Multiple Desktops -- How do you use them?

[mzilikazi]

I'm in the habit of only having a couple of things going at once and closing programs when I finish with them.

This is something I've noticed about virtually every Windows user I've ever met. It just freaks them out to have too many apps open at once. No suprise really since when using Windows your apps soon become a mess of hard to sift through nonsense. IE puts a new icon in the taskbar for every window - yeah that's intuitive. Well anyway I use at least 4 desktops always.
1 it helps me keep my stuff organized.
2 it turns off the confused Windows users in 15 seconds or less and they run screaming from my system.

When using my pc as a DAW I have to have multiple desktops or it's just not possible to see everything I need e.g. Ardour, Patchage, JACK Rack, Hydrogen, Envy24control. It's far easier to simply slide the mouse from one desktop to the next instead of maximizing/minimizing windows. It's almost like having dual monitors (but not quite).

[xequence]

1) Browser and things I am doing at the moment
2) Media player and maybe Thunar to drag folders into the media player (XMMS)
3) Azureus downloading stuff
4) Synaptic sometimes, othertimes other things

The first one is usually constant, the other three can change which number is used.

[Qew]

1 - For general use.
2 - When things get cluttered.

If I need more, it's easy to add them in Xfce.

[GMouse]

I'm in the habit of only having a couple of things going at once and closing programs when I finish with them.

This is something I've noticed about virtually every Windows user I've ever met. It just freaks them out to have too many apps open at once. No suprise really since when using Windows your apps soon become a mess of hard to sift through nonsense. IE puts a new icon in the taskbar for every window - yeah that's intuitive.

I've been MS-free at home for one to two years now, even if I'm still stuck with XP at work. I've noticed some Windows users will leave at least half-a-dozen windows open on their own systems, even if most of those aren't being actively used. I don't know how they deal with all of the clutter.

[industrialpunk]

I have 4 virtual desktops but tend to only use one or two at a time. BTW, you can quickly switch between desktops (in KDE) with CTRL+F<#> e.g. CTRL+F2 for desktop 2.

[sleepyEDB]

I just can't seem to get into the habit of using more than one desktop. I've tried before, and will do it for a time, but usually just revert back to using one desktop for everything. I usually forget that I already have an app open on another desktop and open another instance of it instead of switching to the desktop that has the first instance running.

A couple things that make using one desktop easier, is that many apps will minimize to the system tray (Kontact, Azureus, GAIM, etc.) freeing up space on my taskbar. Also, since I use mrxvt, I can have many tabs open in my one main terminal window which also saves space.


sleepy

[Lou]

I only use 2 virtual desktops, one for everything and the second for when i'm writing something.

In IceWM to switch desktops:

Windows key + right or left arrow

[llivv]

'

[AgenT]

To those that like to use the term "desktop" to mean "viewport": what then do you call the "desktop" in a desktop/viewport scheme?

Notice that the term "viewport" below equals "desktop" of the posters above.

Currently I myself use 6 viewports on 1 desktop because my window manager does not support multiple desktops. However, I have used 6 viewports on 2 desktops, which of course equals to 12 viewports in total. And yes, I had every single one full. I no longer do such a different assortment of things, so I no longer really miss the 2/6 combo too much. However, if it were possible I would definitely return to the 2/6 combo because it really does change the way you work. However, no really good interface has been created for switching between so many viewports and desktops.

I have also used a 4/4 combination, which equals to 16 viewports. However, switching between desktops was more annoying than switching between viewports, hence the 2/6.

[hcgtv]

I use 4 virtual desktops:

#1 - Always blank, I like looking at my wallpaper and GKrellm.
#2 - Firefox and Thunderbird
#3 - Komodo IDE
#4 - Terminal window

Don't see any need for more.

[gmedina]

Only two:

1 - iceweasel/evolution/amarok
2 - texmaker/kpdf and everything else