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I prefer to work with a single large external monitor. If my device is a laptop I keep it in clamshell mode when attached to an external monitor. I find switchi

by gboss 5y ago

I prefer to work with a single large external monitor. If my device is a laptop I keep it in clamshell mode when attached to an external monitor. I find switching applications with keyboard shortcuts and focusing on one thing at a time has improved my productivity. Using two or more monitors made it so easy for me to get distracted. To each their own though.

girvo 5y ago
I use two monitors, but one is my tiny 13" laptop screen which has _only_ my browser on it (which holds my current project, and Slack et al. in various tabs) Everything else lives on my 32" 4K monitor. This gets me a nice compromise, as I found having two larger monitors leading to distraction as well (or just completely ignoring one of the monitors, so it added little value to me).
_9omd 5y ago
I agree, I've also moved back to a single monitor. Less distraction, and for me also less neck pain as I keep what I'm focusing on straight in front of me, instead of having a monitor off to one side.
discreditable 5y ago
Same here. In the circumstances where I need multiple things up at once I use Windows' window tiling features to arrange things as I need. They even made this functionality better in Windows 11. I'm a big proponent of using one good monitor over any number of other monitors. One thing that cracks me up is how many of my users request multiple monitor setups, but look at the keyboard while they type.
- wruza 5y ago
  I tried powertoys fancy zones (from MS itself) and never looked back. Can’t tell if it will work with 11. My layout is 4 overlapping vertical full-height panes, so I can split the screen in half, or around 2:3 either way. E.g. my browser is usually x=0, w=3/5, and my vim is x=1/2, w=1/2. This way I can see the changes in 1500+-width but slightly overlapped by an editor to feel comfortable with line widths and their left margin. What stands out in fancy zones is that these areas do not have to tile each other and may overlap. Positioning windows in there is also very UX. I couldn’t find anything close enough in linux world (well, one may always program i3 or awesome, but it’s beyond my scope of interest). I don’t get why MS doesn’t just build it into windows, since it’s their own, free tool.
  - mattowen_uk 5y ago
    Windows 11 has a cut down version of fancy zones built in.
  - tomnipotent 5y ago
    > powertoys fancy zones Second FanzyZones. I've remapped the keys I could to mimic i3, and the only thing keeping it from "perfect" is keyboard shortcuts to control splitting/moving/resizing. You can toggle between pre-configured fixed zones using the keyboard, which is mostly good enough. PowerToys also has a ton of other useful tools like a color picker, bulk file rename, and keyboard remapping (useful when using Synergy between Windows/MacOS). Highly recommend.
    - pletnes 5y ago
      I miss i3 on win - do you have a how-to for that? I use powertoys but only to tweak window layout a bit.
      - tomnipotent 5y ago
        I just remapped the super-pagedn/up keys for window switching (only next/prev instead of hjkl). Otherwise I'm using i3 on Linux, and use Synergy to move between Windows, MacOS, and Linux so it helps to have as much between the three environments consistent.
- Brian_K_White 5y ago
  I use multiple monitors, look at the keyboard to type, and drive barefoot. 3 things that have no bearing on each other.
fassssst 5y ago
Yep, single 38” 3840x1600 ultrawide or 43” 4K TV for me. With a small 14” USB-C portable touch monitor as needed for testing touch and pen input.
prpl 5y ago
I use a 27” 4k monitor, in unscaled mode, but I use zoom heavily on macOS (Ctrl+Scroll Wheel) - with some extra scroll cruising setup with SteerMouse on my mouse. The lets me reduce the pixel to density to that if a much larger screen on-demand to help with my eyes a bit.
- aflat 5y ago
  You might want to check out https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer which is really nice for changing resolutions beyond what macOS lets you do using the GUI
- wing-_-nuts 5y ago
  The one thing that I dearly miss from OS X going to linux, is the 'double tap to zoom on a text container' thing that simply doesn't appear to have an equivalent on linux. Being able to double tap and zoom up on text when I'm tired after a long day is very nice.
kbenson 5y ago
When I ran multiple monitors I often designated one as my "communication" display, which got email/chat on it, and probably browser as well (for reference material), while the other was the active work one with the current task (usually a few terminals). I found the clearly defines areas for specific tasks was useful. Now I work off a 40" 4k TV without magnification (I'm close to it), and I try to do similar but it's a lot more haphazard. I find that once you have a wall of pixels in front of you, putting stuff in areas helps, but it's also nice to just throw stuff around and treat it as a actual physical desktop (as it's actually about the size now). The thing to keep in mind is that as screens get larger, maximizing to fill the whole screen makes less and less sense. I can't even see all my screen at once. I could place it farther back and scale it up, but why would I just by a smaller screen and keep it closer then? I want those pixels. I run all my browser windows at about a quarter screen size, and have that app scaled up to 125% (but not all apps), and that almost never has a problem with a site, and I have other info I care about quick saccade away.
- jbverschoor 5y ago
  I used to have 2 pcs, connected over synergy, for the same reason. The best part is that your cmd-tab / application switcher is local to that screen. Still looking for a similar solution on 1 laptop with 2 screens.
  - andyjpb 5y ago
    I've longed for a window manager that can assign different virtual desktops to different screens. Of course, there are compositing, scaling and resolution issues to overcome, but it'd be really neat to have a palette of virtual desktops that could be called up on whichever monitor was most convenient. ...and it'd make screen mirroring during presentations a breeze!
    - opan 5y ago
      Maybe I'm not understanding what you want exactly, but it sounds like what i3 and Sway already do. Workspaces are created as needed and are specific to that monitor, so if workspace 3 is on the right monitor, you can jump to it with super-3 even if you're on the left monitor. You'd be looking at workspace 3 on the right monitor plus another workspace like 1 or 2 on the left. Each monitor displays a separate workspace which can be changed without affecting the other. You can also define rules in the config so that certain programs will open in certain workspaces every time, and you can move the whole workspace to the other monitor (not a default keybind iirc) if desired. Good in a portrait+landscape monitor setup for if you need your browser to be wider for a little bit.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
rectang 5y ago
I use a laptop and I make heavy use of workspaces. I generally don't use an external monitor at all. However, when working at a desk, I use an external keyboard and trackpad, and put the laptop on a stand. I dislike plugging into a monitor because it I hate the chaos of resizing everything. When I'm on the large monitor I unconsciously expand things; then when I switch back everything is on top of everything else or expanded beyond the window edges or reflowed or what have you. I say this having worked with applications where you truly need an external monitor: image editing (where you put all your extra palettes on the extra monitor, and DAWs, where timeline and mixer views take up a full monitor each. Programming isn't like that.
- lukaszkups 5y ago
  Totally this. I've been using Linux for so long time that I haven't realised Windows has that feature as well - when I've learned about this and WSL has been introduced I've switched immediately :)
arendtio 5y ago
I use two 27" 4k Monitors in landscape mode arranged vertically. That way I have one primary monitor just in front of me and some extra space when I need it. Having the secondary screen above the primary means you won't have neck pain from looking to the one side all the time. In addition, it is quite relaxing to lean back and watch a presentation/video on the secondary screen. The biggest downside is the position of a webcam. I placed it between the monitors with a 3D printed holder. However, that is certainly not an optimal solution.
- volfied 5y ago
  That’s exactly what i do as well, i just gave up on the bottom inch of my top monitor with the webcam in the way
- Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
  Looking up will be a bigger problem for neck and will strain the eyes more. The upper edge of the display should be on eye level: humans are much more comfortable looking down than up.
  - LtdJorge 5y ago
    Not if you can recline the chair
  - arendtio 5y ago
    You are right, that looking down is more comfortable than looking up when sitting straight. However, I like it better to look up than to look left or right and my reasoning is that it is symmetrical. Therefore, I prefer to have the secondary screen above the primary.
tombert 5y ago
I am exactly the same way. I have a 50" 4k TV in my basement that exists solely as a monitor for my laptop(s). TVs have the advantage of being ridiculously cheap, and there's no law saying that you can't just plug into the HDMI port and use it as a monitor. The refresh-rate is so-so, but since all I don't really play games, it's not a problem. Having a 50" TV lets me sit pretty far away from the screen and also gives me plenty of room to put a million applications next to each other which (at least for me) helps me avoid being distracted. I also have a lot of issues reading small text [1], so having a big screen allows me to make the text gigantic while not sacrificing a ton of screen real estate. It's honestly great; if I ever am forced to work in an office again, I'm going to insist that the company purchase me the equipment for a similar setup. [1] I'm reasonably certain that I'm not dyslexic, but I do find that reading off a screen is substantially easier for me when I use extremely big text. This is part of the reason most my book reading is either on the Kindle or the large-print vision-impaired versions of books.
- mh- 5y ago
  If you haven't, get your vision tested by a good optometrist. I had an unknown-to-me astigmatism with otherwise perfect vision. I hadn't seen an eye doctor in (ever?) so I don't know when it started. I didn't notice I was having the problems you describe until I got some corrective lenses to use only when I'm on the computer. Blew my mind.
  - tombert 5y ago
    I wear glasses/contact lenses already, so I get my eyes checked regularly. I've had pretty bad eyesight since I was nine years old, and an astigmatism in my left eye since I was at least nineteen. Theoretically at least, my contact lenses correct for it. I honestly don't think it's a vision issue though; I don't have issues identifying the letters, and I don't have trouble reading the words or parsing sentences, I seem to have a lot of trouble keeping track of which line I'm on when I'm reading stuff with relatively small font. When I have large font, I don't have this issue, and I can read relatively quickly without a ton of issues.
  - bluGill 5y ago
neoberg 5y ago
I went from 3 large monitors to 1 large & laptop screen to only a laptop screen. It's enough.
comeonseriously 5y ago
Definitely agree. Multiple monitors distract.
soheil 5y ago
I agree I just like to add for development it'd be nice to at least a terminal window and an editor open side by side. In case of web dev the browser pointing to localhost and the editor side by side. I don't understand why an "ideal monitor for programmers" would need to have space for Twitter.
mgreenleaf 5y ago
I work with the KDE virtual desktops grid with a 3x2 arrangement and wrap around on a 32" curved screen. I've found it very useful to put the same windows in the same grid squares and have hotkeys to easily go between. I know exactly the keystrokes ahead of time to get to the window I want and don't have to move my neck to get there. I can tile them, since I've got plenty of space on the one large screen, but usually the 6 virtual desktops are good enough. I've tried multiple monitors before, but couldn't get into it.
- yokljo 5y ago
  That's pretty much exactly my setup. On top of that I make sure I can do most important things with just my left hand: I use Ctrl+F1/2/3 as is default in KDE (Firefox on F1, editor of F2 usually), but then I rebind stuff to the Windows key: Win+W maximises a window, Win+A tiles to the left and Win+S tiles right. Kinda unrelated, but I also rebind Konsole's "Clear Scrollback and Reset" to Ctrl+Shift+X because I use it before running compilers and stuff, so I can easily find the actual start of the command's output.
throw10920 5y ago
> Using two or more monitors made it so easy for me to get distracted. I have a desktop with three monitors and a laptop with one, and I don't notice any difference in distractibility. It's a discipline problem, not a technical one, and so you should solve it on a personal level and not a technical one. I mean, think about it. If you "unlock" the ability to use multiple monitors at once without getting distracted, "it's free real estate" - you have more space to work with, and there's empirical evidence to suggest that that results in increased productivity. Programming involves a lot of consulting documentation and using multiple tools at once - it's very amenable to multiple monitors (as opposed to, say, writing a novel).
- girvo 5y ago
  > It's a discipline problem, not a technical one, Sure, agreed. > and so you should solve it on a personal level and not a technical one. Why, when a technical one suffices? I've not personally seen much of a productivity increase over two 24"-ish screens and a single 32" 4K screen myself. I don't have the physical desk space for two of those (nor do I think it would be particularly useful for me)
  - d110af5ccf 5y ago
    > Why, when a technical one suffices? Because if you're programming then the imposed limitation forcing you to constantly switch between windows almost certainly reduces your productivity. Do you never find yourself jumping back and forth between two or three documentation pages (library API, manpage, language spec, whatever), one or more pieces of example code, and one or more files with code that you're editing? Plus a window for build tooling? I find having that all visible at once in dedicated locations to be incredibly convenient, much more like working on a physical bench top.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > I find having that all visible at once in dedicated locations to be incredibly convenient That’s a reason for seeking out a solution with large enough display area and sufficient resolution. That doesn’t necessarily require multiple monitors.
ed_at_work 5y ago
It's funny how our brains work, eh? I find I'm the complete opposite. I need two monitors so things are right there in my face. I get distracted switching tabs. Thanks a lot ADHD.
zaptheimpaler 5y ago
My biggest pain point with big monitor tiling setups is nested/incompatible windowing/tiling management. for example i often use Pop Shell, VSCode, tmux and firefox. So now I have many different layers of windows - Pop Shell - Desktop/Monitor 1 - Firefox - tab1 - tab2 - Terminal - tmux - pane1 - pane2 - VSCode - tab1 - tab2 - splitleft - splitright - Desktop/Monitor 2 All of these layers are different keybinds and windowing systems with no smooth integration. Pop Shell has one way of stacking windows into tabs, tmux has another, firefox has another. Ideally i want one set of keybinds that can seamlessly let me search for a firefox tab or an open editor tab, or move a tmux pane into a terminal window into a stacked pop shell window. Like one set of controls and UI for all the windowing. Currently i think we all are juggling multiple nested paradigms and sets of shortcuts for no good reason (besides it being hard to implement) Does anyone have a nice solution for that?
- aasasd 5y ago
  The thing that you want was around in the 90s already, and it's called multiple windows without tabs.
  - zaptheimpaler 5y ago
    Yes but unfortunately that doesn't really work for heavy applications today. That would mean like 50 independent memory-hungry firefox or IDE processes corresponding to every tab/file you might have open. The entire point is to decouple a window from the resources/host process that controls the window.
    - nsonha 5y ago
      multiple browser windows are not different resource-wise than multiple tabs, you are still running against same instance of the browser. The other benefit of leaving window (and tab) managerment to the OS is that tabs switching should also better, imagine your tabs show up in the OS switcher and you can look them up in spotlight or something.
npsimons 5y ago
> I find switching applications with keyboard shortcuts and focusing on one thing at a time has improved my productivity. Using two or more monitors made it so easy for me to get distracted. I very much agree with this - alt-tabbing between browser, terminal and fullscreened Emacs are what I've been doing for years. But very recently I decided to make two significant changes: 1. Adding a second monitor for documentation or visualizing output. When I'm going through longer written works (tutorials on languages, toolkits, etc), it's rotated to portrait mode and I find it more conducive to typing and testing things on the first monitor (with Emacs still fullscreen, but C-x 2 for splitting it in half). Recently I've been playing with OpenSCAD and I've liked having the second monitor in landscape mode; then I edit files in Emacs, and OpenSCAD updates the render as soon as I save the file. Transcribing music from scans displayed on a portrait monitor into MuseScore in fullscreen on a landscape monitor is a third "topic" I find two monitors handy for. Lastly is IT/sysadmin where I have a 160x60 terminal with a tab per server on the landscape monitor, and dashboards or documentation on the second monitor rotated to landscape mode. Control PgUp and PgDown between server consoles, each running screen, where screen zero is colorized log output. 2. The second change might have a a bigger impact than the first: multiple virtual desktops, one for each "topic." For example, my virtual desktops are currently entitled "Main", "IT", "3D Modelling", "Programming", and "Music". Of course I switch between them with a keyboard shortcut. This really seems to help my focus, by putting things "out of reach" so that I can't just Alt-tab to Reddit or HN when I'm bored or stuck. The key with any tool is to figure out how to make it work for you, not against you. Sounds like you've already made progress on this front, but I thought I'd provide my two cents.

by gboss 5y ago

girvo 5y ago

I use two monitors, but one is my tiny 13" laptop screen which has _only_ my browser on it (which holds my current project, and Slack et al. in various tabs) Everything else lives on my 32" 4K monitor. This gets me a nice compromise, as I found having two larger monitors leading to distraction as well (or just completely ignoring one of the monitors, so it added little value to me).

_9omd 5y ago

I agree, I've also moved back to a single monitor. Less distraction, and for me also less neck pain as I keep what I'm focusing on straight in front of me, instead of having a monitor off to one side.

discreditable 5y ago

Same here. In the circumstances where I need multiple things up at once I use Windows' window tiling features to arrange things as I need. They even made this functionality better in Windows 11. I'm a big proponent of using one good monitor over any number of other monitors. One thing that cracks me up is how many of my users request multiple monitor setups, but look at the keyboard while they type.

wruza 5y ago
I tried powertoys fancy zones (from MS itself) and never looked back. Can’t tell if it will work with 11. My layout is 4 overlapping vertical full-height panes, so I can split the screen in half, or around 2:3 either way. E.g. my browser is usually x=0, w=3/5, and my vim is x=1/2, w=1/2. This way I can see the changes in 1500+-width but slightly overlapped by an editor to feel comfortable with line widths and their left margin. What stands out in fancy zones is that these areas do not have to tile each other and may overlap. Positioning windows in there is also very UX. I couldn’t find anything close enough in linux world (well, one may always program i3 or awesome, but it’s beyond my scope of interest). I don’t get why MS doesn’t just build it into windows, since it’s their own, free tool.
- mattowen_uk 5y ago
  Windows 11 has a cut down version of fancy zones built in.
- tomnipotent 5y ago
  > powertoys fancy zones Second FanzyZones. I've remapped the keys I could to mimic i3, and the only thing keeping it from "perfect" is keyboard shortcuts to control splitting/moving/resizing. You can toggle between pre-configured fixed zones using the keyboard, which is mostly good enough. PowerToys also has a ton of other useful tools like a color picker, bulk file rename, and keyboard remapping (useful when using Synergy between Windows/MacOS). Highly recommend.
  - pletnes 5y ago
    I miss i3 on win - do you have a how-to for that? I use powertoys but only to tweak window layout a bit.
    - tomnipotent 5y ago
      I just remapped the super-pagedn/up keys for window switching (only next/prev instead of hjkl). Otherwise I'm using i3 on Linux, and use Synergy to move between Windows, MacOS, and Linux so it helps to have as much between the three environments consistent.
Brian_K_White 5y ago
I use multiple monitors, look at the keyboard to type, and drive barefoot. 3 things that have no bearing on each other.

fassssst 5y ago

Yep, single 38” 3840x1600 ultrawide or 43” 4K TV for me. With a small 14” USB-C portable touch monitor as needed for testing touch and pen input.

prpl 5y ago

I use a 27” 4k monitor, in unscaled mode, but I use zoom heavily on macOS (Ctrl+Scroll Wheel) - with some extra scroll cruising setup with SteerMouse on my mouse. The lets me reduce the pixel to density to that if a much larger screen on-demand to help with my eyes a bit.

aflat 5y ago
You might want to check out https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer which is really nice for changing resolutions beyond what macOS lets you do using the GUI
wing-_-nuts 5y ago
The one thing that I dearly miss from OS X going to linux, is the 'double tap to zoom on a text container' thing that simply doesn't appear to have an equivalent on linux. Being able to double tap and zoom up on text when I'm tired after a long day is very nice.

kbenson 5y ago

When I ran multiple monitors I often designated one as my "communication" display, which got email/chat on it, and probably browser as well (for reference material), while the other was the active work one with the current task (usually a few terminals). I found the clearly defines areas for specific tasks was useful. Now I work off a 40" 4k TV without magnification (I'm close to it), and I try to do similar but it's a lot more haphazard. I find that once you have a wall of pixels in front of you, putting stuff in areas helps, but it's also nice to just throw stuff around and treat it as a actual physical desktop (as it's actually about the size now). The thing to keep in mind is that as screens get larger, maximizing to fill the whole screen makes less and less sense. I can't even see all my screen at once. I could place it farther back and scale it up, but why would I just by a smaller screen and keep it closer then? I want those pixels. I run all my browser windows at about a quarter screen size, and have that app scaled up to 125% (but not all apps), and that almost never has a problem with a site, and I have other info I care about quick saccade away.

jbverschoor 5y ago
I used to have 2 pcs, connected over synergy, for the same reason. The best part is that your cmd-tab / application switcher is local to that screen. Still looking for a similar solution on 1 laptop with 2 screens.
- andyjpb 5y ago
  I've longed for a window manager that can assign different virtual desktops to different screens. Of course, there are compositing, scaling and resolution issues to overcome, but it'd be really neat to have a palette of virtual desktops that could be called up on whichever monitor was most convenient. ...and it'd make screen mirroring during presentations a breeze!
  - opan 5y ago
    Maybe I'm not understanding what you want exactly, but it sounds like what i3 and Sway already do. Workspaces are created as needed and are specific to that monitor, so if workspace 3 is on the right monitor, you can jump to it with super-3 even if you're on the left monitor. You'd be looking at workspace 3 on the right monitor plus another workspace like 1 or 2 on the left. Each monitor displays a separate workspace which can be changed without affecting the other. You can also define rules in the config so that certain programs will open in certain workspaces every time, and you can move the whole workspace to the other monitor (not a default keybind iirc) if desired. Good in a portrait+landscape monitor setup for if you need your browser to be wider for a little bit.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

rectang 5y ago

I use a laptop and I make heavy use of workspaces. I generally don't use an external monitor at all. However, when working at a desk, I use an external keyboard and trackpad, and put the laptop on a stand. I dislike plugging into a monitor because it I hate the chaos of resizing everything. When I'm on the large monitor I unconsciously expand things; then when I switch back everything is on top of everything else or expanded beyond the window edges or reflowed or what have you. I say this having worked with applications where you truly need an external monitor: image editing (where you put all your extra palettes on the extra monitor, and DAWs, where timeline and mixer views take up a full monitor each. Programming isn't like that.

lukaszkups 5y ago
Totally this. I've been using Linux for so long time that I haven't realised Windows has that feature as well - when I've learned about this and WSL has been introduced I've switched immediately :)

arendtio 5y ago

I use two 27" 4k Monitors in landscape mode arranged vertically. That way I have one primary monitor just in front of me and some extra space when I need it. Having the secondary screen above the primary means you won't have neck pain from looking to the one side all the time. In addition, it is quite relaxing to lean back and watch a presentation/video on the secondary screen. The biggest downside is the position of a webcam. I placed it between the monitors with a 3D printed holder. However, that is certainly not an optimal solution.

volfied 5y ago
That’s exactly what i do as well, i just gave up on the bottom inch of my top monitor with the webcam in the way
Andrew_nenakhov 5y ago
Looking up will be a bigger problem for neck and will strain the eyes more. The upper edge of the display should be on eye level: humans are much more comfortable looking down than up.
- LtdJorge 5y ago
  Not if you can recline the chair
- arendtio 5y ago
  You are right, that looking down is more comfortable than looking up when sitting straight. However, I like it better to look up than to look left or right and my reasoning is that it is symmetrical. Therefore, I prefer to have the secondary screen above the primary.

tombert 5y ago

I am exactly the same way. I have a 50" 4k TV in my basement that exists solely as a monitor for my laptop(s). TVs have the advantage of being ridiculously cheap, and there's no law saying that you can't just plug into the HDMI port and use it as a monitor. The refresh-rate is so-so, but since all I don't really play games, it's not a problem. Having a 50" TV lets me sit pretty far away from the screen and also gives me plenty of room to put a million applications next to each other which (at least for me) helps me avoid being distracted. I also have a lot of issues reading small text [1], so having a big screen allows me to make the text gigantic while not sacrificing a ton of screen real estate. It's honestly great; if I ever am forced to work in an office again, I'm going to insist that the company purchase me the equipment for a similar setup. [1] I'm reasonably certain that I'm not dyslexic, but I do find that reading off a screen is substantially easier for me when I use extremely big text. This is part of the reason most my book reading is either on the Kindle or the large-print vision-impaired versions of books.

mh- 5y ago
If you haven't, get your vision tested by a good optometrist. I had an unknown-to-me astigmatism with otherwise perfect vision. I hadn't seen an eye doctor in (ever?) so I don't know when it started. I didn't notice I was having the problems you describe until I got some corrective lenses to use only when I'm on the computer. Blew my mind.
- tombert 5y ago
  I wear glasses/contact lenses already, so I get my eyes checked regularly. I've had pretty bad eyesight since I was nine years old, and an astigmatism in my left eye since I was at least nineteen. Theoretically at least, my contact lenses correct for it. I honestly don't think it's a vision issue though; I don't have issues identifying the letters, and I don't have trouble reading the words or parsing sentences, I seem to have a lot of trouble keeping track of which line I'm on when I'm reading stuff with relatively small font. When I have large font, I don't have this issue, and I can read relatively quickly without a ton of issues.
- bluGill 5y ago

neoberg 5y ago

I went from 3 large monitors to 1 large & laptop screen to only a laptop screen. It's enough.

comeonseriously 5y ago

Definitely agree. Multiple monitors distract.

soheil 5y ago

I agree I just like to add for development it'd be nice to at least a terminal window and an editor open side by side. In case of web dev the browser pointing to localhost and the editor side by side. I don't understand why an "ideal monitor for programmers" would need to have space for Twitter.

mgreenleaf 5y ago

I work with the KDE virtual desktops grid with a 3x2 arrangement and wrap around on a 32" curved screen. I've found it very useful to put the same windows in the same grid squares and have hotkeys to easily go between. I know exactly the keystrokes ahead of time to get to the window I want and don't have to move my neck to get there. I can tile them, since I've got plenty of space on the one large screen, but usually the 6 virtual desktops are good enough. I've tried multiple monitors before, but couldn't get into it.

yokljo 5y ago
That's pretty much exactly my setup. On top of that I make sure I can do most important things with just my left hand: I use Ctrl+F1/2/3 as is default in KDE (Firefox on F1, editor of F2 usually), but then I rebind stuff to the Windows key: Win+W maximises a window, Win+A tiles to the left and Win+S tiles right. Kinda unrelated, but I also rebind Konsole's "Clear Scrollback and Reset" to Ctrl+Shift+X because I use it before running compilers and stuff, so I can easily find the actual start of the command's output.

throw10920 5y ago

> Using two or more monitors made it so easy for me to get distracted. I have a desktop with three monitors and a laptop with one, and I don't notice any difference in distractibility. It's a discipline problem, not a technical one, and so you should solve it on a personal level and not a technical one. I mean, think about it. If you "unlock" the ability to use multiple monitors at once without getting distracted, "it's free real estate" - you have more space to work with, and there's empirical evidence to suggest that that results in increased productivity. Programming involves a lot of consulting documentation and using multiple tools at once - it's very amenable to multiple monitors (as opposed to, say, writing a novel).

girvo 5y ago
> It's a discipline problem, not a technical one, Sure, agreed. > and so you should solve it on a personal level and not a technical one. Why, when a technical one suffices? I've not personally seen much of a productivity increase over two 24"-ish screens and a single 32" 4K screen myself. I don't have the physical desk space for two of those (nor do I think it would be particularly useful for me)
- d110af5ccf 5y ago
  > Why, when a technical one suffices? Because if you're programming then the imposed limitation forcing you to constantly switch between windows almost certainly reduces your productivity. Do you never find yourself jumping back and forth between two or three documentation pages (library API, manpage, language spec, whatever), one or more pieces of example code, and one or more files with code that you're editing? Plus a window for build tooling? I find having that all visible at once in dedicated locations to be incredibly convenient, much more like working on a physical bench top.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > I find having that all visible at once in dedicated locations to be incredibly convenient That’s a reason for seeking out a solution with large enough display area and sufficient resolution. That doesn’t necessarily require multiple monitors.

ed_at_work 5y ago

It's funny how our brains work, eh? I find I'm the complete opposite. I need two monitors so things are right there in my face. I get distracted switching tabs. Thanks a lot ADHD.

zaptheimpaler 5y ago

My biggest pain point with big monitor tiling setups is nested/incompatible windowing/tiling management. for example i often use Pop Shell, VSCode, tmux and firefox. So now I have many different layers of windows - Pop Shell - Desktop/Monitor 1 - Firefox - tab1 - tab2 - Terminal - tmux - pane1 - pane2 - VSCode - tab1 - tab2 - splitleft - splitright - Desktop/Monitor 2 All of these layers are different keybinds and windowing systems with no smooth integration. Pop Shell has one way of stacking windows into tabs, tmux has another, firefox has another. Ideally i want one set of keybinds that can seamlessly let me search for a firefox tab or an open editor tab, or move a tmux pane into a terminal window into a stacked pop shell window. Like one set of controls and UI for all the windowing. Currently i think we all are juggling multiple nested paradigms and sets of shortcuts for no good reason (besides it being hard to implement) Does anyone have a nice solution for that?

aasasd 5y ago
The thing that you want was around in the 90s already, and it's called multiple windows without tabs.
- zaptheimpaler 5y ago
  Yes but unfortunately that doesn't really work for heavy applications today. That would mean like 50 independent memory-hungry firefox or IDE processes corresponding to every tab/file you might have open. The entire point is to decouple a window from the resources/host process that controls the window.
  - nsonha 5y ago
    multiple browser windows are not different resource-wise than multiple tabs, you are still running against same instance of the browser. The other benefit of leaving window (and tab) managerment to the OS is that tabs switching should also better, imagine your tabs show up in the OS switcher and you can look them up in spotlight or something.

npsimons 5y ago

> I find switching applications with keyboard shortcuts and focusing on one thing at a time has improved my productivity. Using two or more monitors made it so easy for me to get distracted. I very much agree with this - alt-tabbing between browser, terminal and fullscreened Emacs are what I've been doing for years. But very recently I decided to make two significant changes: 1. Adding a second monitor for documentation or visualizing output. When I'm going through longer written works (tutorials on languages, toolkits, etc), it's rotated to portrait mode and I find it more conducive to typing and testing things on the first monitor (with Emacs still fullscreen, but C-x 2 for splitting it in half). Recently I've been playing with OpenSCAD and I've liked having the second monitor in landscape mode; then I edit files in Emacs, and OpenSCAD updates the render as soon as I save the file. Transcribing music from scans displayed on a portrait monitor into MuseScore in fullscreen on a landscape monitor is a third "topic" I find two monitors handy for. Lastly is IT/sysadmin where I have a 160x60 terminal with a tab per server on the landscape monitor, and dashboards or documentation on the second monitor rotated to landscape mode. Control PgUp and PgDown between server consoles, each running screen, where screen zero is colorized log output. 2. The second change might have a a bigger impact than the first: multiple virtual desktops, one for each "topic." For example, my virtual desktops are currently entitled "Main", "IT", "3D Modelling", "Programming", and "Music". Of course I switch between them with a keyboard shortcut. This really seems to help my focus, by putting things "out of reach" so that I can't just Alt-tab to Reddit or HN when I'm bored or stuck. The key with any tool is to figure out how to make it work for you, not against you. Sounds like you've already made progress on this front, but I thought I'd provide my two cents.