Over at Daring Fireball John Gruber has discovered an interesting change in the recently released 10.5.3 update. There is now a checkbox in the Spaces tab of the Exposé & Spaces Preference Pane which changes what happens if you switch to an application (via ⌘ + Tab or the Dock) that does not have a window open in the the Space you are working in. With the checkbox checked it continues to work the way it always has, viz. it will switch to the Space with a window open for that application. If it is unchecked it will not switch spaces, but rather merely activate that application in the Space you're working in.
Gruber considers this is a significant change, because it allows you to use the Spaces on a task basis rather than an application basis. The behavior of the Dock icon also has changed. Clicking multiple times on the Dock icon of an application with no open windows will produce different effects: clicking once will activate the application in that space; clicking a second time will switch to a Space where it has open windows. Be sure to check out Gruber's full description for more details, or just try it for yourself.
I completely agree that this is the way Spaces should work, and it's great to see Apple providing the option for those of us who prefer to work this way. If you prefer organizing Spaces by application rather than task (the "classic" Spaces behavior), just leave the box checked.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-31-2008 @ 12:22PM
mike v. said...
Of course for those who aren't familiar, you can regather all of the application's windows by holding shift when you drag a window between spaces.
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5-31-2008 @ 1:19PM
Wombert said...
That doesn't work for me, Mike...
5-31-2008 @ 1:33PM
mike v. said...
Make sure you are invoking spaces by using F8 first. If you were trying to move a firefox window to another space, you would normally just click drag the window to another space, but the application stays in its original space. If you click drag that window by holding shift, firefox will now be natively in the new space.
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5-31-2008 @ 1:39PM
Antonio Carlos Sil said...
I still think the integration between Spaces and Exposé should be better.
Working just like the "Exposé" feature on Linux OS running Compiz.
Today, the Exposé on Mac only shows the active windows in the current Space, it would be much better to have all the windows on all Spaces and then once you choose the window it will go to the specific Space.
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5-31-2008 @ 6:53PM
Michael Long said...
Launch Spaces, then hit Expose (or vice versa). You can then see all of the windows in all of the Spaces.
That said, I have enough spaces (with applications assigned to them) such that the front-most window in any space is the one I want. Thus I prefer it the way it is.
If you have too many windows in a single space, then you don't have enough spaces.
See: Confessions of a Space-oholic for more tips.
http://www.isights.org/2007/11/confessions-of-.html
5-31-2008 @ 2:08PM
bneyman said...
One other behavior worth mentioning is that if you designate a particular space for an application, such as Safari, even if you invoke that application in the current space by using Apple+Tab, when you actually open a new window you will be switched back into the designated space for Safari. The only way around this is to NOT assign a space for Safari. If you do that, you may open new Safari windows wherever you like, as many as you like, and when you click on Safari in the Dock, you will be switched through all the spaces with open Safari windows.
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5-31-2008 @ 2:26PM
Jens said...
Sorry if I had missed something but when I tried to assign a new application to a specific space bei pressing the '+' sign in the spaces pref-pane that it shows a list of current active applications in a list where I can just select it and it gets assigned the current space automatically?? Was new to me at least..
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5-31-2008 @ 4:36PM
iroiro said...
yes, I definitely love the new behaviour and it just "feels" right to me. However, another bug(?) has popped up. See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7286351
Where switching to another space with no app or windows in it (via control-arrow key), then switching back doesn't return focus to the previous app. That is, Finder steals focus.
Anyone else seeing this?
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5-31-2008 @ 10:08PM
sjk said...
> That is, Finder steals focus. Anyone else seeing this?
Yes! That's one of the first things I noticed after updating to 10.5.3. What seems to be happening is Finder is behaving like it's assigned to every space. Assign some other app (e.g. iChat) to every space, make it active, switch spaces, and iChat will remain active. That's clearly incorrect (and frustrating) behavior to me. I want whatever app/window was last active in a space to be active again when I return there later. Otherwise, make Finder active.
Going to the Apple Discussions thread now …
5-31-2008 @ 5:35PM
chris said...
I really like this update and when you combine this with the utility Witch, you have really good options for switching between apps.
When you install Witch and use alt+tab, you are able to tab through the active windows in your current space. Switch to another space and alt+tab and you get all the active windows in that space. This occurs no matter what applications are running.
It's nice to have that option along with the behavior of cmd+tab.
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5-31-2008 @ 6:28PM
Rae Whitlock said...
Chris, what version of Witch are you using? I'm still on 1.1 (the version immediately preceding the current), and it pretty much destroy's Witch's ability to switch to different spaces.
For instance, I have a Fusion VM running in Space 3, and I'm currently typing this in a Firefox window in Space 1. If I attempt to switch to Fusion via Witch's Alt-Tab, I see an "Activate VMWare Fusion" item, but selecting it keeps me in Space 1.
Anyone know if Witch 2.0 fixes this? If so, that'll actually give me a good excuse to buy the new version (otherwise, I'm switching back to Spaces' old functionality).
5-31-2008 @ 10:03PM
Namdnal Siroj said...
I don't really get why they made it like this.
I have some apps assigned to a space, and some I don't:
- The ones I don't I want to be able to use in any space, without switching back.
- The assigned ones should always stay where they are.
The current version doesn't give you this use.
What's the function of assigned spaces if this new option disables them?
I think it would be more logical to be able to turn off this behavior ONLY for non-assigned apps....
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6-02-2008 @ 9:35AM
bneyman said...
I think if you uncheck the "When switching to an application" box at the bottom of Spaces Preferences you'll find that it behaves the way you're asking. That is, assigned applications will remain in assigned spaces, unassigned applications can be opened in multiple spaces, and applications assigned to all spaces will appear in all spaces. Furthermore, if you Apple+Tab to an open application (provided it has not been assigned to a space) you can open a new window for that application in the current space, without being switched back to an open window in another space.
6-02-2008 @ 5:41PM
Namdnal Siroj said...
@bneyman: thanks :-)
The behavior isn't logical in it's execution, or at least it's not intuitive -> Right now, the app focuses, but not in it's asssigned space. This prevents me from using spaces to switch between assigned apps easily (for instance to look at content in different aps) because I need another action to see them, to go to the apps space.
I want it to "shift" always on assigned apps, and never on unassigned aps. Right now I can't get this behavior configured with the Spaces prefs.
6-01-2008 @ 7:36PM
Just_a_guy said...
The problem to all of this is they don't have a checkbox which fixes the FINDER to one space, and doesn't give it the highest priorety either.
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6-01-2008 @ 7:43PM
Just_a_guy said...
eh what should have happened is just to have an extra "sticky" space where whatever application is in that space will span its windows over all the spaces. This would allow us to both separate applications and yet still use task based things as we wish.
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6-01-2008 @ 11:13PM
Regi said...
THank you for this info, very usufu!
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6-07-2008 @ 2:11AM
Marcus Richards said...
Check this out, this a screenshot of my Spaces error in 10.5.3! http://s265.photobucket.com/albums/ii220/iMarc222/?action=view¤t=SpacesError.png
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