Organizing my desktop

Compiz Expo

This is quite a techy post, so be warned! ;) It has been a while since my last one though, so you can’t really complain…

About half a year ago I wrote a post about organizing my desktop and how I was testing out Compiz Expo and a few other plugins to make my work, and general desktop usage, a little more stream lined.

I’ve now been using this setup since November, and I can tell you I will never go back! Web or e-mail? *Swooooooosh* (that’s the sound of desktop switching, if you did not catch that… ;) ) Desktop 1! Music? *Swoooooosh* Desktop 4! By simply moving my mouse to the corners of my dual screen setup I get the overview picture shown above and I can choose the desktop I want by clicking it. Or I can use the Super+E button to bring up the Expo as well. Works like a charm. In addition I have configured the Compiz Place Windows plugin to place all my applications on the right desktop and screen when they are launched. Except for the usual special app, which has to be enrolled in special classes – Place Windows works perfectly. I get the applications where I want them with no hassle at all.

Currently I have my desktop organized as follows:

  1. E-mail and browsing – Opera on screen 1, Firefox on screen 2.
  2. Instant Messaging and chat – Pidgin on screen 1, Xchat (IRC) on screen 2.
  3. Development – Eclipse across both screens, other tools spread across both screens whenever needed.
  4. Music – Spotify on screen 1, Songbird on screen 2.
  5. Misc – I very seldom use this desktop to be honest, not sure why it’s 5 and not 6 which is empty, tho… :P
  6. Log monitoring – Usually running Terminator on both screens following logs in different locations, as well as JMeter and other monitoring applications whenever I use those.

Many of you may wonder why the hell I do this and if it’s not just easier to click the window in the task bar or Alt-tab your way to the application you want? Well, I used to do that. However, when you have 2 browser, 2 media players, 2+ IM/chat applications, Eclipse, database management and query applications and several terminals open, it quickly becomes a mess. You try to find your browser to check your e-mails, you minimize it without wanting to, and have to bring it back up, then you need to shuffle through all your windows to get back to Eclipse. A little later 3 of your friends want to ask you something on IM and they all pop up and reduce the size of your task bar button from the impossibly small 3 pixels wide to 1 pixel. Good luck finding those chat windows.

I must admit it took a few weeks before I was truly comfortable with having the applications spread across several desktops, but now that I have gotten used to their location I almost bring up the good desktop without even thinking, and I don’t have to shuffle through with Alt-Tab or roam the taskbar for hours before finding what I want. I simply click the “Web” desktop and I got all the windows I need. Right there in front of me, ready to use.

For me, this setup has enabled me to switch context much faster. If I am in my code editor and need to lookup documentation online, I quickly shift to my Web desktop, and I am right in the browser, ready to start looking for the documentation. When I find it, I can easily send it to my development desktop if I want to have it right there next to the editor.

If you often feel overwhelmed by a stack of windows on your desktop I can recommend testing a setup with several desktops using Compiz or similar applications. It has really made my desktop-life better :) But I must insist that you should give the experiment a few weeks. It does take a little while to get used to this way of using your desktop, but once you’re there – I’ll bet you half of those 92 million NOK I’ll win in the lottery tonight, that you’ll never go back :)

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