Workspaces and workspace switcher

[JD]

Dear all,
I just for the first time installed ubuntu 12.10.

I am for the most part very pleased with the experience as far
as ease of operation.

A few things about the desktop really bug me.

It used to be that in order for me to switch to another
workspace, all I hadto do is click on it's icon on the sidebar.
Now, I have to use the switcher - 2 clicks per workspace.
This is so gosh darned annoying, that it is almost a show
stopper for me.

1. So, How can I have an auto-hidden
    sidebar of workspaceicons that I can move my pointer
    to and just click on the workspace I want to switch to?

2. Anotherissue is that even though I have downloaded compiz...
     but it does not appear as an icon in System Settings.

     So I tried the command line ccsm
     When the GUI came up, non of it's categories or sub menus
     provide any way to increase the number of workspaces
     nor how to create an auto-hidden sidebar for the workspaces
     (in order for me to obviate the dorky switcher).

     I tried gconftool-2 as well and set the number of workspaces:
     gconftool-2 --set /apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces --type=int 8
     IT DOES NOT WORK!!!
     In fact, there is NO file called
     ~jd/.gconf/apps/metacity/general/num_workspaces

I hope there is aseasoned gnome expert on this list
that can elucidate howto do this.