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I've often pondered this myself. Windows has traditionally been a Window/document-centric OS where the primary object of interaction is a window (e.g. alt-tab

I've often pondered this myself. Windows has traditionally been a Window/document-centric OS where the primary object of interaction is a window (e.g. alt-tab would swap between individual Windows). macOS has traditionally been an application-centric OS, one tabs between Applications. What I would love to see is a project-centric system, where I can tab between projects and have all the relevant applications and documents appear and disappear with it.

sooheon 9y ago
Interesting way to see it. I have a way to tab between projects in emacs (where only buffers pertaining to a project are shown), but having this system-wide would be good.
- wcummings 9y ago
  Can you share your elisp?
  - sooheon 9y ago
    It is entirely someone else's elisp: https://github.com/nex3/perspective-el https://github.com/nex3/perspective-el If you don't need workspace specific buffers, eyebrowse[1] is a good (seemingly less buggy) alternative. [1] https://github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse https://github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - wcummings 9y ago
      Eyebrowse looks good, I'll be happy if I can get it to select layouts w/ ido completing read. perspective supports that out of the box so worst case i can just that. Thanks!
  - avdempsey 9y ago
    You might also check out spacemacs, it has perspectives pre-configured. Or...steal their elisp :)
    - wcummings 9y ago
      I have way too much configuration accumulated to be bothered with shoehorning it into spacemacs.
plaguuuuuu 9y ago
>What I would love to see is a project-centric system, where I can tab between projects and have all the relevant applications and documents appear and disappear with it. Linux! I'm a Windows dev now and miss Linux so much. What I used to do back in the day was simplistic, but still very useful - I'd have multiple desktops open, & have each project on its own desktop. SSH connections, code editors, network drives, VMs whatever. It keeps visual separation between environments, even if not total logical separation. If you need better separation, you can have multiple sessions open at once with separate window managers, user accounts, file system roots, whatever you need - at the same time. I'm hazy on the implementation details but I've seen it done. Altho, this might be a bit old school today, with VMs taking less resources and stuff like docker existing.
- a_t48 9y ago
  Windows also has multiple desktops now, since at least 10.
  - pmh 9y ago
    Virtual desktops on Windows have been around since at least XP, albeit as a powertoy. I know at least AMD, and I presume Nvidia, also offer(ed) their own virtual desktop solutions as part of their GPU driver suites.
  - Someone 9y ago
    So has Mac OS, since 2007 (the implementation wasn't perfect, though, and possibly still isn't perfect)
egypturnash 9y ago
Turn on multiple desktops. One project per desktop. Command-arrow between desktops.
- andy_ppp 9y ago
  An app can only be on one desktop - instead it should be on multiple spaces but filtered by project, right files open etc.
  - stephenr 9y ago
    Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure I've had safari windows on multiple desktops.
    - andy_ppp 9y ago
      Okay if you want to split hairs sure Safari can do it but will it keep all the windows about your project on the correct screen? What about Word or Photoshop or Mail or Skype or Sketch or Numbers or Whatever. Will any of these programs filter by project on the correct screen like I want them to? Nope.
      - stephenr 9y ago
        They should leave the Windows where you put them, nothing more nothing less.
      - Yaggo 9y ago
        I have used project-per-virtual-desktop approach for years. I assign "shared apps" (Mail, Slack, etc) to all desktops (option-click via dock icon). My "project apps" are mostly terminal, text editor, and browser windows. There are couple of issues¹, but this is still by far the best approach I can think of. Actually, I don't understand how other people can manage their stuff without per-project virtual desktops. ¹ cannot rename virtual desktops on macOS, not all apps can restore their windows on correct desktop after reboot, not all apps support multi-window workflow (e.g. Slack), "minimized windows" area in dock should be per-desktop instead of global
mnm1 9y ago
Have you looked at KDE activities? It's been around since 2011 or so (assuming it's still around in the latest version--seemed to be there a couple months ago).
- stoolpigeon 9y ago
  It is what I thought of right away and yes it is still a part of KDE.
Angostura 9y ago
Does multiple Desktops on Mac not do the trick?
dotancohen 9y ago
KDE has had the wonderful Activities feature for years. I believe that it even filters email messages in Kmail per Activity, though I still use Thunderbird.
NoGravitas 9y ago
OS/2 used to have that feature. You could flag a folder as a project in the desktop environment. Anything you opened from that folder was part of that project. Close the project folder, everything opened from it closes. Open the project folder, everything you had open from it last time opens. And I'm pretty sure (it's been ~20 years since I used it) that it would also hide all everything if you hid the project folder.

sooheon 9y ago

Interesting way to see it. I have a way to tab between projects in emacs (where only buffers pertaining to a project are shown), but having this system-wide would be good.

wcummings 9y ago
Can you share your elisp?
- sooheon 9y ago
  It is entirely someone else's elisp: https://github.com/nex3/perspective-el https://github.com/nex3/perspective-el If you don't need workspace specific buffers, eyebrowse[1] is a good (seemingly less buggy) alternative. [1] https://github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse https://github.com/wasamasa/eyebrowse
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - wcummings 9y ago
    Eyebrowse looks good, I'll be happy if I can get it to select layouts w/ ido completing read. perspective supports that out of the box so worst case i can just that. Thanks!
- avdempsey 9y ago
  You might also check out spacemacs, it has perspectives pre-configured. Or...steal their elisp :)
  - wcummings 9y ago
    I have way too much configuration accumulated to be bothered with shoehorning it into spacemacs.

plaguuuuuu 9y ago

>What I would love to see is a project-centric system, where I can tab between projects and have all the relevant applications and documents appear and disappear with it. Linux! I'm a Windows dev now and miss Linux so much. What I used to do back in the day was simplistic, but still very useful - I'd have multiple desktops open, & have each project on its own desktop. SSH connections, code editors, network drives, VMs whatever. It keeps visual separation between environments, even if not total logical separation. If you need better separation, you can have multiple sessions open at once with separate window managers, user accounts, file system roots, whatever you need - at the same time. I'm hazy on the implementation details but I've seen it done. Altho, this might be a bit old school today, with VMs taking less resources and stuff like docker existing.

a_t48 9y ago
Windows also has multiple desktops now, since at least 10.
- pmh 9y ago
  Virtual desktops on Windows have been around since at least XP, albeit as a powertoy. I know at least AMD, and I presume Nvidia, also offer(ed) their own virtual desktop solutions as part of their GPU driver suites.
- Someone 9y ago
  So has Mac OS, since 2007 (the implementation wasn't perfect, though, and possibly still isn't perfect)

egypturnash 9y ago

Turn on multiple desktops. One project per desktop. Command-arrow between desktops.

andy_ppp 9y ago
An app can only be on one desktop - instead it should be on multiple spaces but filtered by project, right files open etc.
- stephenr 9y ago
  Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure I've had safari windows on multiple desktops.
  - andy_ppp 9y ago
    Okay if you want to split hairs sure Safari can do it but will it keep all the windows about your project on the correct screen? What about Word or Photoshop or Mail or Skype or Sketch or Numbers or Whatever. Will any of these programs filter by project on the correct screen like I want them to? Nope.
    - stephenr 9y ago
      They should leave the Windows where you put them, nothing more nothing less.
    - Yaggo 9y ago
      I have used project-per-virtual-desktop approach for years. I assign "shared apps" (Mail, Slack, etc) to all desktops (option-click via dock icon). My "project apps" are mostly terminal, text editor, and browser windows. There are couple of issues¹, but this is still by far the best approach I can think of. Actually, I don't understand how other people can manage their stuff without per-project virtual desktops. ¹ cannot rename virtual desktops on macOS, not all apps can restore their windows on correct desktop after reboot, not all apps support multi-window workflow (e.g. Slack), "minimized windows" area in dock should be per-desktop instead of global

mnm1 9y ago

Have you looked at KDE activities? It's been around since 2011 or so (assuming it's still around in the latest version--seemed to be there a couple months ago).

stoolpigeon 9y ago
It is what I thought of right away and yes it is still a part of KDE.

Angostura 9y ago

Does multiple Desktops on Mac not do the trick?

dotancohen 9y ago

KDE has had the wonderful Activities feature for years. I believe that it even filters email messages in Kmail per Activity, though I still use Thunderbird.

NoGravitas 9y ago

OS/2 used to have that feature. You could flag a folder as a project in the desktop environment. Anything you opened from that folder was part of that project. Close the project folder, everything opened from it closes. Open the project folder, everything you had open from it last time opens. And I'm pretty sure (it's been ~20 years since I used it) that it would also hide all everything if you hid the project folder.