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Spaces... what a let down

post #1 of 32
11/1/07 at 2:11pm
Thread Starter 
i was excited for spaces because I thought they it would be like having multiple desktops. After installing leopard, I discovered that it really only separated applications. My thoughts were that if I needed to work on an English project and a history project i could do them at the same time and keep them separated with spaces.

It really disappointed me when i found out that I can't open multiple safari windows in different spaces. It just sends you back to the stack safari is opened in.

Am i wrong or is this what it is really like?

Did anyone else have the same misinterpretation or was it just me

-Cato

Edit: How do you use spaces? Give everyone your organizational idea! Although its efficient for me, I'm sure there are much better ways i could be using it
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post #2 of 32
11/1/07 at 2:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cato988 View Post

i was excited for spaces because I thought they it would be like having multiple desktops. After installing leopard, I discovered that it really only separated applications. My thoughts were that if I needed to work on an English project and a history project i could do them at the same time and keep them separated with spaces.

It really disappointed me when i found out that I can't open multiple safari windows in different spaces. It just sends you back to the stack safari is opened in.

Am i wrong or is this what it is really like?

Did anyone else have the same misinterpretation or was it just me

-Cato

You can set apps to be visible in all spaces. It's under the preference control for Spaces. Choose the app you want and instead of assigning it to a specific space, just assign it to all.

For me, spaces is amazing. I absolutely love how it works. My workspace has never been so organized.
"Slow vehicle speeds with frequent stops would signal traffic congestion, for instance."

uh... it could also signal that my Mom is at the wheel...
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"Slow vehicle speeds with frequent stops would signal traffic congestion, for instance."

uh... it could also signal that my Mom is at the wheel...
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post #3 of 32
11/1/07 at 2:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Beardsley View Post

You can set apps to be visible in all spaces. It's under the preference control for Spaces. Choose the app you want and instead of assigning it to a specific space, just assign it to all.

For me, spaces is amazing. I absolutely love how it works. My workspace has never been so organized.

Thanks... that kinda helps with what i was looking for!

I have a better idea for this thread... im gonna edit it in so be sure to check it out
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post #4 of 32
11/1/07 at 2:44pm
Keep working at it chief. Spaces comes "out the box" configured pretty simply but as the other poster said to take advantage you'll need to decide what apps need to be available in all Spaces and what can be quarantined off.
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post #5 of 32
11/1/07 at 3:39pm
Ok, you want two different safari windows open in two different spaces?

Open Safari. Open a new window. Click and hold on window #2 and use [Apple][Arrow key] to move it to a different space. Clicking on the dock icon will take you to the window in the lowest numbered space (from my tests) and then clicking it again will switch to a higher one.

I love spaces because of the ability to have everything so organized. 4 spaces seems the most efficient to me because you can go to every single space from every other one.
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post #6 of 32
11/1/07 at 4:40pm
Absolutely may favorite feature of Leopard. I found myself using it instantly and intuitively, without the acclimation required for stacks etc. to work its way into my actions.

a PERFECT way to organize and expand the desktop.
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post #7 of 32
11/1/07 at 5:07pm
I hate the phrase "work flow," but Spaces has changed mine. I'm diggin' it greatly, and I've been using virtual desktops of one kind or another for over 15 years.
"I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused."
Macbook Pro 2.2
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"I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused."
Macbook Pro 2.2
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post #8 of 32
11/1/07 at 5:19pm
I've been seeing a lot of people lately throw in the towel when it came to Spaces.

Perhaps the Spaces preference pane interface isn't quite as intuitive as I thought...many people give up on Spaces before they even configure anything outside the number of spaces they want.
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post #9 of 32
11/1/07 at 5:43pm
I am thoroughly loving spaces as well. It just fits my workflow perfectly and keeps my screen estate nice and tidy without effort.
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post #10 of 32
11/1/07 at 6:10pm
It works fine, you can have your porn safari window on #3 and the wifesafe safari space on #2 and so on. You can run multiple windows of the app in different areas.
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post #11 of 32
11/1/07 at 6:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cato988 View Post

i was excited for spaces because I thought they it would be like having multiple desktops. After installing leopard, I discovered that it really only separated applications. My thoughts were that if I needed to work on an English project and a history project i could do them at the same time and keep them separated with spaces.

It really disappointed me when i found out that I can't open multiple safari windows in different spaces. It just sends you back to the stack safari is opened in.

Am i wrong or is this what it is really like?

Did anyone else have the same misinterpretation or was it just me

I did. I was expecting a Sun Solaris type of virtual desktop where you could set each desktop (space) with a different background. Spaces really seems to me to be an extension of Expose or hide other apps.

But, I have been using it...

- Mark

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/index.html
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- Mark

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/index.html
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post #12 of 32
11/1/07 at 7:03pm
Thread Starter 
ya i figured out how to do what i wanted with spaces and now i love it. I was just worried i couldnt have the same app in multiple spaces. Now that i can, i love it
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post #13 of 32
11/1/07 at 10:04pm
one update i'd like to see is the ability to enable and disable spaces in the menubar. its annoying having to go to system preferences every time i want to turn it on and off.

i usually turn it off to save system resources and turn them on when i need it. you listening apple?
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post #14 of 32
11/1/07 at 10:39pm
How is turning off Spaces going to save resources? There are plenty of other processes that are running and taking up more memory than Spaces. Why single that one out? You can't enable and disable Exposé either.
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post #15 of 32
11/1/07 at 10:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonsai1214 View Post

one update i'd like to see is the ability to enable and disable spaces in the menubar. its annoying having to go to system preferences every time i want to turn it on and off.

i usually turn it off to save system resources and turn them on when i need it. you listening apple?

You realize that spaces takes next to no system resources right?
"Slow vehicle speeds with frequent stops would signal traffic congestion, for instance."

uh... it could also signal that my Mom is at the wheel...
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"Slow vehicle speeds with frequent stops would signal traffic congestion, for instance."

uh... it could also signal that my Mom is at the wheel...
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post #16 of 32
11/1/07 at 11:52pm
i won't be able to use spaces until it's working properly with adium
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post #17 of 32
11/2/07 at 4:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bonsai1214 View Post

one update i'd like to see is the ability to enable and disable spaces in the menubar. its annoying having to go to system preferences every time i want to turn it on and off.

i usually turn it off to save system resources and turn them on when i need it. you listening apple?

It doesn't even show up as a process in activity monitor. The resources it uses are negligible and even less significant if you aren't using more than one space.
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post #18 of 32
11/2/07 at 4:13pm
thats nice to know. but it seems when i pull up dashboard, it lags just a little as opposed to when i'm not using spaces.
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post #19 of 32
11/2/07 at 5:10pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobmarksdale View Post

It doesn't even show up as a process in activity monitor. The resources it uses are negligible and even less significant if you aren't using more than one space.

Because WindowServer manages it.
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post #20 of 32
11/2/07 at 5:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sc_markt View Post

I did. I was expecting a Sun Solaris type of virtual desktop where you could set each desktop (space) with a different background. Spaces really seems to me to be an extension of Expose or hide other apps.

But, I have been using it...

How does having varying backgrounds specific to each virtual desktop space make this a feature and aide in your ability to do work and thus increase your productivity?

You do know that this is something easily added to Spaces, right?

I'm betting Apple's checklist for Spaces has this "feature" low on the list and more means of productivity higher on the list.

My Linux Xorg 7.3 environment has a unique background for each view. It doesn't make me more productive or have applications that can leverage multiple spaces for me to be more productive. Xinerama across two large screens where I can have one side dedicated to outputs and one dedicated to inputs of development, scripting, etc., in the other makes me more productive.
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post #21 of 32
11/3/07 at 1:50pm
I would like to see files and icons specific to each space. I want my main space to be icon free while space 2 should have all my ripped DVD files on the desktop waiting for encoding.

I would like a File free spaces.
Hard-Core.
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Hard-Core.
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post #22 of 32
11/3/07 at 2:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by hugodrax View Post

It works fine, you can have your porn safari window on #3 and the wifesafe safari space on #2 and so on. You can run multiple windows of the app in different areas.

I can't get it to have one more than one instance of Safari open at a time unless you open two Safari windows at the same time and drag one to another space. A bit of a pain I think. So unless I missed something, you made it sound too easy. I like having a space for each research project I am working on and that means having a separate Safari instance open for each space. Who wants to drag and drop around when you should be able to just click on Safari in your current space???

Again, correct me if I am wrong here.

Hopefully, spaces get's better and Apple goes back to the Tiger firewall. These two things would make me a more happy man.
Hard-Core.
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post #23 of 32
11/3/07 at 2:35pm
As I mentioned in other thread (don't remember which) some virtual desktop implementations try to simulate different sessions of the same user. This approach would have consistency problems - one app in all spaces, same dock etc. The reason apple does not allow having different desktop picture and why they called the feature 'spaces' in the first place is to emphasize that it does not take this approach.

BTW, you can move different windows of the same app to different spaces in different ways: move the window in 'spaces' view, or just move the window to the desired edge and hold for a second - it will slip to the adjacent space. There is a shortcut to collapse all windows in one space.
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post #24 of 32
11/3/07 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aplnub View Post

I can't get it to have one more than one instance of Safari open at a time unless you open two Safari windows at the same time and drag one to another space. A bit of a pain I think. So unless I missed something, you made it sound too easy. I like having a space for each research project I am working on and that means having a separate Safari instance open for each space. Who wants to drag and drop around when you should be able to just click on Safari in your current space???

Again, correct me if I am wrong here.

Hopefully, spaces get's better and Apple goes back to the Tiger firewall. These two things would make me a more happy man.

No! It will never work the way you want! Now you can switch to the application space by clicking the app icon in the dock. In your scenario, this will open another instance of the app. This will drive nuts the majority of the users. And you will face another big problem here: MOST of the applications (Adobe stuff to begin with) don't support multiple instances, incl. from different users logged at the same time.

Your 'problem' is artificial IMO. If you are working on multiple projects this will take a while and arranging the windows initially is not a big deal. There are several ways to do this - see my post above.

Edit: Ah, for the majority of the apps which do not support multiple instances a simple workaround is to copy the application. This is an easy workaround for your [made up] [non]problem as well. It should be possible to assign a different space for each copy I guess. It will be confusing to have the icons of both in the dock, though, so you should place them cleverly.
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post #25 of 32
11/3/07 at 5:10pm
Spaces had been nice so far but.....I don't like the way safari operates in it. If you don't want the safari page to in one window to change you need to open up a new safari page. Then when you switch back to the original space you get that extra safari window. What I would like to see would be only the safari in one space change and not any of the others. Does anyone know if it will do this?
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post #26 of 32
11/3/07 at 7:21pm
I think spaces is great. I can't imagine what all the bitching is about. You can assign apps to spaces and then override that assignment by dragging a window, such as in Safari. What is the problem? And how else would one expect it to behave? It's not supposed to be a multiple desktop...just separate workspaces. You can still drag any window to whatever space. ( OMG...you have to DRAG a WINDOW? That's not efficient!).
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post #27 of 32
11/4/07 at 2:48am
Can someone give me a concrete example of how they use spaces?

I set up 4 spaces: One for communication, one for my work, one for browsing the web and one empty as a reserve.

Then someone called me on Skype while I was working. He sent me a couple of links which made me switch spaces automatically, back and forth. Someone next to me startet talking to me at the same time and distracted me. A process on my work space required my attention as it couldn't complete.

All the zig-zagging between the various windows and spaces drove me so nuts in that moment that I switched everything off.

I'm back to one space and it feels much more Zen-like.

Is it just because I'm unable to multitask?
Is it my limited 1 GB of RAM or does it feel like leaving all these windows and apps open just slows things down to much?

Let me know how to use it, I liked the idea of it, but I'm not sure wheres the productivity gain.
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post #28 of 32
11/4/07 at 5:04am
Has anyone noticed that if you drag a window by its title bar to a corner on the screen it switches to the appropriate space?
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post #29 of 32
11/4/07 at 5:09am
This is the way that I have mine set up. Others will be different, but this suit my needs. I have mine set more for projects and tasks. Safari is set up to be in all windows, it gets a lot of use. Space 1 - email ( apple mail and gmail which gets min. to the dock), ichat and safari. Space 2 is time sheets. I have to bill different jobs and this is a handy way to do it. Expose was a good way to flip to any sheet I needed but spaces has reduced the number I have to look at. The other spaces will have different job folders. Spread sheets and documentation and individual firefox windows are opened in these. I use firefox to keep a specific browser page open for that project. I will hop back to safari for general browsing and look ups. I will save items to their job folders or the desktop which makes that file available to all spaces. I still use expose a lot and find that it is the best tool finding something. Spaces just helps keep a job all in one place without having other jobs clutter that space.
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post #30 of 32
11/4/07 at 5:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by reg View Post

This is the way that I have mine set up. Others will be different, but this suit my needs. I have mine set more for projects and tasks. Safari is set up to be in all windows, it gets a lot of use. Space 1 - email ( apple mail and gmail which gets min. to the dock), ichat and safari. Space 2 is time sheets. I have to bill different jobs and this is a handy way to do it. Expose was a good way to flip to any sheet I needed but spaces has reduced the number I have to look at. The other spaces will have different job folders. Spread sheets and documentation and individual firefox windows are opened in these. I use firefox to keep a specific browser page open for that project. I will hop back to safari for general browsing and look ups. I will save items to their job folders or the desktop which makes that file available to all spaces. I still use expose a lot and find that it is the best tool finding something. Spaces just helps keep a job all in one place without having other jobs clutter that space.


Mine:

Space 1: E-mail and iChat
Space 2: iapps...iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, iDVD, etc.
Space 3: Dedicated to internet. I usually run two browsers
Space 4: Work. Word, Excel, etc.
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post #31 of 32
11/5/07 at 3:03pm
1: Firefox
2: iChat (I chat a lot)
3. Pages, Graph Sketcher, dictionary - work stuff
4. Safari if I need to get PDFs off the internet, iTunes as well
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post #32 of 32
11/5/07 at 4:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post

How does having varying backgrounds specific to each virtual desktop space make this a feature and aide in your ability to do work and thus increase your productivity?

If you don't have the menubar spaces icon enabled, you won't know which space you are in. If you changed each background, then you would know immediately which space you are in.
And even if there is a faster way to know which space you are in, I assumed it was going to work like it does in Solaris where you can set different backgrounds and you really feel like you are in another workspace. Spaces seems to me to be more like expose in that it just slides apps off to the side or top of the screen.

[QUOTE=mdriftmeyer;1167561
You do know that this is something easily added to Spaces, right?[/quote]

Not aware of this.

- Mark

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/index.html
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- Mark

http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/wew/index.html
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