SaneDesk

SaneDesk is NOT Lion compatible -- we are working 24/7 to fix everything and make it working. Please stay tuned.

Missing OS X Desktop switcher. Wallpaper, dock and desktop icons under control.

Spaces are great and we all use them. What about your desktop? Desktop always stays the same: wallpaper, desktop icons and dock do not change. What if you could change them on the fly, depending on what you want to do? Hide desktop icons entirely or show them all? That would be like adding entirely new dimension to regular spaces. You could have separate desktops for work, another one for entertainment, you could even have separate desktop for each project you are working on.
Well... we did it.

WARNING before we proceed: SaneDesk is very very very usable and highly addictive application. You will not be able to use your Mac without it after some period of time -- Mac without SaneDesk would look too restrictive.

Features:
★ Unlimited number of 'Desktops'.
★ Each desktop can have separate desktop icons.
★ Each desktop can have separate wallpaper.
★ Each desktop can have separate dock icons, dock effects and dock position.
★ Imagine spaces as one layer that helps you work, SaneDesk as another. They work together nicely.
★ You can add new desktops, rename or delete old ones at any moment.

Desktop icons

Maybe not 'correct' way to do it but we find Desktop to be the right place to keep project related files and aliases. Sure, when project becomes inactive (or less active) we move all aliases and files to where we should keep them but as long as we actively work on the project we want to have all related files at hand. Without SaneDesk this gets complicated -- desktop gets cluttered and hard to navigate.
SaneDesk keeps all desktop icons right where they are but hides or shows them depending on your desktop settings. When you quit SaneDesk all your icons become visible again.
Hey did we mentioned that you can hide or show all icons quickly? Handy feature when you need to quickly create screenshot or screencast. Un-hide them and continue without interruptions.

Wallpaper

Wallpaper should reflect what you do. We definitely want different wallpapers for our work or play time. SaneDesk keeps separate wallpaper on each desktop -- change wallpaper once and when you return to that desktop wallpaper will change too.

Dock

Some of us use a lot of applications on Mac. Dock gets cluttered. With SaneDesk you can customize each desktop's dock separately. Not only what icons dock contains but also its position and effects.

How to use SaneDesk -- first steps

This is just a suggestion. You can use SaneDesk any way you want. However, following this steps will help you understand what this application can do.

1. When you start SaneDesk for the first time you will have four predefined desktops: Main Desktop, Work, Play and Misc. They all share same wallpaper and dock settings. All your regular desktop icons are assigned to the first desktop, other three desktops don't show any icons.
2. Switch to 'Work' desktop. Change wallpaper. Add some dock icons, remove others. Customize dock position, size and effects. Create few aliases, files or folders right on your desktop.
3. Switch to 'Play' and 'Misc' and customize them too.
4. Move back to any of the desktops and you will see how wallpaper, dock and icons change.
5. Registered version lets you add new desktops, rename or delete old ones.

Q: Where exactly are my desktop icons and files while they are hidden?

They are still on your desktop, they just don't show. This way you can work on any file, even if it is hidden. Open / change / save? No problem.

You can check this by typing
ls -la ~/Desktop
in terminal.

All files are there, see?