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nkzdyesterday at 10:21 PM4 repliesview on HN

Genuine question - why do people even use spaces? Why is it better than just CMD+Tab or CMD+Tilde until you arrive at the window you want?


Replies

wlesieutreyesterday at 10:30 PM

I can organize related windows by task, so if I have two things going on which both involve say a Finder window, a Safari window, and some other assorted things, I can switch between tasks as a group with one gesture instead of cmd-tab which will pull up both Safari windows or both Finder windows, and then maybe needing to cmd=` to switch to the correct one.

When I'm in the appropriate space with only those related windows, the exposé gestures are also much more usable than when everything is jumbled together.

ciaran93yesterday at 10:38 PM

Because it makes you have to think before moving. If I am on Chrome and want to go to my code editor, I have to press CMD+Tab, see what position the code editor is in and press CMD+Tab x times to go there.

If I uses spaces, I know exactly where my editor is, where my browser is, it is one key press away and it is always there. I use aerospace and I divide my spaces using Alt+ the qwerty keys. Q=chrome W=code editor E&R=programs open for what I am working aka Postman or Obsidian and T=MS Teams.

My dock on MacOS is always hidden because I don't need it and now I have more screen realestate.

mrkpdlyesterday at 10:35 PM

For me, I use spaces constantly to help me organise/compartmentalise what I’m doing. It lets you group related windows, where command tab only brings you one window at a time.

One example would be if I’m working on a document that draws on others I have written. Put all three in a space and that piece of work is nicely organised.

When I have all my windows in one space I find it messy and stressful and it’s harder to find what I want.

Overall spaces are more compatible with the way I think than command tab.

traderj0eyesterday at 11:02 PM

I personally don't, even when I'm doing heavy multitasking on a 13" laptop. Only exception is if something needs to be full-screen.

It can make sense if you're keeping a lot of non-full-size windows on a larger screen and working on separate tasks that are in the same application, meaning cmd-tab won't help.