and pick the one you want, much faster than Spaces.

Um, not really. If you keep certain apps in specific spaces all the time, it's much faster to hit a keystroke to get to that app than to hit the Exposé button and pick the window you wanted.

I use Spaces religiously. I was using VirtueDesktops before Leopard as well.

1. iTunes
2. Safari and Pages, usually
3. Mail and Adium
4. iCal
5. and 6. are open for other programs as needed.

EDIT: Forgot to add, I'm on a Macbook, so screen space is limited, making Spaces invaluable for me. And, I have 2 Gb of RAM, so the speed issue doesn't exist for me.

 

[akadmon]

abso-freakin-lutely!

I use it for doing audio editing and that alone is worth the price of admission. I have spaces set to engage when I hit center mouse and its so fast to switch between having safari open in one window, to mail and cal in another, to word in another... and yes I am constantly doing this. It is so much faster, more efficient, and cooler than minimizing windows...

So without Spaces you have to minimize windows to switch between programs? That's news to me What's wrong with alt-tabbing or plain old Expose? I typically have 10+ things open at one time and I don't have any problem navigating between them. Yeah, I don't use Spaces. Maybe someone can convince me I should. Reading this thread has not.

 

[Slip]

i love all of my windows to be full screen, i only have 15.4" of screen, so i might as well use it all!
and i also cant stand the clutter and look of having multiple windows floating around everywhere...

spaces is my fav feature of leopard, i loved watching it in the previews, and i love being able to use it.

Beat me to it. I hate the desktop clutter and so having things full screen keeps me focused on that particular subject. And also, only 13.3" of pixelated goodness until the external comes along so I use as much as I can
It's by far my fave feature, only just beating TM just for it's shear peace of mind.

 

[sk3pt1c]

i think i've found a single use for Spaces, and it's a Leopard thing as well
right, it's RSS!
in the older days of Tiger, i had a widget with my favourite RSS feeds and
Mail used to be minimized until a new email came down from the internet cloud
now that Mail beautifully reads RSS, it's too much of a hassle to minimize
and restore its window everytime i want to read my RSS feeds, so i've placed it in its own space!
wow!
i congratulate myself for having found an actual use for Spaces!
many more to come perhaps?

 

[CashGap]

Yeah, I don't use Spaces. Maybe someone can convince me I should. Reading this thread has not.

The point is NOT to uses space to move from one program to another, but to move from one "environment" or "work set" or "mind space" to another.

Example would be a photo editor and keynote in one space along with an outline of the presentation in text edit. Another space with email, calendar and contacts open. A third with console, activity monitor, network monitor and terminal. A fourth etc.

Now you are working productively in space one but you need to know how many farkles you sold last month. <CTRL><right> takes you into another environment... one that has your mail with sales reports, the contact database with your controllers' phone number, and your calendar for when you set an appointment to discuss sales. Another keystroke and you are back to your productive desktop. Another and you're looking at the console, activity monitor, network monitor and terminal to see "what's going on" with your machine.

So it's not a matter of switching from Mail to Console... that's easily done without spaces. It's moving from "Photo and publishing task area" to "communications area" to "under the hood area" to "you name it area" so quickly and having those areas configured exactly the same way each time you use them.

 

[koobcamuk]

The point is NOT to uses space to move from one program to another, but to move from one "environment" or "work set" or "mind space" to another.

Exactly.