Jonathan Davies

I can’t say that Leopard has changed the way I work with Spaces. This is because before Leopard I was using the application Virtue Desktops (which is no longer in development). I was very happy with it and it did almost everything that I wanted it too - and in fact in many ways it trumps Spaces. You may now ask, why did I change to Spaces? One word. Integration. It works flawlessly with Mac OS X and all the applications. I found some glaring and frustrating problems with Virtue Desktops which made my yearn for Leopard stronger.

One thing that attracted me to the idea of extra desktops in the first place was that only having 15” of desktop and finding myself running about six apps, sometimes more, all at once it had become a juggling act keeping them arranged. With spaces I have virtually quadrupled my desktop to 60” and have the capability to have up to 240”! However even with this I am still looking in to a 30” display.

Here is how I use Spaces:

I have fours “spaces”, one for Mail Twitterific and Pownce (when it works). In this space I communicate with everyone over the internet (email) and check what people are up too (Twitterific and Pownce). I then have a second window used for web browsing. I have both Safari and Firefox going at once most of the time (it’s a long story why). I then have a third space for word processing and nothing else, in that space I can stay focused on my goal and not get distracted. And finally I have the forth space for iTunes where I can quickly jump to if I want to listen to something else.

One of the other cool ideas that Apple has taken into account is the ability to assign spaces to an application. One of the main things that happened with Virtue Desktops is that I would accidently swap them, so assigning Spaces really helps

Here is how I’d like to use Spaces:

Though spaces is very cool, there are a few nagging things about it. Some may say that these are features but they frustrate me. If I have not set an app for a space and I want to change it I can’t minimize it and then open it into a different space, if I do that then it goes back to the original space. I have to close the open window and then open it in the new space.

Conclusions:

Spaces is a program that I will use. However it is a feature that I wouldn’t go out and show someone, I would show Time Machine though (more on that soon). There is no reason that you shouldn’t use it in Leopard, but it isn’t an app that I would go out and buy.

Have you used Spaces? What do you think? Leave a comment or use the contact form!

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