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> There's almost never a situation where I need more than two things visible at once. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I point out that OSes have had bu

by kibwen 3y ago

> There's almost never a situation where I need more than two things visible at once. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when I point out that OSes have had built-in support for virtual desktops for years now, and that using them to extend your monitor infinitely and switch between them with a single keypress is far more ergonomic than having to crane your neck to see a screen that's not directly in front of you at the perfect position.

johnfernow 3y ago
True. I mostly use virtual desktops to separate work content from personal project stuff, as well separate non-productive stuff from both of them. But yeah you phrased it well, craning my neck to see a screen does sound much worse than a keyboard shortcut. I have my 2 monitors positioned so that I can mostly just move my eyes, but I can't fit more than 2 monitors in that space (either IRL or in a VR/AR without them being too tiny to read.) If I didn't have virtual desktops, I'd have to just close out of more stuff, which isn't a huge deal but any amount of friction can disuade you from working on something you're not obligated to do. I definitely wouldn't have my work tools, two separate IDEs, a game engine, 3 different browser windows, Slack, Discord and Spotify all open at once in various virtual spaces, where I have to crane my neck to see them. Maybe the Vision Pro also supports virtual desktops, but I still struggle to see in what scenario it speeds up my workflow.
ProxCoques 3y ago
Good point - and is the fact that most people neither know nor care about virtual desktops even after years of existence an indication that most people don't need them? I'd even go so far to say a major part of the initial popularity of the iPad was that it didn't have windowing - and so most people found it much easier to understand and use. Just see one thing at a time :-)
PlunderBunny 3y ago
I use the built-in 16” display on my laptop only for coding, and other developers can’t understand that I don’t want multiple monitors. I try to explain that I don’t want to crane my neck and plug and unplug monitors, and that alt-tabbing between windows is just as easy for me than looking at another window. Maybe it’s something to do with being old and learning to code on a tiny screen. I’m not saying that other people can’t prefer multiple monitors (I’m definitely in the minority when it comes to programmers), I just don’t understand why they can’t understand my point-of-view.

by kibwen 3y ago

johnfernow 3y ago

True. I mostly use virtual desktops to separate work content from personal project stuff, as well separate non-productive stuff from both of them. But yeah you phrased it well, craning my neck to see a screen does sound much worse than a keyboard shortcut. I have my 2 monitors positioned so that I can mostly just move my eyes, but I can't fit more than 2 monitors in that space (either IRL or in a VR/AR without them being too tiny to read.) If I didn't have virtual desktops, I'd have to just close out of more stuff, which isn't a huge deal but any amount of friction can disuade you from working on something you're not obligated to do. I definitely wouldn't have my work tools, two separate IDEs, a game engine, 3 different browser windows, Slack, Discord and Spotify all open at once in various virtual spaces, where I have to crane my neck to see them. Maybe the Vision Pro also supports virtual desktops, but I still struggle to see in what scenario it speeds up my workflow.

ProxCoques 3y ago

Good point - and is the fact that most people neither know nor care about virtual desktops even after years of existence an indication that most people don't need them? I'd even go so far to say a major part of the initial popularity of the iPad was that it didn't have windowing - and so most people found it much easier to understand and use. Just see one thing at a time :-)

PlunderBunny 3y ago

I use the built-in 16” display on my laptop only for coding, and other developers can’t understand that I don’t want multiple monitors. I try to explain that I don’t want to crane my neck and plug and unplug monitors, and that alt-tabbing between windows is just as easy for me than looking at another window. Maybe it’s something to do with being old and learning to code on a tiny screen. I’m not saying that other people can’t prefer multiple monitors (I’m definitely in the minority when it comes to programmers), I just don’t understand why they can’t understand my point-of-view.