Yes, I like it that way.
I'm not using the terminal all the time, but when I do, I need it quickly there and want to see a bit more info.
That's why I use Guake and Byobu running in it.
Having emacs at hand is also a common thing. I need to scribble all kind of things. Problem is my laptop screen is only 1366*768. Too less to have everything open when surfing the web. Planning to use virtual workspace with 2732x1536 scrolling. Having different workspaces where I can switch to, is not really satisfying for me.
The Unity launcher on the right is only 16px icon size. To change that I've used CompizConfig Settings Manager.