4 ms·

In essence, this is similar how I setup and use Spaces on macOS. Have a number of spaces that are horizontally laid out with a three finger left/right swipe bet

In essence, this is similar how I setup and use Spaces on macOS. Have a number of spaces that are horizontally laid out with a three finger left/right swipe between them. For each Space, you can make the apps full-screen or split screen to have variable width windows. Of course you don't need to make them full screen but it does keep it simple similar to Cardboard. The added functionality with this approach is that you can use the Space as a casual grouping of windows in a related project.

jasonpeacock 5y ago
I do this too! I have [Messages/Slack/Chrome | Outlook/Notes/Chrome | iTerm3/Chrome] setup and easily swipe between them. Chrome is fixed in place on all of them b/c I frequently refer to websites while doing Slack/Outlook/coding work. iTerm3 is running tmux, connected to my remove development env (I'm a Neovim person, no local IDE needed). All those apps are tiled at full size, on a wide-screen monitor. It's a great way to organize based on task (chat, email, code) and easily switch between them.
thechao 5y ago
My boss thinks I'm the crazy one because I do this; now I lnow I'm not alone! I bet there's dozens of us!
- em-bee 5y ago
  yup, both on macos and on gnome. fullscreen windows, one per workspace (or multiple ones if that makes sense because i need them together) on macos i scroll horizontally, on gnome vertically. (although newer gnome now also does horizontally by default, haven't checked how to change that) the only problem i have is that i want to be able to scroll independently per display. i don't know if macos can do that, but gnome for sure can't. (it appears paperwm referenced in the article does that)
brundolf 5y ago
In particular I've found that using one Space per Jira ticket is a great way to juggle multiple ongoing tasks at once. Each gets its own code editor and Chrome window, with the ticket, merge request if applicable, any relevant research tabs, etc Unfortunately macOS still doesn't let you name Spaces, but I figured out you can just create a text edit window, make the font gigantic and put it in the middle of the screen, and it can be readable from Mission Control
nonphoto 5y ago
I also do this but sometimes macOS changes the order of full screen windows and I’m not sure why. Have you found a way to get around this?
- tra3 5y ago
  Do you have "Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use" toggled on?
unfocussed_mike 5y ago
> The added functionality with this approach is that you can use the Space as a casual grouping of windows in a related project. The cool thing about this is how well this mixed approach copes with the command-tab switcher; you stay local to the space until you tab to a thing that is in another space, which can make for really useful working patterns if, for example, you use site-specific browser apps for different online roles. For me it is regularly VS Code full screen in one space, browser and another app (Apple notes, a messaging app or tailed server log in terminal) together on another. But the difference between how Spaces works and how the WM in the demo video works seems like night and day. For all my frustrations about the way changing the app in one half of a Space can work [0], the Apple interface is at least an attempt to produce something that is driven by obviousness and gestures, in the way that (as a veteran mac user can tell you) that the "menu bar across the top of the screen" model is more instinctive and quicker to interact with than each modal having its own menu. The system in the demo video is jerky, hyperactive and surprising. I'd rather accept the limitations of a simpler approach designed to avoid level of surprise and jitter. [0] Not as well as iPadOS does. Never thought I'd say that sentence.
bbx 5y ago
Is it possible to disable the animation when switching between spaces? It’s something that has always prevented me from using such a setup. I’d rather have instant switch, considering how often I would perform this action.
- pjerem 5y ago
  If you use the three-fingers gesture, the animation is as fast as you can swipe. I don’t know if you can disable it when you use the keyboard (because I don’t). tbf, i like the way it’s synced with the trackpad gesture : it allows you to start swiping left to just see something without interacting and go back to the right without leaving the trackpad to get back where you were. That’s pretty useful when you have running things that you care are ok but are not worth the real estate (logs, running dev server …)
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    You run into the touchpad not detecting swipes accurately long before you get to anywhere near instant.
- auscompgeek 5y ago
  There is the "Reduce motion" accessibility option (in the Display section) which turns the animation into a fade instead of a swipe. Not instant, but it might be a bit faster.
pmontra 5y ago
I used to do something like that on Gnome, except the touchpad gestures. I used Super-Alt-Left and Right. Then I realized that I grouped windows in one desktop per customer. So I assigned a hotkey to each desktop and I switch by Super-letter. I don't have to cycle through multiple desktops to reach the one I need. That would be useless.
Accacin 5y ago
MacOS windowing is so hard for me to use though. I though I'd set my tmux in one window, browser in another, and everthing else in another. However, randomly my windows focus in the wrong space, if I plug in another monitor all hell breaks loose. Recently there's a weird bug where if I press the button to open spaces (ALT in my case), when I click back into iTerm, iTerm reduces it's size instead of staying fullscreen. I switched to Gnone on my desktop, and that behaves exactly how I'd imagine it would work, but MacOS just seems to do it's own thing constantly.

jasonpeacock 5y ago

I do this too! I have [Messages/Slack/Chrome | Outlook/Notes/Chrome | iTerm3/Chrome] setup and easily swipe between them. Chrome is fixed in place on all of them b/c I frequently refer to websites while doing Slack/Outlook/coding work. iTerm3 is running tmux, connected to my remove development env (I'm a Neovim person, no local IDE needed). All those apps are tiled at full size, on a wide-screen monitor. It's a great way to organize based on task (chat, email, code) and easily switch between them.

thechao 5y ago

My boss thinks I'm the crazy one because I do this; now I lnow I'm not alone! I bet there's dozens of us!

em-bee 5y ago
yup, both on macos and on gnome. fullscreen windows, one per workspace (or multiple ones if that makes sense because i need them together) on macos i scroll horizontally, on gnome vertically. (although newer gnome now also does horizontally by default, haven't checked how to change that) the only problem i have is that i want to be able to scroll independently per display. i don't know if macos can do that, but gnome for sure can't. (it appears paperwm referenced in the article does that)

brundolf 5y ago

In particular I've found that using one Space per Jira ticket is a great way to juggle multiple ongoing tasks at once. Each gets its own code editor and Chrome window, with the ticket, merge request if applicable, any relevant research tabs, etc Unfortunately macOS still doesn't let you name Spaces, but I figured out you can just create a text edit window, make the font gigantic and put it in the middle of the screen, and it can be readable from Mission Control

nonphoto 5y ago

I also do this but sometimes macOS changes the order of full screen windows and I’m not sure why. Have you found a way to get around this?

tra3 5y ago
Do you have "Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use" toggled on?

unfocussed_mike 5y ago

> The added functionality with this approach is that you can use the Space as a casual grouping of windows in a related project. The cool thing about this is how well this mixed approach copes with the command-tab switcher; you stay local to the space until you tab to a thing that is in another space, which can make for really useful working patterns if, for example, you use site-specific browser apps for different online roles. For me it is regularly VS Code full screen in one space, browser and another app (Apple notes, a messaging app or tailed server log in terminal) together on another. But the difference between how Spaces works and how the WM in the demo video works seems like night and day. For all my frustrations about the way changing the app in one half of a Space can work [0], the Apple interface is at least an attempt to produce something that is driven by obviousness and gestures, in the way that (as a veteran mac user can tell you) that the "menu bar across the top of the screen" model is more instinctive and quicker to interact with than each modal having its own menu. The system in the demo video is jerky, hyperactive and surprising. I'd rather accept the limitations of a simpler approach designed to avoid level of surprise and jitter. [0] Not as well as iPadOS does. Never thought I'd say that sentence.

bbx 5y ago

Is it possible to disable the animation when switching between spaces? It’s something that has always prevented me from using such a setup. I’d rather have instant switch, considering how often I would perform this action.

pjerem 5y ago
If you use the three-fingers gesture, the animation is as fast as you can swipe. I don’t know if you can disable it when you use the keyboard (because I don’t). tbf, i like the way it’s synced with the trackpad gesture : it allows you to start swiping left to just see something without interacting and go back to the right without leaving the trackpad to get back where you were. That’s pretty useful when you have running things that you care are ok but are not worth the real estate (logs, running dev server …)
- zamadatix 5y ago
  You run into the touchpad not detecting swipes accurately long before you get to anywhere near instant.
auscompgeek 5y ago
There is the "Reduce motion" accessibility option (in the Display section) which turns the animation into a fade instead of a swipe. Not instant, but it might be a bit faster.

pmontra 5y ago

I used to do something like that on Gnome, except the touchpad gestures. I used Super-Alt-Left and Right. Then I realized that I grouped windows in one desktop per customer. So I assigned a hotkey to each desktop and I switch by Super-letter. I don't have to cycle through multiple desktops to reach the one I need. That would be useless.

Accacin 5y ago

MacOS windowing is so hard for me to use though. I though I'd set my tmux in one window, browser in another, and everthing else in another. However, randomly my windows focus in the wrong space, if I plug in another monitor all hell breaks loose. Recently there's a weird bug where if I press the button to open spaces (ALT in my case), when I click back into iTerm, iTerm reduces it's size instead of staying fullscreen. I switched to Gnone on my desktop, and that behaves exactly how I'd imagine it would work, but MacOS just seems to do it's own thing constantly.