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Virtual desktops .... I always thought this would be useful for switching between different contexts, like work vs. personal, but I’ve rarely used it in

by gknoy 13y ago

Virtual desktops .... I always thought this would be useful for switching between different contexts, like work vs. personal, but I’ve rarely used it in practice. I'm a virtual desktop addict. If I may, I'd like to share how I use mine, so that you might perhaps find them more useful in your own work. I have dual monitors, and four virtual desktops (in XFCE, but that doesn't matter). Originally, I used only two workspaces (email/reading, development), and this has evolved a bit over time into 4. What I like about using virtual desktops is that I have a spatial mental model of where each thing is, which helps me ensure I don't mix up dev/production, and helps me avoid alt-tabbing to find what I want. I make extensive use of my window manager's ability to maximize on the left or right half of a screen. (This would probably not work well for me with a single monitor, unless it were a large one.) 1: E-mail/calendar on the left monitor, automated build system output on the right. This is for things that are semi-important but which I don't want to regularly have interrupting me. 2: Web browser with the app I currently am developing, and my console window on the left monitor, full-screen IDE (PyCharm) on the right. (I also put emacs or a terminal on the right as well when writing extensively in those.) This workspace is where I spend more than 80% of my time. 3: Github on the right screen, for pull requests, code review, issue tracking. I use this for a context-switch from developing code to reviewing it. I'll also use this workspace when babysitting a code release, to help ensure that I don't mix up local stuff with remote stuff. 4: music player. I stream music, so I rarely need to look at this except to change channels.

davidw 13y ago
I'm exactly the same way, with emacs occupying one, remote ssh's another, a browser another one, root windows elsewhere, xchat in its own, and so on. I now have 10 of them.
fein 13y ago
1L: Chrome 1R: urxvt (stickied) + inspector + xchat 2L: Emacs 2R: speedbar + urxvt(stickied) 3L: Pgadmin 3R: urxvt(stickied) + pgadmin view/ query window 4: nice n clean A friend came in today and was talking about how much he liked the brand new, amazing "pin" feature in win 8. I laughed when he described sticky windows and vdesktops. edit: Fluxbox here tho, not lxde or xfce.
WildUtah 13y ago
Things I miss on OSX do include third-button paste from the highlight buffer and, of course, the superior virtual desktops (though OSX had them until Apple decided to cancel 'em), and the window list in the top bar. But none of those is as important as focus-follows-mouse. I really miss ffm. On the other hand, I like having working power management and long battery life. And I like never spending a day figuring out driver regressions.
- pantalaimon 13y ago
  > third-button paste from the highlight buffer I especially love this on chrome, where you can just paste it into the 'new tab' button.
- dhruvmittal 13y ago
  The single biggest thing I miss when I use OS X is alt+click to move windows.
  - pjbrunet 13y ago
    Since I switched to a window tiler, I never need to move windows unless I'm doing something complex in GIMP. I'm using pytyle2 (you can probably find something better) and mostly all I use is alt-c to rotate the windows, alt-h for "higher" and alt-l for "lower" and that's it. Now I rarely, rarely ever resize or click-drag a window. This works so well I totally stopped using window decoration. Having the extra pixels on my laptop is nice! Install the "Classic Compact" add-on for Firefox to free up even more pixels.
    - dhruvmittal 13y ago
      I've always loved tiling WMs on big screens, since it's a really efficient way to use all of that screen real estate. i3 really comes into its own on my multimonitor desktop setup. I've just never felt any real gain on anything smaller than 17". On my 13" macbook air, however, I find that as soon as I split the screen 50-50 neither window really has enough space to be comfortable. (I've tried using Amethyst[1], but that's all) [1]: https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst
burntsushi 13y ago
I used to navigate workspaces spatially too, but then I increased to three monitors and the traditional workspace model broke down big time. Namely, switching to a different workspace switched whatever was displayed on all of my monitors. I couldn't easily compose groups of windows onto my displays. The solution (for me) was to throw out a spatial representation of workspaces and adopt a more dynamic approach. Instead of being fixed to a set of N workspaces in a particular geometry, I switched to having a fluid list of named workspaces. What makes this work particularly well on multiple monitors is that each workspace can be viewed on any monitor. So for example, with three monitors, I have three workspaces visible at any point in time. And yes, I can flip the workspace on one monitor to the other monitor. This ends up being great for my work flow, since I can maintain my work area for any particular project without cluttering up the rest of my desktop. For example, when I'm working on the window manager that implements this functionality, I might have a workspace called "wingo" for code. And when I want to switch back to working on the X client library for Go, I go to my workspace "xgb" and it has me right where I left off. And of course, I have workspaces like "browser", "mail", "irc", etc. I have some temporary workspaces too, which are used for scratch work. Any workspace can be removed. And I can add a new workspace with any name at any time. If you're interested, this is all implemented in my hybrid stacking/tiling window manager: https://github.com/BurntSushi/wingo https://github.com/BurntSushi/wingo (Similar features exist in i3 and xmonad, but both are emphatically tiling window managers.)
pantalaimon 13y ago
I wish I was so systematic, but Virtual Desktops still are vital for my workflow. I have 2 Monitors and a 3x3 grid. Usually I start Sublime in the center desktop, terminator occupies the second screen, so I an easily split my terminal if necessary. If I need to look something up, I'll start my browser on an adjacent desktop, and probably a terminal next to it if necessary (most if the time it will run IRC). When I want to try something out where I need some space or just work on something different, I'll go to one of the spare desktops. Yeah, I tend to forget about terminals sometimes and then I have a cluttered desktop somewhere, but there is usually a free desktop left somewhere. (Yes, at that point I'm sometimes getting lost, looking for the proper terminal. But that's when I decide it's time to close all terminals I'm not using right now.) And if I feel like taking a break, I just go to a free desktop and play a game. Now if only I had something like virtual desktops for my real-life desk…
- pjbrunet 13y ago
  I tried two monitors but didn't see any benefit. You can only look at one monitor at a time. I find ctrl-alt-arrow easier than straining neck, etc. Also with two monitors, to get right in front of either one you'll need a swivel chair, right? Either that or you sit in the middle and then you're never looking straight ahead which is the natural thing to do. Unless you're a duck, then you could see both monitors at the same time ;-) At least for me, eye-strain is a big factor. Two screens or a too-large screen is too much looking around. Anyway, that's just my preference. When I see devs with two screens I always wonder if they're really more productive or if it's more an "image" thing, to look more busy/nerdy/important? Haha.
zem 13y ago
i find i use virtual desktops a lot when using a tiling window manager; otherwise i just have one desktop per monitor and move between windows using the xfce/gnome taskbar instead.
pjbrunet 13y ago
At one point had 8 virtual desktops all labled by activity. Then I had a time tracker that triggered on each. So if I was doing dev work for Client A the billable hours would be tracked automatically. Client B. Marketing. Etc. Problem was the time tracker didn't really work. Also over time I realized it was too much trouble to separate activities like that. Now I just use two virtual desktops. The 1st one gets full fast, the 2nd one rarely gets full. So I never need a 3rd desktop. I have the same setup on desktop and laptop. openbox + tint2 + pytyle2 (they work well together IMO)

by gknoy 13y ago

davidw 13y ago

I'm exactly the same way, with emacs occupying one, remote ssh's another, a browser another one, root windows elsewhere, xchat in its own, and so on. I now have 10 of them.

fein 13y ago

1L: Chrome 1R: urxvt (stickied) + inspector + xchat 2L: Emacs 2R: speedbar + urxvt(stickied) 3L: Pgadmin 3R: urxvt(stickied) + pgadmin view/ query window 4: nice n clean A friend came in today and was talking about how much he liked the brand new, amazing "pin" feature in win 8. I laughed when he described sticky windows and vdesktops. edit: Fluxbox here tho, not lxde or xfce.

WildUtah 13y ago

Things I miss on OSX do include third-button paste from the highlight buffer and, of course, the superior virtual desktops (though OSX had them until Apple decided to cancel 'em), and the window list in the top bar. But none of those is as important as focus-follows-mouse. I really miss ffm. On the other hand, I like having working power management and long battery life. And I like never spending a day figuring out driver regressions.

pantalaimon 13y ago
> third-button paste from the highlight buffer I especially love this on chrome, where you can just paste it into the 'new tab' button.
dhruvmittal 13y ago
The single biggest thing I miss when I use OS X is alt+click to move windows.
- pjbrunet 13y ago
  Since I switched to a window tiler, I never need to move windows unless I'm doing something complex in GIMP. I'm using pytyle2 (you can probably find something better) and mostly all I use is alt-c to rotate the windows, alt-h for "higher" and alt-l for "lower" and that's it. Now I rarely, rarely ever resize or click-drag a window. This works so well I totally stopped using window decoration. Having the extra pixels on my laptop is nice! Install the "Classic Compact" add-on for Firefox to free up even more pixels.
  - dhruvmittal 13y ago
    I've always loved tiling WMs on big screens, since it's a really efficient way to use all of that screen real estate. i3 really comes into its own on my multimonitor desktop setup. I've just never felt any real gain on anything smaller than 17". On my 13" macbook air, however, I find that as soon as I split the screen 50-50 neither window really has enough space to be comfortable. (I've tried using Amethyst[1], but that's all) [1]: https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst https://github.com/ianyh/Amethyst

burntsushi 13y ago

I used to navigate workspaces spatially too, but then I increased to three monitors and the traditional workspace model broke down big time. Namely, switching to a different workspace switched whatever was displayed on all of my monitors. I couldn't easily compose groups of windows onto my displays. The solution (for me) was to throw out a spatial representation of workspaces and adopt a more dynamic approach. Instead of being fixed to a set of N workspaces in a particular geometry, I switched to having a fluid list of named workspaces. What makes this work particularly well on multiple monitors is that each workspace can be viewed on any monitor. So for example, with three monitors, I have three workspaces visible at any point in time. And yes, I can flip the workspace on one monitor to the other monitor. This ends up being great for my work flow, since I can maintain my work area for any particular project without cluttering up the rest of my desktop. For example, when I'm working on the window manager that implements this functionality, I might have a workspace called "wingo" for code. And when I want to switch back to working on the X client library for Go, I go to my workspace "xgb" and it has me right where I left off. And of course, I have workspaces like "browser", "mail", "irc", etc. I have some temporary workspaces too, which are used for scratch work. Any workspace can be removed. And I can add a new workspace with any name at any time. If you're interested, this is all implemented in my hybrid stacking/tiling window manager: https://github.com/BurntSushi/wingo https://github.com/BurntSushi/wingo (Similar features exist in i3 and xmonad, but both are emphatically tiling window managers.)

pantalaimon 13y ago

I wish I was so systematic, but Virtual Desktops still are vital for my workflow. I have 2 Monitors and a 3x3 grid. Usually I start Sublime in the center desktop, terminator occupies the second screen, so I an easily split my terminal if necessary. If I need to look something up, I'll start my browser on an adjacent desktop, and probably a terminal next to it if necessary (most if the time it will run IRC). When I want to try something out where I need some space or just work on something different, I'll go to one of the spare desktops. Yeah, I tend to forget about terminals sometimes and then I have a cluttered desktop somewhere, but there is usually a free desktop left somewhere. (Yes, at that point I'm sometimes getting lost, looking for the proper terminal. But that's when I decide it's time to close all terminals I'm not using right now.) And if I feel like taking a break, I just go to a free desktop and play a game. Now if only I had something like virtual desktops for my real-life desk…

pjbrunet 13y ago
I tried two monitors but didn't see any benefit. You can only look at one monitor at a time. I find ctrl-alt-arrow easier than straining neck, etc. Also with two monitors, to get right in front of either one you'll need a swivel chair, right? Either that or you sit in the middle and then you're never looking straight ahead which is the natural thing to do. Unless you're a duck, then you could see both monitors at the same time ;-) At least for me, eye-strain is a big factor. Two screens or a too-large screen is too much looking around. Anyway, that's just my preference. When I see devs with two screens I always wonder if they're really more productive or if it's more an "image" thing, to look more busy/nerdy/important? Haha.

zem 13y ago

i find i use virtual desktops a lot when using a tiling window manager; otherwise i just have one desktop per monitor and move between windows using the xfce/gnome taskbar instead.

pjbrunet 13y ago

At one point had 8 virtual desktops all labled by activity. Then I had a time tracker that triggered on each. So if I was doing dev work for Client A the billable hours would be tracked automatically. Client B. Marketing. Etc. Problem was the time tracker didn't really work. Also over time I realized it was too much trouble to separate activities like that. Now I just use two virtual desktops. The 1st one gets full fast, the 2nd one rarely gets full. So I never need a 3rd desktop. I have the same setup on desktop and laptop. openbox + tint2 + pytyle2 (they work well together IMO)