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Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

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Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#41

Post by lgas »

_xnmw wrote: post #24
GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

Anyone have any suggestions for how to get a similar setup on OSX?

I was a long time xmonad user on Linux but I spend all of my time in OS X these days. I haven't found anything that rivals the power a full fledged tiling window manager but use Divvy to bind hot keys to actions "fill the screen" or "fill the left half of the screen" or "fill the bottom right quadrant of the screen" etc and I'm able to create a workflow that's a reasonable compromise.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#42

Post by Dewie »

Somewhat related: are downloading and storing webpages practical nowadays? The Web is obviously invaluable, but even in this day and age the infrastructure isn't perfectly reliable from the perspective of an end user. And there is a sea of irrelevant information that you can get sucked into.

I was wondering if it would be possible to download (and update at regular intervals) websites which I can then use in my browser even when I'm offline. Something like downloading Wikipedia and perhaps all of Stackoverflow. If that works, I could get a lot of useful information even if I'm working in a location with no Internet/bad Internet connection. Or maybe I'm even sitting in my cubicle and purposely disconnect the Internet to stay more focused! (The problem then would be that I've grown too accustomed to streaming music through Spotify...)

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#43

Post by sp332 »

ajuc wrote: post #13
FreezerburnV wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to point out that even if a user goes idle, it might still be a bad time to display notifications. What if a developer is working on a hard problem, and pauses for a while to think about the problem, maybe doodle on a whiteboard/paper, etc.? This could actually be the most damaging time to display a distraction to the developer. The solution to this kind of problem would likely need to be slightly different,…

There are already problems with the assumption (user idle=nothing important happens). Namely I'm trying to watch a movie and screen goes black after 30 minutes (yes I know how to configure this, just an example).

That's an interesting example, because there is an API for movie-playing programs to disable the screensaver while they're playing.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#45

Post by Dewie »

GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

It sounds like we have similar setups. I use xmonad with no system trays - if I need something that happens to be a system tray, I'll ask for it and close it when I'm done with it. When I'm working in an application I don't need to see what the time is, if I've got a new email...

> I don't like the whole "have some discipline" argument. Humans are notoriously bad at discipline- environment plays as much of a role as self control (try surrounding the most hardcore fitness nut by candy 24/7 and see how long they last). The point of our tools is that they should enable us to be who we want to be.

Yes! I've come to the same conclusion myself. One thing that many people who complain about people's lack of self discipline nowadays is that it is most probably objectively harder to stay disciplined in the modern age then it was before. For a long time this was true for things like junk food, but most recently it's true for computers and the procrastination that they encourage. It probably isn't we who have gotten less disciplined - it is our environment that demands more discipline of us. And since computers are too-damn-convenient to be without, we need to make them help us stay on track rather than allowing them to drain our self-discipline energy (if there is such a thing. It feels like it is.)

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#46

Post by maxerickson »

jordanpg wrote: post #40

One thing this piece highlights for me is the importance of really learning the language you're coding in or the system you're operating. Many take the very practical approach of learning what is needed and no more, using google, SO, and API docs in a web browser to shore up what is missing. Unfortunately, searching for and then reading something written by a new stranger every 5 minutes is a severe disruption to a f…

I often wonder how much of the so called 10x effect comes down to fluency.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#47

Post by ashark »

_xnmw wrote: post #24
GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

Anyone have any suggestions for how to get a similar setup on OSX?

The built-in multiple desktop support (ctrl+arrow left/right to switch) plus Spectacle[1] (free, open-source) will get you most of the way there. There's no good way to get rid of window title bars that I'm aware of, though having them there does mean you can switch seamlessly between normal OSX window management and sort-of tiling management via Spectacle.

Spectacle's default keybindings conflict with (override) Chrome's primary next-tab/previous-tab keys, but there's an alternate command+shift+[ or ] binding for those actions in Chrome.

[1] http://spectacleapp.com/

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#48

Post by tammer »

_xnmw wrote: post #24
GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

Anyone have any suggestions for how to get a similar setup on OSX?

The other comments recommend better options to simulate xmonad/other tiling wm's (FYI there is a version[1] of xmonad in development that works with native OS X windows) but for distraction-free work I really enjoy OS X's fullscreen mode. Often to avoid distractions I'll fullscreen everything and use gestures to go back and forth - gives you an identical experience to an iPad (unlike the statement in the article).

Using the gesture to hold two fullscreen windows visibly at once but not relying on tiling or overlapping is surprisingly useful and productive.

[1]: https://github.com/xmonad/osxmonad

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#49

Post by JJAP »

_xnmw wrote: post #24
GuiA wrote: post #5

I have a Linux laptop on which I run a tiling window manager (in my case, Xmonad), and nothing else. No system tray, no quick launch bar, nothing. (if you're not familiar with tiling window managers, they're window managers in which windows are arranged automatically to a) fully occupy the screen and b) never overlap. They're extremely customizable, but typically you'll have a vertical half of your screen with a main…

Anyone have any suggestions for how to get a similar setup on OSX?

Amethyst: Tiling window manager for OS X similar to xmonad, written in pure Objective-C.

http://ianyh.com/amethyst/

On top of that, I use shortcat to add keyboard shortcuts for all (ahem, most) GUI interaction.

Re: Computers Are Not Designed for Productivity

#50

Post by jansenvt »

ashark wrote: post #47
_xnmw wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone have any suggestions for how to get a similar setup on OSX?

The built-in multiple desktop support (ctrl+arrow left/right to switch) plus Spectacle[1] (free, open-source) will get you most of the way there. There's no good way to get rid of window title bars that I'm aware of, though having them there does mean you can switch seamlessly between normal OSX window management and sort-of tiling management via Spectacle. Spectacle's default keybindings conflict with (override) Chr…

"SizeUp" is very similar.

https://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/store/index.php?app=SizeU...

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