Just curious if anyone uses it and finds it useful. I cannot find any utility in it but was curious what use scenarios there are out there where it could be handy.
Just curious if anyone uses it and finds it useful. I cannot find any utility in it but was curious what use scenarios there are out there where it could be handy.
I use it daily on my iPad Pro, and started using it regularly on my MBP.
iPad
I teach English. Basically instead of using a white board, I connect my iPad to a TV using a USB hub and use FreeForm with an Apple Pencil as my whiteboard. In the same “stage” as Freeform, I have a Safari window open to DuckDuckGo image search. If a student doesn’t understand what something might be and my explanation doesn’t suffice, I use safari to search an image, then I can just drag it into the freeform and add notes to it. After class, I export the FreeForm to PDF and email it to the students. I have another “stage” with Readdle Documents for doing PDF’d textbook work along with the students, paired with a small timer app and other simple class management tools.
Mac
In the past, I used to just have all my most used apps open to full screen. Primary desktop in the middle with a bunch of finder windows open, then swipe desktops left and right to reach different apps (or use command center or whatever it is to make bigger jumps quickly). I would put reference-based and background things like a browser, numbers, Slack, etc to the left of my desktop and production-based apps like Affinity Publisher, Pages, and Keynote to the right. I would keep a second desktop open for personal things like iMessage, safari, calendar to be open in windows.
With stage manager, now I just keep all my chat apps grouped in a stage, a group of finder windows in a stage, my email & calendar in a stage, and my safari windows in a stage. I still keep numbers, pages, and affinity in dedicated full-screen spaces because it’s better for focusing. I feel the trade off is that my apps are better grouped and better organized. However, stage manager still pisses me off in several ways.
Issues
There’s more but this is good enough and I need to go to work now.
Incredible write up. Gave me some ways to try it out. Thanks!