how do you use Spaces?

TRSmith said:

For those of you running Leopard, I'm curious to know if you use the "Spaces" feature and how. I attempted to organize stuff in it once and found the switching between apps a little disconcerting. Is it a feature you like or use? If so, how do you have it set up?

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Well, it can be helpful at times; just don´t define too many panes... I have three in a row, rather easy to keep track of. Left one is mail and browser, middle is for Finder, iCal &c, while the right one is reserved for Lightroom.

I do have a 30" Cinema Display, which in theory should allow one to keep and see lots of open windows without losing them. Only, in practice, it gets just as hopelessly cluttered up as a smaller one. So Spaces does help.

Do learn the keyboard shortcuts for Spaces, and define F8 for seeing all panes at once, otherwise it will be very confusing in no time.

Thanks Per. maybe I just need to try a few different arrangements. I've become so used to using the command + tab key to switch between apps, that the spaces thing just seems like an extra step. I'll give it another try.

TRSmith said:

Thanks Per. maybe I just need to try a few different arrangements. I've become so used to using the command + tab key to switch between apps, that the spaces thing just seems like an extra step. I'll give it another try.

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It probably is just an extra step.

A spaces equivalent has been in the Unix world for a number of years and was probably mainly used to hide the things you didn't want the boss to see at work, such as playing doom or shopping online.

Robert

robsteve said:

It probably is just an extra step.

A spaces equivalent has been in the Unix world for a number of years and was probably mainly used to hide the things you didn't want the boss to see at work, such as playing doom or shopping online.

Robert

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Since most of my online gaming is with the Xbox 360, I'd probably end up using the spaces screens to hide all that MF camera porn. My wife is pretty open to a reasonable argument but I can't come up with a sales pitch for why I need one of those beauties that I could deliver with a straight face. But you're never too old to look, right?

I have four set up, and have set my middle button to activate them. In space 1 I have email, web and the default for all other unspecified programs; 2 is all word processing and spreadsheet; 3 is CS3; 4 is all my raw converters. This leaves all my regular programs active, yet all my workspaces remain uncluttered even when everything is open. Switching between them is as easy as pressing the third mouse button and clicking on the space I want to move to.

I'll try your setup as a starting point Jack. In addition to the apps you have running, I also use Illustrator, Quark, InDesign and PS3 which I use for my design work. Since I use PS3 for both photography and design, it ends up being the odd man out and makes for more sliding around on screen. I'll give it shot though.

I'll have to give it another go. I've run into problems when copying and pasting where the two apps are in different spaces. It may just be the way my brain is wired because I guess I like to see the app I'm copying from and to at the same time.

TRSmith said:

I'll try your setup as a starting point Jack. In addition to the apps you have running, I also use Illustrator, Quark, InDesign and PS3 which I use for my design work. Since I use PS3 for both photography and design, it ends up being the odd man out and makes for more sliding around on screen. I'll give it shot though.

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Just to be clear, you can set up your system so it has more than 4 spaces -- add rows and/or columns -- in case you need them for these added apps

TEBnewyork said:

I'll have to give it another go. I've run into problems when copying and pasting where the two apps are in different spaces. It may just be the way my brain is wired because I guess I like to see the app I'm copying from and to at the same time.

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Copy and paste? I just drag and drop from one to the next while the spaces selection screen is active, this way seeing where I'm coming from and where I'm going to

Jack Flesher said:

Copy and paste? I just drag and drop from one to the next while the spaces selection screen is active, this way seeing where I'm coming from and where I'm going to

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Hmmm...I tried that and I couldn't get it to work! I will enable spaces again and see where I was messing up. Maybe I was using command C and that doesn't work. Off to set up spaces again.

I can't get the drag and drop thing to work. For example, I can't drag a jpeg off a web page into CS3 like you can do with windows. Am I missing something? Dropping a jpeg on the CS3 icon in the dock should open CS3 and open the jpeg.

Robert

I must admit I uses spaces occasionally but just to run VMware and Windows XP full screen in its own space. Most of the time I just run VMware in Unity mode where the widows of the XP aps just show up like the Mac windows.

Jack Flesher said:

I have four set up, and have set my middle button to activate them. In space 1 I have email, web and the default for all other unspecified programs; 2 is all word processing and spreadsheet; 3 is CS3; 4 is all my raw converters. This leaves all my regular programs active, yet all my workspaces remain uncluttered even when everything is open. Switching between them is as easy as pressing the third mouse button and clicking on the space I want to move to.

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Jack:

That sounds like when we used unix at work years ago. One screen was Wordperfect, another lotus 123, then tow or three sceens with the accounting program the business ran. Used a similar hotkey sequence to switch screens.

robsteve said:

I can't get the drag and drop thing to work. For example, I can't drag a jpeg off a web page into CS3 like you can do with windows. Am I missing something? Dropping a jpeg on the CS3 icon in the dock should open CS3 and open the jpeg.

Robert

Click to expand...

I should clarify I am talking about dragging and dropping entire windows from one space to another, not files or images. To use use the CMD "C" or "V" the screen has to be in the full mode of each space for each action.

Jack