Well, you can use multiple monitors and still focus on a single task. You have more real estate and stop spending time switching between your browser, IDE and terminal.
A single 4K monitor could have more real estate and not need to move your head with virtual desktops, “switching” is either head movement or a button as a preference.
The difference between a large enough single monitor with tiling window manager vs. multiple monitors is just a question of layout. There is no real difference between those two.
Also, I can “switch” just by moving my eyeballs which takes fraction of time comparing to using a button or pressing alt-tab.
My whole point is you can work on a single task no matter how many monitors you have. And having more real estate makes it easier.
> But I rarely need the docs visible at the same time I’m writing code. I read the relevant doc, then code.
Interesting. This is by far my most frequent annoyance when using a single monitor as I keep needing to go back and forth to see whether what I have found fits my needs well.
> As a developer, I write code on a daily basis. So I often read docs. But I rarely need the docs visible at the same time I’m writing code. I read the relevant doc, then code.
I am the opposite of this, especially using manpages or the api docs and when I jump around to new things.
That’s the point I’m getting at. You don’t because your workflow isn’t deep work. I just partition a larger screen myself for the same work but I’m interested in slow deep work.
Likewise, each monitor on my setup has a specific use case and allows me to interact between very different systems.
- On the right, all the maps I use for planning and tracking
- On the middle one, tables and databases and system tools, - On the left, communication feeds (email and chat).
I never "concentrate" on more than one screen at the time, but If I'm writing an email or I edit the database, I glance between screens to get the information I need.
I stack my two monitors on top of each other, much better for code because my eyes just have to move down but don’t need to re-focus to a new column, and I’m looking more forward and up to reduce slouching.
If I'm being as charitable as I possibly can with the author's arguments I could admit that maybe coding with a secondary monitor is a preference that I could quickly unlearn
But that is not the only work I do. Multiple monitors allow me to have several plots in front of me; or a dashboard and the raw data it aggregates; or two versions of a powepoint deck of slides; or...
I think this discussion is kinda empty. If single monitor was easily a best-tool most people would not go through the cost and trouble to set up a multi monitor desk a second time.
I also find it weird that someone would "preach" about it strongly. It's a subject that virtually every person has experience in - and therefore access to the testimony of eveyone they know on the matter, because they are also familiar with it
Do you find it strange because of the torrential mountains of pro multi monitor articles? Do you feel the same way about them? It was interesting to me since I use a single 4K and found the extra distracting, except he used 24in.
The idea that most people wouldn’t go for multi monitor is like the idea paradigm shifts don’t exist. Larger screens with high resolution are different from cheap 1080p screens. It was to me a coping mechanism for what I wanted: a bezelless large screen.
My general opinion on this whole article is “cool, glad you found a solution you like.”
I try really hard not to sell my workflow to others like this. Two people can be incredibly different in their preferences.
Just because multiple monitors made you less productive doesn’t mean it has the same effect on someone else.
I’m sure the people they mention who have troubles focusing because of having Twitter on another monitor exist, but there are many others I know who have wide or multi-monitor setups who use them extremely effectively to pull in multiple sources of input to write great code.
Bloggers will write about anything to get viewers same as streamers ect. I’m waiting for a blog that’s completely fake articles that have a small disclaimer at the bottom
He’s a backlash against the usual articles of showing the benefits of multi monitors. There’s so many of those, you can gain insight from him even if you don’t use everything.
I also know about the multi monitor craze that came about in the 2000’s. It’s pretty obvious what they’re getting at.
It’s all good if the one monitor works for them. I just find it a bit weird when folks share their workflow and it comes across like it’s the one and only solution.
Everything in my life has told me that there will never be just one solution and everything is subjective.
Humans can only focus on one thing at a time. So why are we spending money to display multiple things simultaneously?
Would the author use that logic to argue that no monitor should have more than a single pixel? While there might be a point where adding more monitors becomes pointless, it's not two monitors. Two monitors still cover a small area, compared to a human's full field of view.
I think it comes down to one's workflow. If doing a lot of cross-referencing (e.g. GUI x code, paper x notes, codebase1 x codebase2), a large monitor/ more-than-one monitor situation could benefit.
Having tried large monitors before, I resonate with these points made by the author:
- "Sure, the screen was wide enough to display multiple windows side-by-side, but it was so wide that the edges felt uncomfortably distant." (My personal work-around is to use a pure black background. I suspect white is worth trying as well.)
- "[A widescreen monitor] was far too wide to maximize my windows, so I found myself spending too much time fiddling with windows. “What should I put on the left today?” “What’s important enough to be in the middle now?”"
While on the topic, I can't help but add my suspicion that people who have "better memory" might be roughly equally comfortable with switching windows on a single monitor and having them simultaneously displayed on multiple monitors.
I agree. Multiple monitors (or one larger monitor) facilitate cross-referencing more than anything else for me.
As a side note, I've lately been using a hi-res monitor which my company purchased for a vision-impaired individual (who has since retired). It is really nice! Until you use one you don't realize how much fine resolution reduces your eyestrain.
In graphics programming, having a monitor for reference material, a monitor for the graphics debugger and a monitor for the game under test isn't terrible. That's probably my primary use of multi monitor - debugging.
What I don't understand is two monitors with the divide right in front of your face. Lots of people are set up that way (at my work anyway).
A primary monitor (32" 4K of late) as the main, centered display, plus whatever you have (open laptop) off to the left, for keeping communications software onscreen, works for me.
Virtual workspaces are good but not exactly new. The first one I saw was olvwm on Sun sparcstation. CDE had 4 workspaces in its little task bar too.
I like multiple monitors for complicated debugging tasks. Its not unusual for me to have VSCode, Android Studio and Segger going at the same time. I have been tempted to hook up a 3rd monitor but ran out of desk space.
If your problem is that email and social media crap is distracting then don’t have them open. Only an absolute fool has one of those social media cancer accounts anyway
As a side note your chances of developing costochondritis are much higher if you’re using multi display setup, especially with only two screens. Got that, moved to 1x32”, never looked back. Not sure if it will ever heal fully at this point (4 years in). So I’d add using multiple displays is not healthy as well (you need to rotate a lot, even if we’re talking inches its still rotation, your muscles will pay the price sooner or later).
Sure. For me, a 1440p 49" super ultrawide practically replaced 3 x 1440p 27" monitors even though it really only has the same amount of pixels as 2 of those monitors.
33 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 86.5 ms ] threadAlso, I can “switch” just by moving my eyeballs which takes fraction of time comparing to using a button or pressing alt-tab.
My whole point is you can work on a single task no matter how many monitors you have. And having more real estate makes it easier.
Interesting. This is by far my most frequent annoyance when using a single monitor as I keep needing to go back and forth to see whether what I have found fits my needs well.
I am the opposite of this, especially using manpages or the api docs and when I jump around to new things.
I don’t find this a distraction as my main monitor is code pretty much all the time. A quick glance I find less distracting than swapping desktops.
- On the right, all the maps I use for planning and tracking - On the middle one, tables and databases and system tools, - On the left, communication feeds (email and chat).
I never "concentrate" on more than one screen at the time, but If I'm writing an email or I edit the database, I glance between screens to get the information I need.
But that is not the only work I do. Multiple monitors allow me to have several plots in front of me; or a dashboard and the raw data it aggregates; or two versions of a powepoint deck of slides; or...
I think this discussion is kinda empty. If single monitor was easily a best-tool most people would not go through the cost and trouble to set up a multi monitor desk a second time.
I also find it weird that someone would "preach" about it strongly. It's a subject that virtually every person has experience in - and therefore access to the testimony of eveyone they know on the matter, because they are also familiar with it
The idea that most people wouldn’t go for multi monitor is like the idea paradigm shifts don’t exist. Larger screens with high resolution are different from cheap 1080p screens. It was to me a coping mechanism for what I wanted: a bezelless large screen.
I try really hard not to sell my workflow to others like this. Two people can be incredibly different in their preferences.
Just because multiple monitors made you less productive doesn’t mean it has the same effect on someone else.
I’m sure the people they mention who have troubles focusing because of having Twitter on another monitor exist, but there are many others I know who have wide or multi-monitor setups who use them extremely effectively to pull in multiple sources of input to write great code.
I also know about the multi monitor craze that came about in the 2000’s. It’s pretty obvious what they’re getting at.
It’s all good if the one monitor works for them. I just find it a bit weird when folks share their workflow and it comes across like it’s the one and only solution.
Everything in my life has told me that there will never be just one solution and everything is subjective.
Having tried large monitors before, I resonate with these points made by the author:
- "Sure, the screen was wide enough to display multiple windows side-by-side, but it was so wide that the edges felt uncomfortably distant." (My personal work-around is to use a pure black background. I suspect white is worth trying as well.)
- "[A widescreen monitor] was far too wide to maximize my windows, so I found myself spending too much time fiddling with windows. “What should I put on the left today?” “What’s important enough to be in the middle now?”"
While on the topic, I can't help but add my suspicion that people who have "better memory" might be roughly equally comfortable with switching windows on a single monitor and having them simultaneously displayed on multiple monitors.
As a side note, I've lately been using a hi-res monitor which my company purchased for a vision-impaired individual (who has since retired). It is really nice! Until you use one you don't realize how much fine resolution reduces your eyestrain.
A primary monitor (32" 4K of late) as the main, centered display, plus whatever you have (open laptop) off to the left, for keeping communications software onscreen, works for me.
I like multiple monitors for complicated debugging tasks. Its not unusual for me to have VSCode, Android Studio and Segger going at the same time. I have been tempted to hook up a 3rd monitor but ran out of desk space.
Hard disagree on everything else in that article.