Apple noticed that despite their effort to continually increase the minimum monitor size of their iMac models to 20 inches that users were struggling to have enough desktop space to keep all of their running applications organized.
To help solve this problem, Apple has enhanced the desktop with OS X 10.5 Leopard by adding the technology they have titled Spaces.
The basic idea behind Spaces is to create a number of different desktops that users can switch between to help them focus on the application they’re currently working with.
But there is more to Spaces than just additional desktop area and over the next few days we’ll help show you what Spaces can do for you with 4 tutorials on how to get the most out of Spaces.
Enabling Spaces
To take advantage of Spaces you need to have the OS X Leopard installed on your Mac. From there, enabling spaces is just a few steps away:
- Click the Apple icon on the menu bar
- Select System Preferences…
- Click Expose & Spaces under the Personal Section
- Click the Spaces tab
- Verify the Enable Spaces box is checked
- OPTIONAL: Click Show Spaces in Menu Bar
Switching Spaces
Now that you’ve enabled Spaces you can get a quick feel for how it works by switching between the 4 default Spaces. There are two default keyboard shortcuts that allow you quick move from one Space to another:
- control + 1,2,3,4 – Each number represent the 4 default spaces. To move to Space 2 click and hold control and press 2.
- control + arrow keys – To move from one space to another hold down control and press the arrow keys to move from one space to another.
Once you’ve moved to a new space you can open applications and windows that will remain in that space and will help you stay organized. Play around and get comfortable with using spaces.
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