Do you remember Spaces? That was Apple’s multi-window grid desktop which, apparently, not many Mac users figured out how to use.
Because I’m an old Unix hound, Spaces worked well for me. Think of it as multiple desktops where you could place different apps and switch seamlessly between them. That grid style was a useful onscreen organizational tool that Apple did away with in recent OS X versions.
Hello! Spaces is back to the Mac with TotalSpaces, a clever app that simply brings back what Apple took away.
TotalSpaces is actually fun to setup and use. First, define the Spaces grids in Preferences.
What you get are multiple desktop spaces where you can place apps or files.
You can use the mouse or trackpad to swipe from one space to another space, or use the Hotkey setup in TotalSpaces.
You can even use the old-style transitions from one space to another space (set it up in Preferences).
And, of course, you can assign specific Mac apps to their respective TotalSpaces spaces.
Once you’ve used Spaces for awhile you get hooked on removing the visual clutter from one screen and spreading it out to even more screen real estate.
That’s the value of Spaces.
TotalSpaces is a bit complex to setup, but brings most of the functionality of OS X’s original Spaces back to Mac OS X Lion and Mountain Lion.