Opening a fresh page


One of my favourite UI features is back.

I have severely modified my desktop interface, yet performance is still reasonable.

The latest addition is the reintroduction of virtual desktops, whereby virtual screens are devoted to separate tasks. Desktop Manager is the open software tool that allows this marvellous function.

Put all your web browsing on one desktop and blogging on another while another desktop is left for coding or drawing -- you choose to suit your needs. It greatly unclutters your individual workspace, allowing you to concentrate on just the task in front of you. Moving windows between virtual desktops is a snap with the popup window. Switching desktops is accomplished either with a combination key press, or clicking on the pager -- a thumbnail representation of your screens -- on the desktop or in the menu bar.

I first encountered multiple virtual desktops with PC Tools on Windows and then with Unix and later on NeXTSTEP. It's amazing that it wasn't included in OS X, given this OS's heritage. I assume the desire to keep the OS interface as clean as possible was the over-riding reason for its exclusion.

But beyond being hugely useful as a way to get more screen real estate -- especially on a limited 12-inch screen -- Desktop Manager is awesome eye-candy. Using the power of OpenGL graphics, DM offers nine Hollywood transition effects between desktops such as slide, warp, zoom, and the OS X Cube. But my favourite is the Swap Over.

There is an XP Power Toy from Microsoft that does much the same thing for Windows, but without the benefit of OpenGL is not as glitzy.



Posted: Mon - April 25, 2005 at 01:20 AM          

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