The debate over whether one monitor is better than multiple monitors has been going on for years. There are many factors to consider when deciding ...
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I have long used one monitor for writing code. And usually with only focus on one application and one tab.
The benefits I've found are reduced tendency to context shift and developing patterns/commands/behaviors for navigating to different locations in the code.
With one monitor, Slack and emails are pushed aside. As well as my browser. I focus in my text editor and the problem at hand. But to maintain quick access, to related information, I have established conventions.
My local git branches are almost always of the form
jeremyf/issue---<org>/<repo>#<number>. In my text editor, I can run a function to open my browser to that issue. I also wrote a function to create that branch based on the current active tab of my browser.These "convenience functions" help me shift to different views without entirely shifting context. What I mean by that is instead of going to my browser, searching for the issue, and possibly being tempted to look at another tab, I've made sure that I'm facilitating connecting different sources of information.
Which is all about saying: I can only actively focus on one thing, and perhaps two side by side comparisons so one monitor is adequate.
When I wrote yesterday an article about 2 monitors, I didn't guess that I stepped into the holy war topic :)
As a recent adopter of Emacs, I can completely empathize! (The long running "holy war" is Vim vs. Emacs)
But what you touched on is "Use the tools that work best for you!" And my observations is "The less I can offer myself the opportunity to self-distract, the better off I'll be."
Oh boy :) you did hehe
I'm curious about what the code looks like, would you mind sharing it ? π
Sure thing:
github.com/jeremyf/dotemacs/blob/m...
I have coding for 20 years now and only use single monitor. 3 years ago, I bought a second monitor and it really amazed me how great it is having a second monitor. I thought about all the years that I've missed before. But then I started to depend more and more on dual-monitor setup, to the point that when I go outside, I feel paralyzed without a second monitor.
So since early last year, I'm back with just single monitor. I'm using tiling support in KDE and love it so far. My screen most of the time just divided into two - browser (firefox) on the left and console on the right, where I do most of the coding and other ops work.
Love the perspective of a single monitor user!
And I do agree with a lot of the points here despite my setup.
They key to any productive setup is something you and @jeremyf touched on, context switching!
The screen real estate is only useful if you need to see multiple things at once and they arenβt distractions. If you have slack open and in view, bad idea!
One tip to add that I used before I became a monitor addict was multiple desktops.
Have only 2 windows open at a time on each desktop and if you need to switch task use a different desktop. This βseparation of concernsβ keeps distractions to a minimum and makes switching between IDE and browser for example much quicker!
I think it also depends on your job type. Back end and doing code heavy jobs, single monitor FTW for focus.
Front end design or full stack, I can almost guarantee that multiple monitors work better as you have to reference so many different things at once and the constant switching from design docs to IDE to browser to terminal becomes a major bottleneck!
Great perspective on it and certainly a valuable contribution to show the other side of the story!
I really need to see if I get a new email, sometimes are something important that I need to answer relatively quick. The same occurs most of the time with MS Teams so I need at least 2 screens when working.
Let's imagine that I work alone plus that I don't really need to have the email and a chat app visible all the time for any reason.
If I'm doing backend dev I'll eventually need to test things using postman, in the app itself, have some Git Gui or terminal, have a place to take some notes, maybe a kamban as well to organise myself.
If I'm doing frontend it's the same (maybe I can get rid of postman) plus I'll need to see the designs (Figma, Abstract, Adobe XD...) and some times I'll be in need to compare both side by side.
Alt+Tab let you switch between the current window in context and the one that was in context before so everytime you hit a different thing, alt tab will provide a different window cycle order.
Is it possible to work with a single screen? Definetely.
Is it better and/or more efficient than having two or more? Definetely not.
π
I highly recommend a tiling/tabbed window manager such as i3 on linux or yabai on mac, if you are a developer. With a few shortcuts, you can quickly move your windows around and keep programming layouts ready at hand. Every chrome and window that is not aligned is a waste of space. While I do have many monitors, I enjoy the same peace of mind as I do when I am just full-screen in my editor while on the road.
Get comfortable with the tabs in your terminal (for example, kitty), and learn how to configure tmux to be comfortable in it as well. You can then enjoy the same ease of window management everywhere, by the magic of the terminal!
For those not ready yet to move away from Gnome or KDE, good news is both of them now has tiling support.
There terminator
or tmux
This is an interesting topic indeed. I remember back in the days when I was using two monitors, then I noticed a few things that I didn't like:
Now I use only one monitor, and here's a few more tips:
Always use virtual desktops!
Limit each visual desktop to max of 4 applications, ideally 2 applications is the best
Sometimes you need to use more than 2 apps (like insomnia, figma, or some database gui), and it's ok, but the workflow changes when it's 2 and more than 2 apps:
for 2 apps: Use
alt/cmd+tab, it's easier to move between apps when there are only 2, it help you focus on two things at a time (and it will depend on the virtual desktop)for more than 2 apps: If your OS allows to use some sort of
alt/cmd+#app-numberthen take advantage of it, you will be typing less than walking through the appsUse global shortcuts for your terminal on any desktop
Mac iterm2 allows to hide the window from the app-switcher, and set up a global shortcut to rise the terminal
Linux guake/yakuake are both great, and allow the same behavior as iterm2
Windows there's nothing that can help here, it means, the first virtual desktop will always use 3 apps ):
Other gotchas
The idea of this is to avoid having to move your eyes all the way to the left side of the screen to read code, and move it back to the center of the screen to see something in particular.
And that's it!
EDIT
One more thing, always use shortcuts to switch between virtual desktops, personally I have found these shortcuts
ctrl+f[123]very useful for both mac and linux (haven't found a good solution for windows).This is really a @well crafted comment. I appreciate you taking the time to write about these valid points. I wish I could pin your comment.
Indeed I tried to take care of this comment, the reason behind: I remember when I was using two monitors at work, then I decided to leave one of them, and the rest of the team was wondering "wut?!" so eventually I decided to prepare a few good arguments for it, and the final evidence is that I usually move fast between apps (which makes me look like a magician haha). Anyways I appreciate you took the time to read ^^.
These are evident signs of a true brave warrior. Keep pushing forward, brah.
The shortcut to move one window to one half of the screen is totally underrated.
In case you wonder: There's a MacOS app to achieve the same as well called Reactangle. rectangleapp.com/
Fact.
I used to use Spectacle for this but switched to Rectangle several years ago and really like it too!
Programmer 1 : Guys try using 3 monitors and you will be productive.
Programmer 2: No, I use only two monitors, 3 monitors are very distracting. two is enough.
Programmer 3: Hey for me, it hurts your productivity. Try to use only 1 monitor. It saves a lot of time, money, and energy.
Programmer 4: huh? are you guys still using monitors?
Note: The number of monitors depends upon your personal preference. Only try what works for you. Me? I'm only use one. Therefore, I follow some tips of this articles. Thank you for sharing. (-:
Bear in mind real chad programmers start counting from zerOS...
yeah, I like that (-:
Anyone remember the days of coding with 0 monitors?
yeah, in the past long time ago. In the era of CNC I think. However, it a just only a joke analogy that i read in social media. ππ
I was thinking of the old days of teletype printers with reams of paper spitting out.
I typically keep vscode on the bottom column and usually chrome and discord on the top. Other apps like mongodb compass and slack are usually in the back, behind vscode. Large monitors are great.
I donβt use discord much but I use signal
Matrix is even better.
Matrix is good
Great write up, thanks.
One advantage for me when it comes to using one monitor is not having to reposition all the windows when I disconnect my laptop from the screen.
I'm actually still undecided which way I prefer but I have noticed as I get older and my vision goes with it, that using big multiple monitors does not always work well with wearing glasses. I have to move my head too much to read the part I need to see.
I'm finding that laptop screens with a good keyboard shortcut routine and full screen windows is starting to work out better for me.
Wait... the most common monitor is 30"? Have things changed so much? Where does this stat come from?
I'm not sure why that's different if you have more than one monitor. If the monitor is in the way of your desk space when you want to do papercraft or have your lunch, you're going to move it. It you have two, you're going to move one or both. What's the difference?
What do you mean by "scroll" between screens? If your resolution is high enough, why does it matter if it's two 22" or one 34" wide thing?
If you have a massive screen, you're more likely to split it into parts, aren't you?
You're talking about using a huge screen, which is by definition going to have a bigger "footprint".
I don't get this post at all!
Just chill, dude. It was a
G.I. Jane joke, silly me, quasi-serious response to a post published before this one. Not much work went into this post. And it was on Sunday. So. You get the pointβmore on the story in this comment.But in any case, I still don't get why I should use more than one monitor. Even if you are a technical analyst or a day trader, more than one monitor is just too much. It is not beneficial for your mental and physical health both in the short and long run.βI like your constructive criticism about the ideas, BTW.
It is pretty funny to mention that, in most online debates, each group believes they are the "smart people" group. Humans are funny. Life can end at any moment, and I am so damn grateful to be alive. Have a nice day.
Once upon a time, a wise man said: "We should put more effort into forgiving than cancelling each other."
My laptop is like 14' with a max resolution of 1600/900.
I'm middle of moving cities and it pains me everytime I try to be productive.
I didnβt even notice the 3rd and 4th benefits are opposite use cases. One is good for single focus and the other is good for multi tasking. Single monitor can work for everyone!
That said, I work better with 2 screens. One full screen terminal tmux split vertically between shell and vim. The other running a browser with developer console open. The key thing is when I save, the browser UI updates and so I can see it before and after my changes. Live update is less useful if I have to switch desktops to see the final rendering. Itβs no longer βliveβ.
Well, I have about 12 windows in tmux all divided vertically in half and maybe the shell half has horizontal divides for running tests.
Exactly what I was thinking.
I don't get it either.
This is good guide
Thanks for the feedback!
I hear you! I believe the main advantage is gaining focus on the main task. BUT (π yes, there is a "but"): I think this depends a lot on what kind of development you do. For example, IMHO, web development is more efficient with two screens, as you want to check changes on real time. Using the good old "ATL + TAB" is slower than moving your eyes to the second screen. And, remember, It is the same task.
If you're multitasking (ex: programming and reading discord/slack), then having two screens will not give you the best performance on your main task.
I really appreciate all the effort you put on this guide, as Windows shortcuts is a lifesaver when using a single screen. Typing a shortcut is a lot faster than moving your cursor. Thank you for this post!
Glad it helped!
Checkout tiling window managers. The ultimate productivity hack. I moved to i3wm a few years and have never looked back. I am in the process playing around with qtile window manager which is configured with python. Have not found enough time is all. The workflows you can create with Tiling window managers. Just brilliant!
I'm also team "one monitor" ππΌββοΈ. Besides, electricity consumption can be a concern...
However, I think it might depend on what you do. For example, I don't handle complex graphical renders on a daily basis. Many professionals need them.
GG. One monitor gang.
Great article just wanted to point out that you shouldn't say "Linux" shortcuts.It varies on Desktop Environments and also extensions.Like you said
Alt + up arrow and down arrowto move between workspaces but in Gnome with horizontal extensions it is actuallyAlt + -> and <-Yeah, I like to work using a single monitor for my daily tasks. I basically have 3 concerns: coding, browsing, communication.
I have 1 virtual space (virtual desk on mac) splited in 2: browser and slack,
and another one for coding (the Webstorm and VSCode have integrated terminals so it's enough)
However, I like to open my Macbook as a second monitor when it's time to join to a daily meeting or a pair programming meeting.
Personally for me, I would say that a triple monitor setup is the best for coding/programming while listening music or monitoring your stream, stats, opening up a reference page for something that you want etc.
Triple monitor = Triple the fun!
One of the few downsides of just one monitor is testing. Sooner or later, someone from a graphic design agency or a customer using a large jumbotron conference screen will have a web design edge case that behaves differently on a real large monitor than on device emulation or zooming.
Another downside is diffing large files or developping complex applications where we have to split the logic across a lot of different files according to a software architecture principle, like model, view, and controller. If I can't fit the different parts of the puzzle together in front of my eyes at the same time, I have to imagine that layout inside my mind, which adds mental effort and possible errors just because there is not enough space to see it altogether at once.
Apart from that, relying mostly on a laptop's built-in monitor adds a lot of flexibility to my work setup. I can just take my laptop to work mostly anywhere, in a train, a cafΓ©, a campervan or a library. At least I could, if I was lucky enough to find a place where there is a seat, electricity, and a stable internet connection all at the same time. Probably too much to expect at least in Germany, but that's another story.
Finally I want to credit @dondenoncourt for the article One Too Many Monitors already published back in 2019 questioning "the deal with monster monitors".
One Too Many Monitors
Don Denoncourt γ» Dec 13 '19 γ» 10 min read
I use one monitor on each of my three computers. All are Dell 27". Two in landscape (PC and Mac Powerbook Pro M1), one in portrait (Mac Mini M1). I use OneDrive to network them. Most of what I do these days is either in Xcode or VS Code. It's optimal for me.
Wait, what? So, doesn't that implies you are using three keyboards? Or a keyboard mux/demux is an actual thing? I have just googled that and found a piece of hardware called "KVM switch" for that exact purpose. Good to know that!
With Apple's new Universal Control, I can seamlessly use both Macs using a single mouse and keyboard. When I am programming on the PC, using a dedicated keyboard and mouse flips a switch in my brain to put me in PC mode.
That's deep...
This is highly personal of course, and it also depends upon your work. A developer may indeed gain from only having one screen to look at, and focus on one task. A support engineer (hi) has a highly interrupt-driven workflow. "Flow" is a rare thing as well. I often need to context switch, and will have multiple different window arrangements across my main external monitor depending on if I am working and testing a ticket, researching a topic, updating documentation.
At all times I usually need to keep my chat session visible, and it helps to have this on it's own screen so that I'm not always juggling windows or swapping virtual desktops / workspaces to view it.
Also, a lot of web sites are optimized for a portrait screen, and I use my older (and lower resolution) monitor in portrait to read these rather than arrange for the window to occupy 1/3 of my 32" UHD.
Finally, I can direct Zoom to only share my laptop's built-in screen so that other people who are trying to read what I share don't have to view a 32 " UHD display scaled down to their 16/13" laptop screen
I totally understand your position and here goes another real-life example:
What's worked for me (may not for you) is that if you're on MacOS, set keyboard shortcuts for each app (ctrl+i for IDE, ctrl+b for browser, etc.) with BetterTouchTool. Makes it way faster to switch between apps and no need for multiple monitors.
Good to Know!
I don't mind working on one monitor sometimes but I'm definitely more efficient with two (usually one external monitor and my laptop screen). After that, though, I've found adding more monitors just adds distraction and it's too much moving my head back and forth to see things.
That said, the main reason I find two monitors to be more productive is because I mostly work on the front end. I find it super annoying to have to switch back and forth between screens just to see a UI change, so if I keep one monitor open with the UI and another with the code, it's just far more convenient to see changes quicker.
That's what I am trying to convey in this article.
That's what I have realized from most UI folks over here. They opt to work on multiple screens to see how the changes reflect on the front-end. However, I worked before on the frontend side of projects, and I used an editor called bracket, which has a built-in feature called live preview that allows you to observe the changes while coding. I think VS code has this feature if you install the live preview extension.
I always had this discussion with coworkers and some of my friends who are also developers. Multimonitor looks nice, but focus everything into one monitor is enough if your OS has the correct keybinds to switch windows (Linux and Windows are the best in that regard, they are almost designed to be used without a mouse).
Alt+Tab is a life saver. Been using this for years. Maybe just because of this one single feature, I didn't bother to buy a second monitor .
But defenetely gonna try multiple monitors.
Win+Tab is even more life saver.
I use one monitor on mac. I highly recommend "Keyboard Maestro", I have defined macros to bring windows to the front of the screen.
For Example ctrl+cmd+T will bring the terminal, and ctrl+cmd+S will bring my code editor, ctrl+cmd+L is slack, etc. This way I dont need to move my head around or get lost with cmd+tab looking for my window
I hereby declare my love and affection towards mac and cheese!
Used to be a 2 monitor guy back when I was tied to a desktop computer for performance. Laptops have caught up a lot in the last 20 years.
Now I work on a laptop 90% of the time.
It's kind of a hassle to do 2 monitors on a laptop. Though I've actually seen people dragging a little second USB monitor with them to the cafe.
Multi-decade software developer here. Oh heck no to just one monitor. I've been an embedded developer for a very long time and I multitask very well. Multiple monitors facilitates my personal process. Typically I'm looking at multiple files simultaneously and that alone qualifies my need for multiple monitors. One monitor? That sucks.
This comment made me laugh so hard. Hahahahaha. Thank you. But, using tmux with tiling window managers will do the trick.
No benefits, three monitors are more efficient :)
Yup! Benefits are for losers!
Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.
Totally! Being a loser is just someone else's idea. Wanna discuss that?
Single monitor is just not enough for UI developers. There should be at least one monitor for splitted-view text editor, and one monitor for fullscreen hot preview. Preview of half-sized window is not enough, especially for web developers. Alt + Tab every 10 seconds has huge impact on productivity.
I like a 4k monitor (I have 34 and 43in models on my 2 desks, the 43 is a little too big) but I can easily keep a 1080p browser open and editor and terminal and still see all 3. Then virtual desktops if I need anything else.
I think a 38" 4K would be perfect if I could find one.
Yes, used one monitor before and it's a hell for me. Using
alt+tabjust to check what changed in the browser/styleI kinda agree, I almost exclusively only use my 43' screen. I don't have room for another one anyway.
All these productivity tips really make a difference in the long run.
Nice article.
I am using the Samsung Odessey G9 49" monitor and it's a-fricking-mazing.
What's the motivation to use Sublime together with VSCode?
Sometimes, but not very often, i write notes(md file) on one side of the screen and code on the other one. You can do that with VS code, but i started with that approach for no single reason. Just a random pick.
Same here. Sublime for global notes. Multiple VS codes one for each project. Frontend and backend are separate repos.
Interesting. At this point, I feel like the universe just ran out of randomness, and everyone suddenly started doing the same thing.
I like the implementation of "go to toc" hyperlinks. I might start doing that in my own articles, especially the longer ones.
Yeah! It is pretty handy, especially for long tutorials. I started doing so two years ago writing about python and found it very convenient to have hyperlinks to jump around. Here is how the first chapter looks now. It is humongOS. Pulled out a lot of hair due to this. Coding is the primary source of hair loss.
I moved back from 2 monitors to 1 monitor since I realized how relaxing it is for me, not to move your head left and right. A 4K monitor, 27" to 32" is perfectly enough for me.
Single monitor gang for the win!
Tha'ts actually a basic guide but usefull thanks :)
Yup! The title is slightly exaggerated, kind of clickbaity, but it is not.
what would be the idea size, then, for one screen? maybe 27 inches?
From what I have experienced, seen in most offices, and from the comments over here, a 30-ish is pretty much the average; 27 or 32 will do the job.
simplicity
P.S. I guess for UI and graphics development a second monitor can be handy though.
Stupendous!
Thanks a lot. Lifesaver for one monitor programmer like me.
GG. Single monitor gang.
Replacing Linux with Ubuntu in Linux Keyboard Shortcuts will be more correct.
I do agree, and I did mention that in the intro, in case you miss dat:
But, by any means, all generalizations are wrong, including this one, I guess?
With multiple monitors I can get all these benefits by choosing to only use one of the monitors, so... multi-monitor setup for the win again. :P
That's humongOS!
Thanks for the article, but there are some things that are very distasteful in it.
Here are some example:
The expression "The debate ... has been going on for years".
Those words transmit the idea that there is some conflict where there is none. There are preferences and they only get to be conflict when enlightened people try to force others with their preferences.
These kind of messages do not help anyone. On the contrary, it looks like the author is trying to gain some random status by creating some virtual dissension. Is there not enough war around us?
And another thing. In your article you make a reference to an article of the American Psychological Association. The fact that you clearly referenced your source is already great, but your mention of it should not be "... Studies show ...", but "... study suggests...". It is a completely different meaning and is a very poor use of a reference. These kind of misuse are why most people distrust more and more any such affirmations.
Edit: I reread my post and found that it was really abrupt. It wasn't my intention. I realize that most online articles like this one are not done easily and obviously don't have misleading goals. For my part, i wanted to bring some things that i think are important when writing info. In particular, the way that information or good intentions are corrupted with just inatentive, random sharing (see for example the classic rumor spreading in a village situation).
I have been using a laptop from the start, not the largest screen, and I have trained my self to to use keyboard shortcuts to navigate more. My no. 1 shortcut: alt + tab to switch between vs code and browser, also previously I would also have to do ctrl + r to reload the page, but now a days its automatic, because I use dev servers which auto reloads. I also use the built in terminal in vs code and use it split to run some commands, I have built my own terminal emulator but rarely use it.
A person like me, who has ADHD and multitask in frontend/backend development it will be a literal torture to work with one monitor. While I leave one monitor JUST FOR CODING, leave the other to show me frontend results as consequence of the changes on my code.
What I go with this, is that most of the time we think it is ok to ship our code thinking that it's is good enough, but not having a visual aid to ensure the shipping of our code is terrible. I think two monitors for development is good enough since I have to visually confirm my changes. It drains me to Alt tab and navigate between windows or workspaces.
Also, as consideration, if you code with ONE SCREEN, make sure it is a 4K screen. You can fit in that one 4 windows at the side of a 1080p screen.
Can you imagine the torture to work in a 720p screen? I pass, thanks. My head won't work on such narrow environment.
Like we said in Colombia: each folk has its own way to kill fleas.
Touchpad vs Mouse would be another topic to shed light on.
I used to be an avil user of only the touchpad, but recently I got a mouse and now I carry it every where I go
I prefer 2 monitors for web development, one for code and one for the web app. What I strongly suggest is to be familiar with key shortcuts they indeed provide a boost to productivity
Awesome post
Why not use a tiling window manager? It's so incredibly much more efficient at handling this situation.
I much prefer using a single monitor for workβ¦ and hereβs a another post from someone else who agrees: hackernoon.com/why-i-stopped-using...