...and how?

I'm currently using gnome on Ubuntu 10.04. I've never used KDE but I'm willing to switch to any desktop environment that allows me to maximize my productivity.

I'm looking for a feature that allows me to name the different desks/ workspaces, setup each workspace so that it has its own icons/ quick links/ etc for a specific task or focus.

Like I said I've never used KDE so I'm looking for an idiots guide.
Thanks for any help.

With workspace, do you mean virtual desktop, i.e. the ones you usually see on a cube, for example.

KDE Plasma Desktop has a feature called activities, which sounds similar to what you want. See "Go to this blog to read a few tips on using activities" in the link to see examples of how I use activities.

By default you have the same activity on all virtual desktops, but in newer version (>= 4.3 I think) you can have a different activity on each virtual desktop. If you want to learn how to use activities, try the Plasma HowTo (a 4.5 version will hopefully be out at the end of this week).