Do you use multiple workspaces?

[Erik1984]

To kick off: personally I don't. I definitely see use cases for multiple workspaces (or activities in KDE) but could never incorporate it in my workflow.

But what about you? Do you like the workspaces and if so how do you use them and how many workspaces at a time?

[Buntu Bunny]

I love having multiple workspaces and am lost without them. Two activities I use them for are blogging, especially when I'm working on photos for blog posts; and writing, especially when doing research for my book or blog. I'm able to keep different projects or topics organized by utilizing several workspaces: a workspace for my web browser, a workspace for Gimp, a workspace for my word processor, etc.

[Carborundum]

I do, when I'm working on several things at once. That way I avoid having to Alt-Tab between 10+ PDF-documents and a half-dozen LibreOffice windows.

[Paqman]

Used to when I was all cubed up, but I don't bother these days. I never used them before Beryl came along either, it just seemed to be something about putting them on a cube that made them work in my headspace.

[Linuxratty]

I sure do...Gimp gets it's own window,as does Skype.

[BigSilly]

I never used to, but with the advent of Gnome Shell and now the Cinnamon shell, I'm always opening them for single programs. Very useful.

[vexorian]

Everyone has his style.

To me, if it wasn't for terminals and multiple workspaces, I would not have switched to ubuntu to nevr look back five years ago.

What I do is keep background apps in workspace 4 (Rhythmbox playing stuff, jdownloader, etc). This way they don't distract me in the other workspaces.

Workspace 1 is firefox workspace. It allows me to have many windows open and then I can organize my tabs better.

Workspace 2 is development workspace. All my programming stuff appears there. Folders, terminals, editors.

Workspace 3 is other apps section. When I do graphics GIMP and inkscape share that section. It also holds office apps when doing homework stuff.

An issue is that unity does not allow you to hide icons of apps running in other workspaces :/

Also great for privacy, you can keep some stuff you don't want other people to see in one workspace and just switch when they are around. (but not so much in 'modern' DEs because they love making your screen preview all your workspaces.)

[mamamia88]

Dual monitors has pretty much eliminated any use i ever had for workspaces. Just keep whatever my main focus is on the main monitor and have my email or something to reference on the other monitor

[Bachstelze]

No, one of the first things I do after installing a new system is removing the "workspace switcher" from the taskbar, and even disabling multiple workspaces if possible.

[malspa]

I use them a lot. I especially like GNOME Shell's "dynamic" workspaces, but in other environments I usually keep the number of workspaces (or, "virtual desktops" in KDE) set to 4.

[GeoffreyBernardo]

I use four workspaces:



For IM and IRC (and maybe social web client). This workspace contains three windows: the buddy list, an IM window with tabs for each buddy, and an IRC window with tabs for each room.
For email. One Evolution window maximized.
For web browsing, games, and music.
For work. Text editor, terminal, web browser (for web development).

[PartisanEntity]

I was using Workspaces heavily for a while on both my Ubuntu and Mac machine. I find it allows you to organize windows into groups, which for me personally felt much neater and helped me focus.

[Duncan J Murray]

Yep, I use four horizontally. For example if I'm creating a presentation:

1. For all the sources - pdfs/webpages
2. For the text/narrative of the talk
3. For Gimp
4. For Libreoffice Impress

It keeps my thinking and the desktop tidy, and stops a huge mangle of windows being dumped on one screen.

[evilsoup]

I used to, with Gnome 2.x, but since the introduction of Unity I haven't found them useful at all.

[Copper Bezel]

I do, under Shell. One for background windows (Rhythmbox, e-mail, etc.,) one for one or two browser windows depending on what I'm doing, one for word processing or other tasks like that, usually involving at least a file manager window and two or three LibreOffice Windows, and often a clean one with a Tomboy notepad. If I'm doing image editing or math or dinking in terminal, any of which takes more than one window, that'll usually be another workspace. It's more fluid than that, though - it's not like I have designated workspaces for different tasks; I just start one when the one I'm on gets cluttered and I need to focus.

The external monitor usually holds one window at a time. Shell doesn't switch workspaces on the external by default, which is nice for movies or for tossing a document over there and paging through windows normally on the laptop screen.

My tablet is taking over for audio and e-mail, so I need those apps less, and I'm finding that I have less need for the background workspace.

[synaptix]

The setup I had used on 10.04:

Workspace 1: Firefox, Terminals
Workspace 2: Filezilla, GIMP, etc
Workspace 3: BOINC, Audacious
Workspace 4: XChat
Workspace 5: The workspace for gaming :P

[Uncle Spellbinder]

I've never had any use for multiple workspaces for as long as I've used Linux. I've never had an issue using one workspace to get my tasks done. I've tried using more than one, but it was a cumbersome experience that felt unnatural.

[wojox]

No, it's just to much going on. I'm not a good multitasker. :p

[Lightstar]

I did before, not anymore ever since I got a second screen.
The option is always there though I use it maybe only once a month.
I still believe it's a priceless feature though!

[Petro Dawg]

When Compiz Cube didn't have the screen flash bug, I used multiple workspaces. Now, I just use one (usually).

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

When Compiz Cube didn't have the screen flash bug, I used multiple workspaces. Now, I just use one (usually).
still enjoying my 10.04 install :)
if yuo are using a de that does not depend on compiz 0.9.8 yuo can downgrade
i have done this with success on xubuntu using compiz debs from lmde

[jfmd]

I never use them. I've tried, but I find it easier to just work in one workspace.

[blortuga]

I pretty much work like vexorian. I get involved in several tasks/projects over periods of time, so I like to isolate them by putting the related apps/screens on a given workspace for each task. This is a pretty good way to separate my communication (distraction) type tasks, from actual work.

My work-machine is Win7, and I have 4 monitors, so that function is pretty much served there. (and my dev tasks are done on portrait-mode monitors, where most of my other tasks take place in landscape-mode).

My home-machine is a laptop, (Ubuntu) and I don't generally work with multiple monitors at home, so that's why workspaces are a must.

[majabl]

No, it's just to much going on. I'm not a good multitasker. :p

Funny - personally I find that workspaces help me to multitask by reducing the number of tasks I have going on in any one workspace. So if I am working (spreadsheets, documents, maybe a pdf or 2) I can keep that separate from any non-working activities (web browser, chat program, etc.) rather than have it all going on in the same workspace. It's a good way of keeping my brain as uncluttered as possible, and allows me to Alt+Tab without picking out the wrong things.

I could of course just try to focus on working and cut off all the other distractions, but I'm not that disciplined. ;) This at least lets me be in work mode or leisure mode without having to constantly be opening and closing applications and files.

[vexorian]

Of course people with multiple monitors are less likely to use workspaces. Workspaces were supposed to emulate multiple monitors :/