I have an initial like of Stage Manager but going through the settings I see no way to increase how many icons on the left. That seems major fail for a laptop power user. Might I have missed some settings?
you can add more desktops with totally different sets of app icons.
But I agree 1 or 2 more per desktop would be a good thing to have.
However there is a natural limit I think - more than 5 or 6 would probably feel cramped...? And you still have to SEE that there are stacked windows, so you can't endlessly shrink them.
I still don't know if I like stage manager or not, by the way. At the moment, it feels more confusing than helpful. It probably needs some more getting used to...
I have an initial like of Stage Manager but going through the settings I see no way to increase how many icons on the left. That seems major fail for a laptop power user. Might I have missed some settings?
I've since read that it depends on which display (and which display settings) you are using. I believe that the new studio display can show as many as six stages. On my M2 MBA, I changed the display settings from default to show more text and it showed five stages rather than four..
I think the option of grouping different apps and windows (or whatever that's called in Apple world) into one stage manager pile could be (or develop into) a quite handy feature, if working on a task that needs all of these elements to quickly reappear on the screen en bloc.
You can't achieve this with the cmd + tab app switcher.
Right, Spaces has been able to this as well, but it is out of sight. Stage Manager shows you the icons right there. (Of course you can combine both.)
I think the option of grouping different apps and windows (or whatever that's called in Apple world) into one stage manager pile could be (or develop into) a quite handy feature, if working on a task that needs all of these elements to quickly reappear on the screen en bloc.
You can't achieve this with the cmd + tab app switcher.
Doesn't that sound way more useful than stage manager (contradicting my previous post now)?
Or is there any other advantage that comes with stage manager, besides being always visible (if wanted)?
Rather than one way, now there are two, depending on your preference. Well, there is a third way, and that's just manually organizing things, or not organizing at all.
I always wonder, when companies create things that already existed, kind of, in a slightly different shape, why do they not spend their time & money differently, to better create something that hasn't existed at all and that would be a real enhancement or totally new feature that brings more fun, productivity, convenience etc. to the users.
Because there are people like me who never liked or used spaces - mostly because I don't think in terms of virtual desktops, don't keep track mentally of which ones are sitting in there background, etc. Stage Manager is a much better organizing theme for me, and I am sure that there are plenty of people like me.
Another advantage is no there will be people using Stage Manager in a slightly different format on iPadOS and the mental switch back to MacOS for them will be easier.
There doesn't have to be one way.
In fact, I thought of a fourth way. There are people who just run everything full screen, as if it was old days for the iPad, all apps running in the foreground with nothing in the background. Some people like that. I generally hate it myself, though now that you can also full screen in Ventura with the menu bar always visible - something that wasn't an option before - that makes full screen a little more palatable for me. I Amy use Word this way, as when I use Word I'm usually trying to concentrate only on typing or editing with no distractions.