I would love a dual monitor setup. Often I am doing work on something, but also talking to a few people on IM. I find having multiple windows tiled on one display too noisy, especially when the program I am working with is already noisy (like VS) and the people I am talking to are saying lots. To be able to shunt them to a second monitor would be a great boost I think. I also quite often need to have a reference document open, whether that be some websites for an essay or documentation for an API and again to be able to have that on a second monitor would be useful. Two smaller monitors allows you to comfortably have the main item you are working with filling the majority of the central screen whilst having other peripheral tasks tiled on the secondary screen. Again, having it all tiled on one large screen just makes it too noisy for me.
Certainly there is a point of diminishing returns – more is more up to a point.
Is the purpose of more monitors to reduce hiding windows, which reduces mouse clicking and/or keystrokes? Value is measured in time saved from the mechanical convenience, and the brain not losing interest by having to wait while finding the window they were after.
I’d love to get myself a BIG monitor at home, but one of the main things I use my home PC for (apart from work) is photo editing, and larger monitors all seem to suffer from fairly poor colour rendition and uneven back-lighting.
Two monitors wouldn’t help me much for that as I want a large single window for the image I’m working on. (Though admittedly a second monitor for the browser and toolbars might be quite good).
@J. Stoever
"I can think of almost no situation where I would want to have two different application visible at the same time."
Really??? Assuming you are a programmer then how about:
- having your app, debugger and test tool on screen at the same time.
- referencing details in a spec while coding.
- copying values in code to/from a spreadsheet/database/doc.
- writing code while referencing an example.
Aiming for my third display as soon as I can.
More is definitely more. No more flipping between windows to get something done. One on one screen, one on another.
VM on on screen, remote destktop on another… chat windows, browsing. All less vital tasks, but still important no longer impeed my primary view and I can easily shift my glance betwixt them as needed.
A third monitor would be more of a good thing.
I recently convered an entire office to double LCD displays from single cruddy tubes. A very, very popular switch - I assure you, esp. since 2 of the apps that get used constantly (practically simultaenously) work best full screen.
More is definitely more in this case. I just wish the 1680x1050 wasn’t so darn, well, SHORT. I also wish the next step up wasn’t so darn expensive.
It’s not uncommon for me to have three major windows open at once and to bounce between them: A web page, the source or CSS for that page, and Firebug to help highlight components of that page and make live changes to styles. Having all three visible at once is considerably more productive for me. While I don’t have any specific numbers, I work with the same software packages at work and at home. Work features 2x23" monitors. Home sometimes features a laptop monitor at a lower resolution. While I can still work at home, I’m often trying to figure out which window I want to toggle to or re-arranging windows to see what I need at that time.
I’ll keep my 2 monitors for sure. Some days I want three, but I think the return eventually diminishes.
I think that what is true for the average user is not NECESSARILY true for the power user. Obviously, the better you are at switching to a different specific window, the more the multi-monitor advantage will be mitigated.
Of course, there are other ways that multiple monitors help you; for instance, if you are writing up comments on a particular design prototype, it helps to have the prototype up in one window and your text editor up in another.
Still, I’d like to see the tests run with a big group of power users instead of typical users.
I like 3 monitors- but why should they all be the same?
It’s just like multi-core cpus: right now the manufacturers are building cpus with identical cores, because it’s easier and we’re still getting used to the idea. But it looks like the best performance can be had from building a cpu with several different cores, each optimized for different tasks.
I propose a 3 monitor setup like this:
Monitor 1, in the center, is a 22 inch widescreen set at 1680x1050 or higher, for general purpose work.
Monitor 2, to one side, a another 22 inch widescreen, but it’s oriented 90 degrees the other directly. This monitor is optimized for reading long documents.
Monitor 3, to the other side, is a small old 15 inch piece of junk. Use this monitor for laying out GUIs. That way, you’ll end up with something that still looks good on older systems.
I was suprised by how much a widescreen monitor as a second monitor improved my productivity. It is especially useful in Visual Studio where you can finally see an entire line of code without scrolling. I can also see the entire subject line of emails and all the file details in Windows Explorer.
Dual montitors also allow you to do more multitasking. It makes it easier to refer to some some sample code while editing in your IDE.
There are a few annoyances though. When I boot up I frequently need to reconfigure my monitor setup. Sometimes I even need to disconnect my monitor cable to get anything on either screen.
I think the reason for the productivity dropoff with the 26" monitor is that most modern UI’s really don’t deal with it well…
Windows just has the maximize button… as if I ever really want my web browser to take up 26", widescreen, of space.
Mac OS is a little better, in that windows “maximize” to their content - but they still don’t automatically dock with each other, and end up scattered around the desktop unless you very purposefully and carefully rearrange them. Expose helps this a bit in terms of finding things, but it doesn’t help you when you’re trying to actually get the productivity gains of two monitors - ie, looking at two windows at once.
Is there any add-on for Mac OS or Windows that would help with this? Sort of dividing my one giant monitor into two smaller virtual ones, and being able to toss windows between them, doc them to guides (or each other), maximize to a preset half or 2/3ds of my screen? Are there Linux window management apps that work this way?
Just curious. Universal snap-to-edge of the window and maximize to open space sort of behavior has been something I’ve been wanting in windows (and Mac) for years, and with bigger and bigger displays, it seems like it’s becoming more and more pertinent.
I have not spent much time working with multiple monitors. Right now I’m working on a non-wide screen 19" LCD on each of 2 PCs I use daily. I run everything possible maximized.
Modern development Studios/IDEs have so many docking windows, some of which I use extensively, so I don’t want to constantly open/close or hide/unhide them. My coding window seems to always shrink, which I hate.
My Nirvana would be a 24" wide-screen monitor. I imagine with that I could run in a higher resolution without sacrificing readability and be able to open all the docking windows I normally use and have lots of space left over for coding.
I can also envision running two screens so I can run an app on one and debug it on the other, but given a choice, I’d rather have the single larger screen.
I’ve been a multi-monitor advocate for years. In 1992, we were able to add a Hercules graphics card to our PC, and connect an amber monitor, so that we could run our app on the little monitor and run the color-coded source code debugger on the 20" CRT. It was heavenly compared to one monitor. Finally I got even our mainframe folks to agree to just try a 2nd monitor. Now they’d cry if the extra one was taken away. My developers are slowly migrating to use 3. One day I just want my wall to be my monitor. You’re right - it’s about real estate. If I could have one big one, I certainly would.
“In Linux you can just have multiple virtual desktops, which I think accomplishes the same thing nicely. Too bad Windows makes you buy so many monitors to get the same effect.”
Windows can do virtual desktops as well:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Like some who posted before me have said, if you have more than one monitor, do yourself a favor and get Ultramon. The “move to next monitor” and “maximize to entire desktop” alone are worth the price. And with the ability to assign such commands to a hotkey, you can perform much of your window management with just your keyboard. It also allows the very satisfying ability to move a maximized window to another monitor by just clicking and dragging (rather than having to demaximize and then drag it over).
As a developer who switched to a three-monitor configuration I can tell you without a doubt that multiple monitors absolutely increases my ease of use and my productivity.
My strong opinion is that anyone who doesn’t advocate multiple monitors either has not experienced the glory of multiple monitoring or is for some reason refusing to admit the logic of using them.
I don’t know, people don’t always make sense. However, I propose that if you have the option to use multiple monitors and still choose not to, then you are:
a. a sadomasochist,
b. like being less productive,
c. refuse to simply ‘get with it’
My two cents:
At work I have two 19" fullscreen’s side by side and a 19" CRT off to the side. I keep my e-mail and a remote session on that CRT and glance over at it occassionally when new mail or meeting requests come in, or to keep tabs on the remote server. The other two I have Visual Studio spanned across and when I’m running, I often have IE in the second screen and Notepad++ in the first. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is not to move stuff all over the place all the time.
At home I have a 19" widescreen next to a 37" widescreen (it’s an LCD TV / Olevia 337H). I am far less productive when using the 37" to do any kind of development with, but it’s excellent for gaming while keeping tabs on other apps (browsers, instant messaging, etc.) over on the 19".
I just thought I’d add in my perspective on the “too big = a problem” point brought up in this article.
No! It just replaces it with another way of slowing
you down. Instead of either resizing windows to tile
them, you deal with having to move the mouse twice the distance.
I have made an app that lets me have 2 mousepointers. One Active and one Inactive (that is grayed out). With a click on my 4:th mousebutton I switch between those two mousepointers. So I dont have to “move” my mouse to the other screen, I allready have a sleeping mousepointer waiting for me there, just click the mouse button and the active mousepointer is grayed out and the inavtive becomes active and Im over there in less than an hartbeat.
There is a util (shareware I think) out there on the Net that does exactly that, but I wrote my own version of it just for fun.
constantly turning your head to multiple screens (assuming you actually use the extra monitors, not just having stuff open “incase you need to quickly glance at it”),
As a programmer I dont have stuff “laying around” on the screen, I use ALL of the screen area on both screens. Visual Studio has lots of toolboxes and sidebars that needs space. Most of the time I have one Visual Stuio maximized on each screen and are debugging between those two so I can allways se the code from the caller application that called the code in the serverapp and have a full view of whats happening. For me there is NO OTHER way to get that overview and fast understanding of whats happening when debugging.
I dont have to turn my head, but maybe thats because I only have two ordinary 19"-monitors and have my face at least .5 meters from them… In an 3 monitor scenario I can understand the turning head thing… But not with 2.
…having to deal with applications that don’t work nicely with dual screens (windows opening centered across both screens, half on each monitors)
Actually, I have not had any of those problems at all and Im an active user that uses a broad set of applications. And also, there are many applications (nvidia control panel f.e.) that enhance windows to take care of that IF you would like to configure different behaviour than normal.
Hey Now Jeff,
I’m looking forward to the day I join the 3 monitor club but for now 2 is better than 1.
Coding Horror Fan,
Catto
For the love of Pete, Jeff, please tell me that’s not your desk with the pink iPod Nano on it?!? I thought the iRiver Clix was your mp3 pony?
What’s up? Is the end of the world close at hand?
My bad, looks to be red. But still!?!
My primary job responsibilities are as a system administrator, and I see multiple monitors as a necessity. Anytime you are running applications on a remote computer, it is essential to have the ability to look at both local and remote machines in full screen.
Previous to this, even though I worked at a computer full time, I had never had a dual monitor, and did not understand what the hub-bub was about. Now that I have used a dual monitor setup, I find it improving the productivity of other ‘local only’ computing. It took me being required to get used to the idea before I had my ‘a-ha’ moment.
On a more philosophical note, I have always considered the desktop metaphor lacking in specifically the physical disparity between every desk I have ever worked at and every computer screen I have ever used. Multiple monitors are a move towards an equality between metaphorical parties, and therefore should more closely mirror the way any given user uses their physical desk, e.g. all users enjoy an increase of productivity up to their usual physical productivity. FWIW