Recreating Spaces in OSX Lion

So there used to be a little gem in Snow Leopard called “Spaces” that would allow you to assign particular application windows to spaces, giving you the ability to easily switch between each space. Now that has all been replaced by “Mission Control”. An ambitious move by Apple to consolidate all of your open windows and dashboard in a single unified view. However, many feel Apple pulled the trigger to soon and without enough end-user testing, leaving out some crucial components along the way.  No longer can you just simply drag and drop your favorites apps to the space of your choosing and have it be assigned to that space until you decide other-wise. Now you must assign each application to an individual space, to “imitate” the effect we miss from Snow Leopard.

First start by opening system preferences…

Then select “Mission Control”…. make sure to uncheck “Automatically rearrange spaces based on most recent use…”  I also, highly recommend setting up “Hot Corners” if you haven’t.  They are basically areas of the screen in which you can drag the mouse and activate certain functions.  Such as dragging to the top right will unveil the desktop, moving all open windows temporarily out of the way…

Now close system preferences and we can begin organizing your different applications into spaces.  Let’s start with say your web browser.  That might be an application that you always want to take up it’s own space.

First open mission control (clicking the dock icon) and choose “Desktop 1″…

Exit Mission Control and then choose your first application in this case… “Google Chrome”

From here you will need to assign each application to it’s own desktop (or to “All Desktops, your choice”).  Typically I would suggest starting with the programs you use most frequent.  First, enter mission control , select the desktop you want, then right click the dock icon and assign “This Desktop”… Repeat this process as necessary with all of your applications you feel should take up their own space.  Such as maybe a “Word Processing” space, a “Web Browser” space and so on…  This way every time you click the application in the dock, it will switch over to a new space giving you uncluttered freedom!  Hope this helps ease the pain the transition to Lion.  More articles to come…!