> Virtual Desktops For the Win There's a few things about virtual desktops on OS X (the OS I use at work) that just absolutely kill them for me: 1. OS X will re-order keyboard inputs when the inputs contain virtual desktop commands. That is, if you have two terminals open, one in one desktop, and one in another, and you type ^→¹ "hi", where "hi" ends up depends on how quickly you type the command . If you know the de…
FWIW, you can disable the "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use" option in the Mission Control Preferences panel.
I disagree heavily - Having a secondary monitor with documentation / work plans on it is enormously useful as you can glance at it without having to do anything more special than turn your head. In fact, I would go so far as to say that three monitors is optimum since you can have your code on one, the output of your code (continuous tests/hot reload/etc) on another and documentation on the last allowing you to see a…
Yeah, I don't understand how you can work having your documentation on a different virtual desktop; am I the only one who often is ACTUALLY LOOKING at docs when I type code? If I am doing something new where I am not sure of the syntax, I need to actually be looking at the reference while typing my version of it. Whenever I am forced to have one screen (e.g. I am on my laptop away from my desk), I end up having to switch windows 4 or 5 times (look at docs and try to remember a bit, switch windows, type a bit of code, switch back to see the next part, read, switch back, etc). I often try to work around this by making my coding window very small so I can fit both docs and code on one screen, but that ends up meaning that I can't see much context in the code, and scrolling to find other code has the same issue (scroll up to look at a different function, scroll back down, etc).
I disagree heavily - Having a secondary monitor with documentation / work plans on it is enormously useful as you can glance at it without having to do anything more special than turn your head. In fact, I would go so far as to say that three monitors is optimum since you can have your code on one, the output of your code (continuous tests/hot reload/etc) on another and documentation on the last allowing you to see a…
>> In fact, I would go so far as to say that three monitors is optimum
I would say that it's not the number of monitors that's important, but the total amount of real estate you get from your monitors that matters.
I would rather have a single 46"-50" curved 8K monitor than a grid of four 27" 4K monitors running off my computer. I'd rather have fewer cables and a simpler setup if given the choice.
Practically speaking, with today's tech and prices, you generally do need more than one monitor to get all the real estate your heart desires, but hopefully that changes drastically in the next few years.
> Virtual Desktops For the Win There's a few things about virtual desktops on OS X (the OS I use at work) that just absolutely kill them for me: 1. OS X will re-order keyboard inputs when the inputs contain virtual desktop commands. That is, if you have two terminals open, one in one desktop, and one in another, and you type ^→¹ "hi", where "hi" ends up depends on how quickly you type the command . If you know the de…
Completely agreed.
There's no way to make the animation delay be zero, probably because Apple wants you to switch desktops with the motion commands and they want the motion to seem natural, but I have always set them up with -1, -2, -3, etc, so I don't think "I want to go right", I think "I want desktop #5". I don't care which direction it's in.
Also virtual desktops on OS X are completely broken when you plug multiple monitors in of different sizes. I always end up with hilariously mis-placed, mis-sized windows on both screens. This was how I learned about the "Zoom" item in the "Window" menu: even if you can't find the window decorations for a window (because they're outside the dimensions of your monitor), if you can cmd-tab to it, you can "zoom" it a few times and it will sometimes show up. Also, if you have any "memory pressure" at all, hope you're ready for minutes of beach balls when you plug / unplug the external monitor.
I won't even use a single external monitor, for the simple reason that acclimating myself to a bigger monitor would, I'm pretty certain, make me feel less productive in the common case where I only have a laptop screen to work on. I'd rather invest effort into making myself more productive on the laptop screen than on things that make me more productive in the specific case where I'm at my desk.
Try a decent size 4k screen. I find a single one to be enough as it gives me effectively 4 1080P screens.
In windows 10 I snap each window into its own corner.
When doing Game Dev in Unity, it gets left half of screen (1920x2160) so I can see scene and preview comfortably simultaneously, Pale Moon top right, Visual Studio bottom left.
If I need to look at long file in Visual studio, then it'll take whole right side of screen.
Outlook and MS Project in 4k is great with 2160P height for looking thru inbox or looking at a lot of tasks.
> Virtual Desktops For the Win There's a few things about virtual desktops on OS X (the OS I use at work) that just absolutely kill them for me: 1. OS X will re-order keyboard inputs when the inputs contain virtual desktop commands. That is, if you have two terminals open, one in one desktop, and one in another, and you type ^→¹ "hi", where "hi" ends up depends on how quickly you type the command . If you know the de…
Same, this absolutely kills my flow when I'm expecting a certain screen after switching desktops and then OS X seemingly arbitrarily puts it into another random desktop.
It depends on what you are doing. I find programming on one monitor to be fine, but I have a schedule with email, excel workbooks to compare with Visio diagrams / Word docs, Web conferences, a soft phone, and my Surface happens to be touch/tablet with OneNote. Virtual desktops with multiple monitors works great on Windows 10, but other than when I am running a VM, I never use them.
However, one major gripe I have with Windows 10 is how stupid it is with multiple monitors. If I click on a link, open a file, or open an app with the Start Menu, I expect it to open in the same window. Not Windows 10, I swear it has an algorithm developed just to pick the least expected monitor. It is practically a game of whack-a-mole. This alone is a huge unnecessary UX productivity loss that doesn't exist with a single display.