Create More Space With Multiple Desktops

Netbooks are great at many things, but that small screen can be a bit of a challenge if you’re trying to work with several different applications at the same time.

We’ve already looked at how you can make it easier to switch between open applications, but you might prefer to work with additional desktops instead – or even as well!

The additional desktops feature goes by several different names; sometimes they are called virtual desktops, and on Apple’s OS X they are know as Spaces. The names may be different, but the features are pretty much the same.

Pre-requisites

To use multiple desktops, you must first have switched over to using compiz on your netbook. If you’re not sure how to do this, we have a complete set of instructions for you

You’ll also need the CompizConfig Settings Manager (ccsm) installed. To install this, open up a terminal, and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install ccsm

(It is possible to use multiple desktops on Ubuntu Netbook Remix or the Gnome Desktop without using compiz, but if you switch to compiz, you’ll get some additional flexibility which we’ll cover in the next two blog posts).

Enabling Multiple Desktops

Launch ccsm (you’ll find it under the System menu, as Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager). A window will open listing all of the different features of compiz:

CompizConfig Settings Manager

All of the different features are grouped by type, and the list of types can be seen on the left of the window. Click on General and on the right hand side of the window you’ll see a bunch of features appear, including the one we are looking for

The General Group Of Plugins In ccsm

Click on the Desktop Size tab to see the available settings for changing the number of desktops you have:

The Desktop Size Settings In ccsm

I’ve found that this works best if you only adjust the Horizontal Desktop Size setting, and leave the other settings set at 1.

Your changes become effective immediately.

Getting At Your Multiple Desktops

With the desktops now created, you need to be able to access them. To do so, add the Workspace Switcher applet to your panel at the top of the screen.