I personally only use OS X on my laptop, and here's what I had before Lion:
1. 3x3 Spaces grid
2. Each major application assigned to a space. Primary editors (vim, Textmate, etc.) in space 5 (center), others surrounding it.
3. Each application typically maximized to fill its space.
4. When I need to switch applications, command-tab between them.
This gave me each application with almost a full screen of space, isolated to itself, with little cognitive overhead. I don't need more than command-tab at this point to manage my workflow.
I installed Lion today. Now, I have a linear set of spaces, but some of the applications I was giving full-screen to can actually use the whole screen. Mail is one of them. Chrome's support is a bit buggy so I'm avoiding it for now.
I still command-tab between applications, and that works fine, giving me all the space I had before. It seems to me that Lion's replacement for spaces was designed for me: someone who assigns one space per major application and likes to have those applications full-screened. I can 4-finger swipe left/right between the spaces (I had to set 3-fingers for page swiping so I could keep using the trackpad for Chrome forward/back). That means I can't use 4-finger-swipe to pull up the command-tab switcher, but 3-finger-swipe-up brings up MC, which is close enough, now.
Just food for thought. If I had to deal with the multiple-screen issues OP mentioned, I'd probably go nuts, but I've only used a customized Ubuntu for such situations long-term. As a laptop user, MC seems designed for me almost to the T.
1. 3x3 Spaces grid 2. Each major application assigned to a space. Primary editors (vim, Textmate, etc.) in space 5 (center), others surrounding it. 3. Each application typically maximized to fill its space. 4. When I need to switch applications, command-tab between them.
This gave me each application with almost a full screen of space, isolated to itself, with little cognitive overhead. I don't need more than command-tab at this point to manage my workflow.
I installed Lion today. Now, I have a linear set of spaces, but some of the applications I was giving full-screen to can actually use the whole screen. Mail is one of them. Chrome's support is a bit buggy so I'm avoiding it for now.
I still command-tab between applications, and that works fine, giving me all the space I had before. It seems to me that Lion's replacement for spaces was designed for me: someone who assigns one space per major application and likes to have those applications full-screened. I can 4-finger swipe left/right between the spaces (I had to set 3-fingers for page swiping so I could keep using the trackpad for Chrome forward/back). That means I can't use 4-finger-swipe to pull up the command-tab switcher, but 3-finger-swipe-up brings up MC, which is close enough, now.
Just food for thought. If I had to deal with the multiple-screen issues OP mentioned, I'd probably go nuts, but I've only used a customized Ubuntu for such situations long-term. As a laptop user, MC seems designed for me almost to the T.