[bisby]

I always had a keybind to toggle gaps. sometimes certain layouts just feel congested, and the gaps put spaces between the windows and helps them feel like they are in their own space (even though it makes them even smaller). It's purely psychological and often doesnt make sense, but it's not just "show off the wallpaper and waste real estate", it's for mental processing.

And same goes for the icons. I've personally never gotten there. but also, I don't look at the icons. They could be hidden. I know if I need to get to slack or email, it's on workspace one. So if the workspace badge says "1" or "1: Comms" or "" ... it doesn't really matter, because the keybind is muscle memory anyway. But on the flip side, because all of that is muscle memory... I might go "Where was my email at again? Workspace 1, or 2?" and having an envelope as the label makes it easier to find.

Different people have different workflows. And yes, some people are doing those things to sacrifice usability in the name of aesthetics, but some people may be GAINING usability by doing these things. People are vast and diverse.