Massively Multiple Workspaces

AlexandreMuñiz: Existing tools in the Gnome desktop aren't helpful for users who want to run a large number of workspaces. With eight or more workspaces, some assistance in organizing them is needed. Workspace names help, but there are a couple of problems with using them currently.

First, changing the names requires going into the workspace switcher preferences, which are too hard to get to for frequent use. I've written a gnome panel applet which lets you quickly change the name of the current workspace.

The second problem is with viewing the names of the workspaces other than the current one. The workspace switcher has a mode to display the names of all workspaces, but this takes up too much space when one has a large number of workspaces. Also, in this mode you lose the functionality of being able to see and manipulate the positions of individual windows. What is needed is a tooltip that displays the workspace name in the workspace switcher. A request for this enhancement is Bug 125644 in bugzilla. I have written a patch to fix this, but it depends on a fix to a bug in gtk. (Currently, there is a problem with changing a tooltip for a widget while the pointer is within that widget.)

With these fixes and my panel applet, using large numbers of workspaces becomes much easier. Before, I would frequently switch to the wrong workspace, and lose a lot of ttime while the programs in that workspace swap into memory. Now I always know what I'm using each workspace for, and I always get to the one I want on the first try.

Attic/MassivelyMultipleWorkspaces (last edited 2013-12-04 20:53:31 by WilliamJonMcCann)