alt Hacker NewsI learned this lesson a couple decades ago.
Managing windows with OS idiosyncrasies becomes a task in itself.
However, I've also learned recently it depends what you're doing.
Software development, I just want one single maximized window on a single laptop monitor. If I have a near-retina DPI monitor with 120hz+ (I can't deal with low DPI fuzziness and low refresh all day) I'll usually have a 3-4 window layout on a single monitor with the IDE taking up half the screen.
There is a minor cognitive hit from switching focus between monitors for things like reading documentation, so I don't like doing that.
Music production? Man, I could probably use like 3+ monitors. Main stems view, a separate monitor for open VSTs, a separate monitor for video, a separate one for piano roll maybe. The window juggling gets really cumbersome on a single monitor.
My friend who is a professional musician (makes music for TV shows) uses 3 large TVs for music production.
Replies
> There is a minor cognitive hit from switching focus between monitors for things like reading documentation, so I don't like doing that.
Do you not feel like there's a similar hit from switching full screen windows? Or is your documentation within your full screen IDE?
Do you use macOS? That's exactly how I feel on macOS because it is so so bad at this.
Dual 4k 27" monitors on Linux with KDE Plasma near perfect.
[dead]
> Managing windows with OS idiosyncrasies becomes a task in itself.
Tiling window managers are a good solution.