Comments on: Multiple-Monitor Productivity: Fact or Fiction? http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/ on programming, usability, and design; by Patrick Dubroy Fri, 16 May 2008 20:52:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Bill http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10452 Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:37:12 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10452 <p>Just thought I'd share these recent resolution findings with you. I swapped my 17" monitor for another 17" that supports 1280x1024 and I have that coupled with my 15" (1024x768) laptop display. The monitor added 33% to the vertical resolution (768 to 1024) but I noticed it felt like a much bigger gain so I decided to count viewable lines in PL/SQL Developer as well as Excel and the gain is much greater. Excel: At 768 lines gave me 33 lines and with 1024 lines it gives 50 lines (a 51% increase) PL/SQL Developer (Using a SQL window and no data results): At 768 lines gave me 34 lines and with 1024 lines it gives 51 lines (a 50% increase) PL/SQL Developer (Using a SQL window and data results): At 768 lines gave me 26 lines and with 1024 lines it gives 44 lines (a 69% increase!)</p> <p>I am often in the third scenario so am now seeing a 69% increase in viewable code! Since well formatted SQL is very lengthy vertically this cuts down on a lot of scrolling.</p> Just thought I’d share these recent resolution findings with you. I swapped my 17″ monitor for another 17″ that supports 1280×1024 and I have that coupled with my 15″ (1024×768) laptop display.
The monitor added 33% to the vertical resolution (768 to 1024) but I noticed it felt like a much bigger gain so I decided to count viewable lines in PL/SQL Developer as well as Excel and the gain is much greater.
Excel:
At 768 lines gave me 33 lines and with 1024 lines it gives 50 lines (a 51% increase)
PL/SQL Developer (Using a SQL window and no data results):
At 768 lines gave me 34 lines and with 1024 lines it gives 51 lines (a 50% increase)
PL/SQL Developer (Using a SQL window and data results):
At 768 lines gave me 26 lines and with 1024 lines it gives 44 lines (a 69% increase!)

I am often in the third scenario so am now seeing a 69% increase in viewable code! Since well formatted SQL is very lengthy vertically this cuts down on a lot of scrolling.

]]> by: Dubroy.com/blog - The *real* reason you want a multi-monitor setup http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10275 Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:02:41 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10275 <p>[...] I had heard about studies that supposedly proved that you can be up to 50% more productive by adding a second display. In my post Multiple-Monitor Productivity: Fact or Fiction? I looked at these studies, and concluded that in some isolated tasks — like cutting and pasting, or working with a large spreadsheet — you can see a significant benefit if you add a second monitor. But for most programming tasks, the benefits are going to be minimal (but still there). [...]</p> […] I had heard about studies that supposedly proved that you can be up to 50% more productive by adding a second display. In my post Multiple-Monitor Productivity: Fact or Fiction? I looked at these studies, and concluded that in some isolated tasks — like cutting and pasting, or working with a large spreadsheet — you can see a significant benefit if you add a second monitor. But for most programming tasks, the benefits are going to be minimal (but still there). […]

]]> by: Patrick http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10184 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:37:22 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10184 <p>@Bill:</p> <p>You're right. It's all about the resolution. And you know, that's probably why I didn't see much difference between my 24" monitor and my 14" laptop screen. The resolution on the 24" is 1920x1200, which isn't really that much bigger than 1440x900.</p> <p>But even using both monitors I didn't really find it made that much of a difference. I felt I spent just as much time moving windows between monitors, and deciding which monitor to put an app on, as I would have spend switching between windows on a smaller screen.</p> @Bill:

You’re right. It’s all about the resolution. And you know, that’s probably why I didn’t see much difference between my 24″ monitor and my 14″ laptop screen. The resolution on the 24″ is 1920×1200, which isn’t really that much bigger than 1440×900.

But even using both monitors I didn’t really find it made that much of a difference. I felt I spent just as much time moving windows between monitors, and deciding which monitor to put an app on, as I would have spend switching between windows on a smaller screen.

]]> by: Bill http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10174 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:46:11 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10174 <p>For me there is a definite productivity boost in increased vertical screen real estate. Mind you I define "real estate" as resolution not inches. I just went from a dual 15" LCD setup at work to a 17" CRT along side my laptops 15" LCD. The benefit... zero because the max resolution on the 17" CRT is the same as the old 15" LCD. I find myself all day long in code and having to scroll up and down to see those next few lines above the visible area to look at logical blocks of code at once. Whether I am taking my hands off the keyboard to scroll up with the scroll wheel or paging up and down with the keyboard I am losing a lot of time from changing view, changing back and then refocusing on where I was.</p> <p>I know at previous jobs from having 21" monitors that supported 1600 x 1200 I have not had near the frustration in finding and following code. My max vertical resolution is 768 pixels right now and I would downsize to your one 14" monitor in a heartbeat to get 900 pixels high!</p> For me there is a definite productivity boost in increased vertical screen real estate. Mind you I define “real estate” as resolution not inches. I just went from a dual 15″ LCD setup at work to a 17″ CRT along side my laptops 15″ LCD. The benefit… zero because the max resolution on the 17″ CRT is the same as the old 15″ LCD. I find myself all day long in code and having to scroll up and down to see those next few lines above the visible area to look at logical blocks of code at once. Whether I am taking my hands off the keyboard to scroll up with the scroll wheel or paging up and down with the keyboard I am losing a lot of time from changing view, changing back and then refocusing on where I was.

I know at previous jobs from having 21″ monitors that supported 1600 x 1200 I have not had near the frustration in finding and following code. My max vertical resolution is 768 pixels right now and I would downsize to your one 14″ monitor in a heartbeat to get 900 pixels high!

]]> by: Patrick http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10062 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:47:34 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10062 <p>@Kaitain:</p> <p>Haha, yes, I actually do have eyes like a hawk. The native resolution on my laptop is 1440x900, so that helps.</p> <p>In the case you're talking about, I can definitely see the use of having two monitors. But I don't often find myself debugging two applications at once.</p> <p>I think you hit the nail on the head when you said "it's not just about raw productivity, it's also about job satisfaction and just plain comfort." I agree with you 100%. The intent of my post was to show that it's misleading to say that your programming productivity will increase by 50% if you get a second monitor.</p> <p>So, if you have a multiple-monitor setup and you love it, great. If you don't have one, but you think it will make you happier, then your employer should buy you one. But is buying a second monitor for everyone on the team going to make you ship the product faster? No.</p> @Kaitain:

Haha, yes, I actually do have eyes like a hawk. The native resolution on my laptop is 1440×900, so that helps.

In the case you’re talking about, I can definitely see the use of having two monitors. But I don’t often find myself debugging two applications at once.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “it’s not just about raw productivity, it’s also about job satisfaction and just plain comfort.” I agree with you 100%. The intent of my post was to show that it’s misleading to say that your programming productivity will increase by 50% if you get a second monitor.

So, if you have a multiple-monitor setup and you love it, great. If you don’t have one, but you think it will make you happier, then your employer should buy you one. But is buying a second monitor for everyone on the team going to make you ship the product faster? No.

]]> by: Kaitain http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10059 Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:20:20 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-10059 <p>Wow, you're using a 14" widescreen laptop? You must have eyes like a hawk.</p> <p>But to address your lack of enthusiasm for multiple monitors. Not only is it more efficient it saves a billion units of frustration not having to switch back and forth, look at part of a window, etc.</p> <p>My favorite use for the second monitor is for running a second instance of the IDE for another solution I am working on concurrently. An example I'm doing at this exact moment is running a client solution in one monitor and a server solution on the other monitor. It allows me to run the server app on one monitor, watching its output, while stepping through the client code on the other monitor. I can't tell you how much time that saves me but I can tell you it saves me a great deal of frustration and that is invaluable.</p> <p>Oh, and I tried going from two square monitors to one widescreen monitor and it just wasn't as good. I now use a widescreen and a square at work and at home I use two widescreens and a square one.</p> <p>So, it's not just about raw productivity, it's also about job satisfaction and just plain comfort.</p> Wow, you’re using a 14″ widescreen laptop? You must have eyes like a hawk.

But to address your lack of enthusiasm for multiple monitors. Not only is it more efficient it saves a billion units of frustration not having to switch back and forth, look at part of a window, etc.

My favorite use for the second monitor is for running a second instance of the IDE for another solution I am working on concurrently. An example I’m doing at this exact moment is running a client solution in one monitor and a server solution on the other monitor. It allows me to run the server app on one monitor, watching its output, while stepping through the client code on the other monitor. I can’t tell you how much time that saves me but I can tell you it saves me a great deal of frustration and that is invaluable.

Oh, and I tried going from two square monitors to one widescreen monitor and it just wasn’t as good. I now use a widescreen and a square at work and at home I use two widescreens and a square one.

So, it’s not just about raw productivity, it’s also about job satisfaction and just plain comfort.

]]> by: Patrick http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-8217 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:20:19 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-8217 <p>Haha yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of.</p> <p>Except, I think it was a little bit more than the single scroll the made Kerouac so productive. I think the amphetamines might have helped a bit. ;-)</p> Haha yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking of.

Except, I think it was a little bit more than the single scroll the made Kerouac so productive. I think the amphetamines might have helped a bit. ;-)

]]> by: Gerry http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-8215 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:05:56 +0000 http://dubroy.com/blog/2008/01/25/multiple-monitor-productivity-fact-or-fiction/#comment-8215 <blockquote> <p>If you were a writer, would you expect to increase your productivity if you could avoid changing sheets of paper in your typewriter?</p> </blockquote> <p>No, unless if you were Jack Kerouac: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road#Origins" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road#Origins</a></p>

If you were a writer, would you expect to increase your productivity if you could avoid changing sheets of paper in your typewriter?

No, unless if you were Jack Kerouac:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Road#Origins

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