What is Spaces?

Simply put, Spaces creates virtual desktops. A virtual desktop acts like an imaginary second display, allowing you to position a number of windows among various virtual desktops. You can also switch between them, in effect turning your head to look at a different "physical" screen.

As with using multiple displays, the advantage of virtual desktops is that you can organize the various applications and windows that are displayed at any given time without closing them or minimizing them to the dock. You can still have windows from a dozen applications open -- but you're not distracted by all of them overlapping each other. Of course, virtual desktops are much less expensive than purchasing multiple displays (which isn't really an option at all when you're working on a MacBook in a coffee shop or library).

For example, if you're a graphic design student, you might be in the college library with your MacBook working on a project with multiple Photoshop, Illustrator, Word and Quark windows all open at the same time. You might also have iChat and Mail open, too. And if you've got headphones with you, chances are that iTunes is running. That's a lot of windows for a single 13.3-in. screen. Enter Spaces, which allows you to group together all of the windows related to your school projects on one virtual screen, or Space, and have another screen for e-mail, iChat and iTunes. Even better, you can create a different Space for each project -- or piece of a project -- you're working on, perhaps using Spaces to group all of your Photoshop and Illustrator windows together while keeping the Quark and Word windows for text and layout apart.

All Spaces will have the same resolution or screen size, which is determined by the display settings for your computer. If you change the display resolution of your computer, each Space will be affected, too.