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Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

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Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#121

Post by sumtechguy »

beebmam wrote: post #68
can16358p wrote: post #67

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

I used to feel this way, and then I got old

Same. At one point I could easily read 4pt fonts. Now everything is a blur.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#123

Post by boredtofears »

can16358p wrote: post #67

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

> Am I the only one

Nope. Pretty much anytime you ask yourself this question the answer is always no whatever the context. You are reacting to a single anecdote. People like lots of different things.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#124

Post by lovelyviking »

can16358p wrote: post #67

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

PWM Flickering would be one reason? On M1 Air there is pwm flickering which makes impossible to work with it ... thanks Apple. [0]

I would connect external monitor but it has flickering issues with them too. Thanks Apple again. [1]

[0] https://www.notebookcheck.net/PWM-Ranking-Notebooks-Smartpho...

[1] https://piunikaweb.com/2021/01/08/apple-investigating-mac-mi...

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#127

Post by tyleo »

cecilpl2 wrote: post #50

I run 7 monitors. I've got a 2x3 grid of 24" monitors on a stand, and then a 27" widescreen standing tall beside it for code or a long terminal. It's fantastic, though I could stand to have another row above. It's nice rarely having to switch windows - everything I need and use is right in front of me.

I have 6:

* 27” LCD x 4

* 1 iPad (maybe this is cheating a little)

* 1 Laptop

I’ve disabled the laptop though. The LCDs are in a 2x2 array all landscape. I use the iPad mostly for meetings.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#128

Post by aflat »

prpl wrote: post #53
gboss wrote: post #20

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.

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.

You might want to check out https://github.com/jakehilborn/displayplacer which is really nice for changing resolutions beyond what macOS lets you do using the GUI

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#129

Post by jbverschoor »

kbenson wrote: post #55
gboss wrote: post #20

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.

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…

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.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#130

Post by twobitshifter »

can16358p wrote: post #67

Am I the only one (fullstack programmer + designer + hobby photographer) here who's perfectly okay with a single laptop monitor? Maybe it's to do with I love being mobile, maybe it's that I use UI and text very small, but I can perfectly fit either 3 Vscode tabs, or website + PIP video, a few terminals, many views in Sketch or a combination of those in a screen (16" MBP). I'm also okay with working with Photoshop or…

During my wfh phase of the pandemic, I used a laptop exclusively without major issue. The one problem that I had was working with large pdf engineering drawings and other page based layouts. In those cases switching virtual desktops didn’t come close to being able to glance back and forth between different applications. As a workaround for this, I found myself using a printer much more than in the office. Once I took the time to print the documents, having the traditional physical copy was sometimes better than a second monitor, as I was able to more easily markup and add comments on documents.

For strict programming this is less of an issue and I’ve found that I can keep the documentation in a split screen without issue. Most sites are responsive nowadays which really benefits having smaller windows.

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