Dave Dribin: ‘The Problem With Spaces’

Dave Dribin does a good job explaining why Spaces falls short.

I believe a major part of them problem is that Apple tried to make virtual desktops accessible to the average user. However, I think no matter how much spit, polish, and animation Apple puts on Spaces, virtual desktops is a power user feature. Spaces is broken because it is designed for the wrong user.

(I got a ton of email yesterday telling me I could solve my complaint by setting Safari to “Every Space” in the Exposé & Spaces pane in System Prefs, but that isn’t what I want at all. Yes, it avoids the problem where you get teleported to a different space by Command-Tabbing to or clicking the Dock icon of Safari, but setting Safari to “Every Space” means all open Safari windows are visible in every space. If I’m working on a certain project in space 2, I only want the Safari windows that pertain to that project to appear in space 2.)

★ Tuesday, 13 November 2007