Does Your Workflow on OSX Consist of Full Screen Apps, or a lot of Mission Control?

[HappyDude20]

I'm amazed by how people interact with their computers, mainly OSX. I still see many people running Snow Leopard and commend them for uses Spaces; a feature i'd abhorrently loved.

Admittedly, I see many people using mission control whilst having an array of apps open in one "desktop space" on OSX ML. From time to time, though not as frequently i'll see someone sporting nothing but full screen apps and swiping from full screen app to full screen app, only using mission control to get from space #7 back to space #3.

Perhaps the thread can evolve as to how you approach and further work within your OSX environment and the poll itself is here to get a good idea of what and how others are using.

 

[maflynn]

Neither, I don't use full screen nor do I use mission control.

 

[HappyDude20]

Neither, I don't use full screen nor do I use mission control.

I'm curious. Does BetterSnapTool come into play, or only having app open at one time or what?

I'm heavily interested as to the personal process and implementation you would use; thought admittedly i'm more interested as to the reasonings why certain implementations are made in each person's approach when it comes to work, play, productivity and leisure on an OSX machine.

 

[Dark Dragoon]

For me it varies depending on what apps I'm using.

However I almost always run Safari, iTunes, Papers2, Texpad and a few others fullscreen. With these applications I fullscreen them either because I want to concentrate only on that app or because it benefits from using as much screen space as possible (17" MBP).

I don't tend to use Mission Control that often, usually only when I have a lot of fullscreen apps open or when I need a second or third desktop for windowed applications.

I don't use any add on tools which change the way OSX handles windows.

 

[colourfastt]

Why in bloody hell would I use full-screen anything on a 27" screen?

 

[maflynn]

I'm curious. Does BetterSnapTool come into play, or only having app open at one time or what?

I don't use that tool either. I have all my apps in windows appropriately sized so I can switch off. I also use the dock if I want to use select a different. app.

 

[Ralphalph]

On my 27" iMac I rarely use full screen apps. I do, however, use spaces and mission control regularly. I will often through the 1 or 2 apps I am working in (e.g. Acrobat and word) into a new space so i can get a bit more isolation from distractions.

 

[nilk]

I don't use full screen (except for video), mission control, or spaces. What I do use is ShiftIt (keyboard-controlled window arrangement), Butler (app switching/launching, remapping keys/key combinations to actions), BetterTouchTool (mouse-controlled window snapping, remapping mouse buttons).

I am a heavy keyboard user who can touch type, so the more I can do with the keyboard the better. I use Cmd-Tab and Cmd-`a lot, but I also end up using Butler to switch apps. With Butler, I have it setup such that I hit Cmd-Space, then type enough letters until it finds the app I'm looking for (I can even assign predefined shortcuts), then hit enter to switch to the app (or launch it if it isn't already running). You can use Spotlight to achieve a similar result, but it doesn't work for switching to Finder, and it isn't as fast.

I also use Butler for shortcuts to switch to frequently used apps. So Cmd-Opt-W switches to my web browser, and Cmd-Opt-E switches to my text editor.

I'm sitting in front of 4 displays right now (15" rMBP connected to 3 external displays), so full screen would be a waste, but I may give it a shot when I upgrade to Mavericks. If I worked primarily on a single low-res display, like 1366x768, I could imagine using full screen more to recover some of the horizontal screen real estate the menu bar and window chrome take up.

I've tried Spaces and virtual desktops (in UNIX/X11) throughout my life, but never found it useful because it made it harder to navigate. I use hiding a lot (Cmd-H) and sometimes do hide others (Cmd-Opt-H) which I think in some way eliminates the need for Spaces, because each application is kind of it's own space when used that way (as far as eliminating clutter and allowing focus on the current task is concerned). I don't use Minimize very often -- the only times are when I really am not going to work in a window for a while and want to get it out of the way to focus on what I'm working on.

 

[benwiggy]

* None of the above.

I've got 2 monitors. Using Spaces just gets confusing for me.
I used it a bit on my old 17" iMac, but again, didn't really see the necessity.

I switch between apps using <command><tab>, mostly, though I'm trying to use Mission Control as the number of open apps grows bigger.

I never Minimize or hide. I have some apps that open up in one of my monitors, and others that open windows in the other one. That's how I get productive.

Full Screen doesn't have much appeal currently, as you only gain a bit of space, compared to the monitor, and you can't use the 2nd screen. That's all going to change when Mavericks comes out, and I can see how there might be some new ways of working with that.