A method for space management of a workspace provided on a display includes defining a first data structure of full-space rectangles present on the workspace, wherein at least a portion of the full-space rectangles are permitted to overlap. A second data structure of largest empty-space rectangles available on the workspace is also defined to complete the representation of the workspace. The methods include performing an operation on at least one full-space rectangle on the workspace and redefining the first data structure and the second data structure in accordance with the workspace resulting from the operation performed. The operations can include adding a new full-space rectangle, moving an existing full-space rectangle and deleting an existing full full-space rectangle from the workspace. Generally, the workspace is a display device coupled to an electronic device such as a personal computer, personal digital assistant, electronic book viewer and the like.