Establishing a Workflow

Tagged with cinnamon, hibernation, linux, sessions, workspaces on October 29, 2024

According to the Wikipedia page for workflow:

“Workflow is a generic term for orchestrated and repeatable patterns of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information.”

The only workflows I ever talk about are those we establish at home, whether we’re working for someone else, for ourselves, or simply contributing to a community of some type.

Workflow Choices

In the context of computing, each individual establishes their own workflow. Your workflow will probably never be exactly like mine or anyone else’s. It doesn’t matter what kind of computing device we’re talking about.

Until recently, I only used one workspace on Linux, which is the one you see after logging in. I used the alt-tab key to switch between applications when I couldn’t be bothered to grab the mouse. With lower screen resolutions, I always kept all the applications maximized. With higher resolutions, I only maximize a few.

Until I figured out how to correctly enable hibernation, using multiple workspaces didn’t make sense to me. Once I figured it out, and intentionally learned to use multiple workspaces, it all made sense. Once I figured out how to start a session and then place specific applications on specific workspaces after logging in, hibernation became less important. I still use it, but not as often.

Keyboard Shortcuts and Mouse Clicks

From here on, I’m specifying the Cinnamon desktop environment. Other desktop environments and window managers have their own features, but I’m not familiar with anything other than Cinnamon.

Well-assigned keyboard shortcuts can make the workflow even easier than “mousing around”. Unfortunately, a mouse is most likely necessary when a touchpad isn’t available. While most Linux distros support gestures, a touchpad is usually the device that uses gestures. An extension called “Smart Panel” allows for mouse gestures on a panel’s blank areas, but I would still be using a mouse.

The default keyboard shortcut to display all workspaces is Ctrl-Alt-Up. To move to the left workspace is Ctrl-Alt-Left. To move to the right workspace is Ctrl-Alt-Right. It seems natural to me to assign Ctrl-Alt-1 for workspace 1, Ctrl-Alt-2 for workspace 2, and so on. I have a workspace selector on the panel, but I only use the numbered indicators to show me where I am.

Linux Is All About Choices

I’m a Linux enthusiast, but not because it’s better than macOS or Windows. It’s because of all the choices I can make immediately after installation of the operating system. I can have a Linux distribution up and running with my preferred applications within an hour of finding the download. It takes more than that just to download the latest Windows ISO file.

Once I have my system set up, I no longer have to make any changes at all. If I change something, it’s because I want to.

Image by [email protected] Larry Ewing and The GIMP, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons