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Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

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Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#361

Post by girvo »

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 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).

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#362

Post by girvo »

throw10920 wrote: post #244
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.

> 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, "i…

> 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)

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#364

Post by joe5150 »

wruza wrote: post #184

After reading this thread, things I [maybe] miss in desktop windows ui. 1. Different per-window dpi. Ctrl-scroll on a window title to zoom in/out at ~hw level. Apps shouldn’t care. 1a. Zoom in/out the entire desktop this way (ctrl-scroll on show desktop button). 2. OSX-like fit-size maximization instead of fullscreen. 2a. Alt-lbtn to move, alt-rbtn to resize, everywhere in a window. 3. Hotkey specific windows by alt-…

I'm curious what you mean by "OSX-like fit-size maximization". do you mean what happens when you double click on the title bar and the window fills the vertical space, but not necessarily the horizontal space?

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#365

Post by imiric »

throw10920 wrote: post #244
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.

> 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, "i…

> there's empirical evidence to suggest that that results in increased productivity

Can you share this evidence?

The thing is that one can only focus on a single monitor at a time. So productivity IME really depends on your windows manager. If I can quickly jump from code to documentation while looking at the same pixels without moving my neck or eyes, that seems like it would be more productive than changing focus to another screen and back.

I've been working on a single 1080p laptop display for years now, running Linux with bspwm. I've tried hooking up external displays to this setup, but I haven't found it increased my productivity. Sure, the extra real estate was nice, but shifting focus between monitors detracted from the experience enough that I always went back to a single screen. The comfort of having a portable setup and being able to work from anywhere is also a plus.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#366

Post by d110af5ccf »

girvo wrote: post #362
throw10920 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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, "i…

> 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)

> 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.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#367

Post by colonwqbang »

irrational wrote: post #341

I have 2 32" monitors ( https://www.samsung.com/us/business/computing/monitors/uhd-a... ) rotated 90 degrees (vertical). I became the "Oh, you're the guy with the two tall monitors!" guy at work. I like it because you can see so much code all at once. It is rare that the lines of code are so long that they go off the screen. I typically have the code full screen on the left monitor (well, I usually have a terminal wi…

I do the same. My ideal monitor would actually be a big square, or something similar like 4:3. The setup works great together with an automatic window manager like dwm.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#368

Post by dragonwriter »

throw10920 wrote: post #244
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.

> 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, "i…

> I mean, think about it. If you “unlock” the ability to use multiple monitors at once without getting distracted, “it’s free real estate”

If the distraction problem isn’t from size but strictly—as was described—from multiple monitors, this isn’t true; multiple monitors are cheaper than single monitors for a given total area and pixel density, but its possible to get one large (ideally curved) monitor that has the real estate of multiple lesser monitors. I found going going from twin 23” 16:9 monitors FHD monitors to a single curved 34” 3440x1440 monitor a reduction in distraction, as well as increase in real estate.

Multiple monitors are a distraction, IME, because of discontinuities (all of gaps between them, discontinuity in viewing angle, and, if they aren’t identical devices in pristine condition with identical settings, differences in display quality, whether its color/brightness/contrast/etc.)

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#369

Post by z3t4 »

jacobolus wrote: post #356
dexterdog wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The top edge should only be at eye level of the screen is small enough. With a large 4k you want your eyes around the center because everything above that is the "upper monitor"

For comfort you do not want to be looking substantially upward or tilting your head back. It’s much better for your eyes to put the display lower and look down (by swiveling your eyes, not your whole head) for the bottom part instead. For typing it works well with a large display to put the bottom of the display barely above the desk, push it back as far as you can (constrained by your workspace) and tilt it backward…

Or just zoom in (increase font size) enough so that you do not need to sqeeze/focus in order to read.

Re: Ideal Monitor Rotation for Programmers

#370

Post by dragonwriter »

d110af5ccf wrote: post #366
girvo wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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)

> 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? Pl…

> 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.

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