Desktop Manager for OS X v0.5.2
Richard Wareham <richwareham@users.sourceforge.net>

This release is only likely to work on OS X 10.3 (Panther). 

Desktop Manager is a (hopefully) easy to use virtual desktop manager for OS X. Simply run the app and the desktops pager should appear in the status bar. 

THIS SOFTWARE IS ALPHA QUALITY. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

This software is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, see the file COPYING for details. 

Portions of this software are Copyright 2003 Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch <jon@redshed.net> and released under the Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/.

FAQ

How do I move a window from one desktop to another?

The easiest way is to move your mouse cursor over the window and press 'Command-Option-O' to bring up the operations menu. This allows you to move the window to any desktop you wish. Alternatively you can use a hot key (by default Cmd-Ctrl Left/Right arrow).

In addition status bar menu has a item called 'Current Desktop'. This contains the title of all windows on the current workspace. Submenus off these allow you to move windows to different desktops.

How do I switch desktops without clicking on the pager?

Switching desktops can be performed either by clicking on the desktop preview in the status bar on by using the desktop switch hot keys 'Command-Option-Right Arrow' and 'Command-Option-Left Arrow'.

I've hidden the status bar menu, how do I quit the app?

Control-clicking on the status bar pager also brings up the status bar menu with a 'Quit DesktopManager' option.

I want to temporarily hide that status bar pager. How do I do this?

Either choose 'Hide pager' from the status bar menu or press 'Command-Option-P'. This hot-key will also show the pager again when you want it. This even works if you de-selected 'Show pager in status bar at startup' in the preferences.

Oh my god I love this program so much I want to send you great wodges of cash! How can I make you rich?

In the highly unlikely event this happens, e-mail me :).

I want to be able to control windows/bring certain windows to the front/have the app remember window location and desktop.

So would I although I haven't found out how to manipulate windows belonging to other apps in that way. As soon as I do it will get implemented!

ChangeLog

v0.5.2 (prerelease) -- 12/July/2004

rc2

* [NEW] Sticky windows should work now. Try invoking the operations menu over a window (default hotkey Command-Opt-O). The UI for this will improve.
* [NEW] Length of time that desktop switch notification bezel remains on screen is now configurable. (request from Jon Walton)
* [NEW] 'Collect windows to one desktop on exit' is now a preference rather than a dialogue box which pops up on exit.
* [FIX] More multi-monitor fizes for placement of desktop pager. Hiding may still be a little funky.
* [FIX] Re-wrote some of the internal window list handling to (hopfully) be a little lighter on memory. Fixed a (tiny) mem. leak in the process.

rc1

	* [NEW] New icons. (Glen Gear )
	* [NEW] 'Fast desktop create', hot-key triggered desktop creation. (Christopher A. Watford)
	* [NEW] Switching to an application via shift-clicking in the Dock switches to an appropriate desktop. (me based on patch from Mike Gorski )
	* [NEW] Started adding some code to be multi-screen aware. (me)
	* [NEW] Core-code is now a private shared framework. First stage is exposing functionality to outside 3rd party apps. (me)
	* [NEW] Hot-key preferences have been re-written (again). Now configuration is done similarly to key bindings in other Apple apps. Still unable to test with Unicode keyboard but shouldn't crash if it can't work out what you typed :). (me)
	* [NEW] Hot-keys can now be disabled via preferences pane. Please stop begging for this now... (me)
	* [IMP] Moving windows between desktops is faster. Found some more secrets buried inside CoreGraphics. (me)
	* [IMP] Active Edges now use fewer resources. (me)
	* [IMP] Desktop pager behaviour changed slightly. Now anchored to one corner/side of the screen. Auto-hides like the Dock. Position set via preferences. (me)
	* [FIX] Switching desktop via statusbar now correctly uses transitions. (me)
	* [FIX] Switching via active edges now centres the mouse after a switch if set in prefs. (me)
	* [FIX] Some memory leaks detected and fixed. Still uses quite a chunk of memory but I think a lot of that is shared with the WindowServer. (me)
	* [FIX] Double-free in active edges removed.
	* [FIX] Tuned polling times, etc to attempt to reduce CPU utilisation. Now hovers around 1% on my iBook 800MHz G3.

v0.5.1 -- 12/Feb/2004
 	* Can now optionally display current desktop's name on desktop.
 	* Mouse pointer warping is configurable.
 	* Mouse pointer can not optionally move to centre of screen on desktop switch.
	 * Desktop pager can auto-hide (note there are still one or two rendering bugs with this).
 	* Can also open URLs with Command-Option-R.
	* Some memory-usage optimisations, still the possiblitiy of memory-leaks in crusty old code, an audit of this code will be needed soon.
	* Preferences are sync-ed to disk immediately on a change -- this protects preferences against crashes, etc.
	* Hot-key implementation now uses Keyboard Layout Services API -- this means that foreign keyboards should have better support (I hope).
 	* Skin can be reset to default via preferences dialogue.
	* Icon display in Desktop Pager is optional.
 	* Optionally display desktop name in Desktop Pager.
	* Random screen-transition.
 	* Crash related to adding/removing desktops when status bar pager displayed is now fixed (developer whacks himself with big book of Objective-C memory management clue).

v0.5.0 -- 20/Jan/2004
	* New preferences system.
	* New desktop pager -- can load CodeTek VD skins.
	* Desktop transitions -- these are somewhat experimental though.
	* New plugins system allowing new features to be added in a clean manner.
	* Misc bug fixes.

v0.4.2 -- 30/Dec/2003
	* Fixed a nasty memory leak causing real memory usage to grow without bound.
	* Fixed a crash when attempting to use non-English letter hotkeys, not yet a poper fix.
	* Added a partial Spanish localisation from Julio Ernesto Arce Betanzos. 
	* Added credit to Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch for routines to help install Dock patch.
	* Asks whether to collect windows onto a single desktop when quitting.
	* Add a hotkey (default Command-Ctrl-Left/Right) for moving windows to prev/next desktop.

v0.4.1 -- 27/Dec/2003
	* Moving windows from one workspace to another now implemented -- uses a patch to the Dock so may introduce instability.
	* Operations menu added -- will get more options in future.

v0.4.0 -- 20/Dec/2003
	* Complete re-write. Should leak memory less and crash less now I hope. The new structure will allow more features in future.

v0.3.4 -- 23/Nov/2003
	* Fixed a crashing bug that was affecting some users

v0.3.3 -- 20/Nov/2003
	* Finally managed to find time to fix the Panther bugs -- not well but it now works.
	* Added some secret stuff which will hopefully enable sticky windows, etc. in 0.4.

v0.3.2 -- 9/Sep/2003
	* Change icon to one without copyright issues.
	* Restore hot key preferences dialog which somehow got missed out of 0.3.2.

v0.3.1 -- 3/Sep/2003
	* Focusses top-most application on desktop switch. This is a oft-requested feature.

v0.3 -- 30/Aug/2003
	* Fixed bug in v0.2 where status bar menu always shows 'Show pager' irrespective of pager state.
	* Some stability fixes..
	* Hot keys are now customisable via the properties dialogue box.

v0.2 -- 28/Aug/2003

	* Removed dock icon to reflect utility nature of app.
	* Desktop switch hot-keys now changed to Cmd-Opt-Left/Right Arrow.
	* User can now set whether the status bar menu is displayed and its location via the preferences pane.
	* Ctrl-Clicking on the status bar pager shows status bar menu (for when status bar menu item is not displayed).

v0.1 -- 27/Aug/2003

	* Initial release

Thanks

Thanks go to Peter da Silva and Roy Todd for their feedback on version 0.1.