Though I’ve been extremely happy with leopard (in fact, why I finally bought a Mac), little quirks with spaces were frustrating. Specifically, spaces seems to have been designed for users who want to place a separate application in each space. I use spaces in a task-oriented manner where each space typically has a Firefox window, tabbed terminal, and TextMate. Command-Tabbing and others workflow situations were just quirky. Also, a huge annoyance was going into the terminal, typing “mate .” and having it open up a new TextMate window in whatever space already had a TextMate window.
I’m very pleased to report that 10.5.3 solves all of these problems, with one new option in the spaces dialog called “When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application.” In fact, you want to uncheck this option if you are working in a task-oriented manner like me. There were also some bug fixes in 10.5.3 which transcend this new option.
With these frustrations gone I feel very solid working with 3-5 project workspaces at once and can move efficiently within and among them.
Upgrade to 10.5.3 now if you haven’t already done so!
