147

Doing web development on one monitor is a living nightmare.

1-3 windows or panals for coding
1 browser for previewing
1 broswer for google shit lol
multiple file explorers open
multi terminals

I see why 2 or more monitors is basically a necessity.

Comments
  • 15
    I am in need of 6 monitors with all my setup, but have only 3 and then just use virtual desktops, you can literally never have enough monitors.

    Theres always something that would be nice to just quickly look at/modify on the fly while doing something else, instead of mentally "leaving" one room and then enter another, in the time that shit did its animations (no animations is even more brutal), you forgot half the stuff you wanted to do.
  • 8
    I usually use my main monitor for the IDE and the second one for the web preview. I hate coding on my laptop...
  • 4
    Three is a minimum for me now, but I don't have the hardware to go any higher than that.
    One for design, one for code editor, one for browser.
    Would be nice to have more for another browser window, opened assets folders, Slack, Outlook, command line running Gulp, GitHub, SFTP client, Spotify... And when switching between emergency client requests, I can't just close the current project I'm working on... And they might send designs in .ai, .sketch, zeplin, invision...
  • 3
    Git two monitors at work and use i3 to manage all my desktops and windows. Literally got a minimum of 8 desktops at all times. 2 of them filled with terminals :P
  • 2
    I'm struggling at the moment on my laptop, but my desktop computer with two monitors, takes an age to start up 😂
  • 6
    I prefer one huge monitor over multiple small..
    Alt+ tab around & tiled Windows is basically my flow :D
  • 3
    @lotd at home a got a huge wide-screen for gaming and coding and boy does that feel nice.
  • 4
    I've got a laptop, at home there are two monitors attached to it. My main 27" (hdmi) and another smaaller (vga) plus I have the internal one. 27" is usually filled by the IDE. However I'm currently away and have to work with only the internal screen of the laptop.
    The struggle is real...
  • 2
    I only use one 4k and the internal one (Retina, forgot its resolution).

    And I use about 4 virtual desktops per screen. Besides that, I also cannot live without the tiling features of spectacle (I really hate the messy way on mac of having windows overlap all over the place and exposé the shit out of it). I rather have a screen for editor/IDE, one for specifications, one for Terminals, one for the browser.
  • 2
    I have one and ALT + TAB is my god.
  • 2
    *laughs in i3gaps*
  • 3
    Why so many windows? I only need two: browser and terminal. So one screen is enough for me.
  • 4
    1 for IDE and previewing, 1 for stackOverflow :D
  • 3
    3 displays is the minimum, preferably 1440p or higher, at a minimum of 24".

    4x 4K, arranged 2x2, is really nice. No HiDPI scaling, give me unscaled 4K on 32-36" please. 118-138 DPI is a good range to be in.
  • 2
    @bittersweet ++ for 3 displays!
  • 2
    This is why I actually love my Ubuntu for Web Development, with multiples desktops.

    But yeah, that's some real troubles I've met too.
  • 1
    (Not saying that it's better to have multiples desktops instead of multiples monitors tho, but that's a good solution to go by if you can't have multiple monitors)
  • 2
    I can have as many monitors as I want, but those monitors at work do not have connecting cables or support for macbooks. It's funny because every developer in my team has a MacBook. I guess the multi monitor thing is for the sales guys.
  • 3
    My code is splitted in several pakcages, so I usually have 3 to 6 editor windows open at the same time. Plus the browser and a separated window for the devtools, usually 1 to 3 terminals, a few filesystem windows, and at least iTunes...

    If I had to go back to 1 screen and no virtual desktop, I think I would stop everything and find a new job with no computer at all. That, or I would go crazy.
  • 1
    I was unable to get more than 1 monitor for my setup so now im running 1 + my laptop but i made it a mission for the last year to be able to use the track pad and the multidesktop (i have a macbook) and i am able to manage quite well getting use to the gestures and switching views but my next setup will contain more than 1, even if i dont end up using it out of habit
  • 1
    not as much with i3
  • 2
    I am only allowed one monitor at work as otherwise it will “mess the aesthetic of the office up” 😢
  • 0
    I'm on 3 at home, 2 at work...
    At home I need to do desktop switching (1 for main communication and games, 2 others for work) to keep it organized.
    At work, it'll crash my pc xD
    Also, Memory is a godsent (64gb at home, next to 8 at work.......)
  • 1
    It sounds like you use your mouse more than your keyboard. That’s your problem
  • 2
    @tarzane It's not about having the real estate to move the mouse, but actually alt-tabbing as less as possible by having a dedicated space for the currently used applications.
    Having eg. +5 programs open for a single job/workflow, alt-tabbing is a searching-for-the-right-window all the time, this mitigates that a bit.

    As a result, next to vertically, we also use our neck and eyes to move horizontally. xP
  • 0
    One of my coworkers has said that he'd only have one monitor if he could. Coincidentally, this is also the coworker who has no idea what he's doing when it comes to developing an application 😉 (I kid, I kid.) But really, I can't use less than 3 monitors at work. I used to have 4 (including the laptop display) but moved to a smaller desk so I lost one. I'd love more, but our mid-2015 MBP's can only support 3 monitors plus the laptop display
  • 3
    My eyes hurt when I'm focused and I need to look somewhere else. So I have elementary os at my laptop and I can nicely switch virtual desktops pretty much like on Mac os. Very pleasing though
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