Why do full screen apps get their own space?

[Steve's Barber]

I'm really trying here folks. Would love to give Apple the benefit of a doubt and attempt to understand their idea of how Mission Control is better for me but admittedly I'm struggling.

In SL, whenever I use spaces (rarely I admit) it is to group certain applications together so the didn't all cluster up under "one roof" so to speak. (Like some games in one space, work crap in another).

With Lion though... I just get a whole dedicated Space for each application running in Full Screen mode. How is this helping me stay "visually" organized?

Is this one of those, "I'm holding it wrong" kind of things?

Again, I'm not bashing MC... oh hell, who am I kidding. It sucks.

 

[applecheese]

if you have more than one app assigned to a space or documents open in that space you won't have to minimise fullscreen apps every time to access them.

 

[MikhailT]

It is purely optional. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. You can still maximize it to full screen without making it an actual full screen app and still get the benefit of having multiple apps on the same space.

Some people will find it to be useful for smaller laptops, like 11"/13” MBAs and some people find it useful for staying in one app for a long period of time, like editing stuff in iPhoto or just casual web browsing in Safari.

Many power users are not likely to care for this feature and they won’t use it.

As for why they get their own space, it is because it takes up the entire space. You can’t fit another app in it.

 

[Cromulent]

Power users are not likely to care for this feature and they won’t use it.

I doubt that. If Xcode has full screen support I can imagine I would use it all the time in just the same way that MacVim has a very handy full screen support option currently (although they obviously use their own custom approach to make it a full screen app).

 

[Steve's Barber]

if you have more than one app assigned to a space or documents open in that space you won't have to minimise fullscreen apps every time to access them.

But why don't they just shrink a bit and show in Expose' (at the bottom) instead? When I'm currently in a Space, I expect to see it with the other apps I want to group it with… not up top by itself.

You can still maximize it to full screen without making it an actual full screen app and still get the benefit of having multiple apps on the same space.

How do you make it full screen without making it full screen? I think you mean resizing the window to cover the whole screen but that comes with the menu bar and other baggage which defeats the purpose of full screen.

As for why they get their own space, it is because it takes up the entire space. You can’t fit another app in it.

Sure I can (or I should be able to rather). Mission Control prevents me from doing it for no apparent reason that I can see other than the fact the tiny spaces icon up top won't be an exact replica of what it really is. And who cares if it doesn't look right? I should be able to put a dozen full screen apps in a single space because Expose should spread them out like it does everything else.

Not trying to be difficult.

 

[MikhailT]

I doubt that. If Xcode has full screen support I can imagine I would use it all the time in just the same way that MacVim has a very handy full screen support option currently (although they obviously use their own custom approach to make it a full screen app).

You might be right, we just have to wait and see what developers will come up.

The full screen mode might allow developers to come up with an innovative interface that’ll be different from a normal window.

I edited my post to not generalize it to all power users but some specific users would find it useful for their own needs.

I can see how photoshop users would find this useful or even iMovie users.

But why don't they just shrink a bit and show in Expose' (at the bottom) instead? When I'm currently in a Space, I expect to see it with the other apps I want to group it with… not up top by itself.



How do you make it full screen without making it full screen? I think you mean resizing the window to cover the whole screen but that comes with the menu bar and other baggage which defeats the purpose of full screen.

Sure I can (or I should be able to rather). Mission Control prevents me from doing it for no apparent reason that I can see other than the fact the tiny spaces icon up top won't be an exact replica of what it really is. And who cares if it doesn't look right? I should be able to put a dozen full screen apps in a single space because Expose should spread them out like it does everything else.

Not trying to be difficult.

Because Apple feels this is more intuitive for average users than power users. Majority of Mac users that I know don’t use space or exposes at all. This might convince them to use it more often.

I don’t like what they did with MC either but I can adjust to it easily. I just consider MC as a single space expose.

 

[Stok3]

Because Apple feels this is more intrusive for average users than power users. Majority of Mac users that I know don’t use space or exposes at all. This might convince them to use it more often.

I don’t like what they did with MC either but I can adjust to it easily. I just consider MC as a single space expose.

This makes the most sense to me. The fullscreen implementation more properly utilized Spaces IMO

 

[Jagardn]

Again, I'm not bashing MC... oh hell, who am I kidding. It sucks.

I actually think mission control is designed well. If you don't like it, don't upgrade, it's quite simple.

 

[throttlemeister]

I agree, I like it and actually prefer it over the old spaces. Maybe I didn't use it right; only had a mac for 2 years now, so not unlikely. I like how MC gives me an overview of all applications across all spaces and where they reside in a way I can actually use its, compared to old Spaces which gave me either a view of one space only, or all spaces in a way it was completely unusable for me with a lot of different windows open.

I don't like what they did with Expose though; it used to tell you where an app resided, in what space. Now it doesn't give any useful information. My issues are not with MC and spaces, but with Expose.

 

[Cinder6]

I found Spaces a lot less useful on a 27" screen vs my 13" Macbook, but I'm actually using the new system on both machines now. I do agree it would be better presented as a grid for quicker switching, or at least allow us to type a number for the first 10 spaces. Or have MC pull in applications across all desktops.

 

[Benjamindaines]

So you can switch to them with trackpad gestures