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Idea #13708: Active-themed workspaces by default

bug This idea is a duplicate of Idea #93: Different wallpapers on different monitors/workspace.
Written by Wikzo the 25 Sep 08 at 19:01. Category: Look and Feel. Related project: Nothing/Others. Status: New
Rationale
I just read about a simple, yet great, idea of how to use the virtual desktops for different purposes.

You can read about it at Lifehacker:
http://lifehacker.com/5054241/wallpaper-your-desktops-by-context

The basic idea is to have different wallpapers telling you what to do, like the following:

(quoting from Lifehacker):
"Read" - pretty self explanatory
"Write" - Blog posts, papers, etc.
"Draw" - All manner of art related activity, including photo manipulation, illustrations, etc.
"Build" - this is for programming (I'm just learning)
"Get" - for BitTorrent, file transfers, etc. (This computer is also my file server for the house)

You can see an example here:
http://flickr.com/photos/nirak/2853608773/

I think this is a great idea and it would be cool if the Ubuntu desktop was preloaded with this. It can't be that hard to implement, and you'll always have the option to turn it off.

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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #13708
Written by Wikzo the 25 Sep 08 at 19:01.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #13708 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

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Comments
cheesehead (Brainstorm admin) wrote on the 25 Sep 08 at 20:52
Why by default? I use my desktops differently than you.

Tree MendUs wrote on the 25 Sep 08 at 23:39
Yes - I agree with cheesehead, not by default.
But by choice, would be great.

Bunch of Additional Ideas
====================

I have used the desktops this way.
But my needs are;

Documents
Video Studio
Internet

Others that might be popular ;
Audio Studio
Games
Education

The concept follows the task sets that people might be using their desktop for - ie the kind of project they are using.

This would expand to include the tool bars they have assembled, for their workflow when working on the project.

Sets of desktops could be saved, just as toolbars and menu items are saved at present.

So say you want to the company accounts -
you open the accounts program (or server groupware access)
you open the email folder for relevant mail
you open a spreadsheet
you open maybe a graph drawing function
you access a few websites, or in-house web-pages for reference manuals.

You do that every time you sit down to do that set of tasks.

You never fully adapt your desktop to "that" task because you know the extra stuff would get in the way of doing all the "other" tasks you do.

Other major tasks that benefit from a dedicated desktop, for this type of user might include ;
- designing a presentation using reference/research resources
- project management
etc

With saved desktop settings, it is just one click, and the whole familiar setup arrives in a couple of seconds.

When a person has designed a desktop setting, which includes having chosen the best tools for the task (e.g which program to use out of those available), then these sets can be shared across an organisation, or even shared with other Ubuntu users (and desktop system users - gnome, KDE).

All that is needed for that, is for Ubuntu to make some web space available for sharing the desktop sets.

What would be additionally cool on top of that, is to have the programs that are part of a downloaded desktop set, get automatically prompted for the user to allow them to be downloaded.



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