i’ve been thinking of what the most efficient way to use your monitor or screen space is? do you usually just use windows that cover the whole screen? or how do you divide your windows and apps on the screen? do you leave for example firefox window cover the whole screen? and just alt + tab to other programs or apps?
Tiling windows manager, a good hotkey config, and multiple virtual desktops.
So I’m looking at the tiling manager on Wikipedia, but it’s application is still kinda going over my head. What’s the difference between resizing and dragging windows vs using the manager?
The manager does it automatically for you. For instance, if you only have 1 window open, it will cover the entire screen, but if you open another, both windows are placed in halves and so on. It’s kinda like dragging a window to a corner to snap it, but automated
The other aspect is that virtual desktops aka ‘workspaces’ become more important, and you tend to compartmentalize your work into related chunks. Almost all tiling managers work with 10 virtual desktops, which often feels like not enough, bizarrely.
Tiling window manager.
This guy gets it.
I recently upgraded to an ultrawide monitor and have been making ample use of Windows’s virtual desktops and FancyZones. I have a thumb button on my mouse set to bring up the Win+Tab menu and jump between setups for work, gaming, projects, etc.
I never really used virtual desktops previously (usually on a laptop where it didn’t make a huge difference) but the combination with FancyZones has really been a game changer. I’m sure some linux folks are laughing at this being considered a novelty, but it’s a very seamless setup.
I never really used virtual desktops previously (usually on a laptop where it didn’t make a huge difference)
Interesting. I’ve always found myself using virtual desktops significantly more on smaller screens, because they allow me to have multiple apps fullscreened at the same time and switch between them with touchpad gestures.
You can also grab the “Power toys” utility from Microsoft for some more useful enhancements
Using a ultrawide monitor has been a game changer for me. I use a 70-30% horizontal split via FancyZones, with the largest part used for main activities and the smallest for chat/videocalls/terminal/calendar etc.
This works great for my workflo and if I need the full screen for some specific program (looking at you, PyCharm) I just need one click.
I am on Linux and use a tiling window manager (i3wm in my case). Have a look at such managers, they are great at optimizing how you use screen real estate.
will do thanks!
I have 3 27" 4k monitors that I use for my work, as a programmer. I used the Power Toys utility to create snap zones to contain my usual apps. I like to have my main code window take up the entire center monitor plus half of each of the “wing” monitors, then I can use tabs to view 5 or 6 code files at once. The remaining space on the far right is for work IM, and the far left is used for Firefox and discord.
If I’m not doing something fullscreen, I usually tile left-right on my landscape monitor and up-down on my portrait monitor. Tabs are an option, but I usually just switch between workspaces if I want to look at multiple fullscreen apps on one screen. Linux/tiling WM is my favorite environment. My screen management workflow is garbage in windows or macOS.
I have like a dozen programs for work, everything has it’s own little area designated. And some with overlap, 'cause it all just doesn’t fit still. I hate having to find the little icons and keep flipping or tabbing back and forth when I can just adjust my focus area.
Depends on the apps I use. Obviously gaming has to be full screen, and since my laptop screen is small, I usually maximize windows when using certain apps that require large space such as Libreoffice, Firefox, Inkscape, etc.
For a few other apps, such as text editors, I usually divide the screen into two. Typically I have file explorer or music player on one side and text editors on the other.
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I usually prefer fullscreen, so much so that I switched to a tiling window manager (sway) that does this by default. I run two monitors, so I will generally have two programs maximized and can tab as necessary.
When I lived in a house with a big monitor I used a kind of tiled layout. Now that I’m offgrid with a tiny laptop screen I run fullscreen and have multiple virtual desktops. I multiplex terminals with screen or tmux, depending on the use case.
Same here. When I’m working from home (most of the time), I use a 55" gaming monitor (basically a TV without the latency, 120Hz).
Work has me stuck on Windows, so I use PowerToys with the FancyZones tool to cut up my screen into 8 pieces (if this uploaded screen snippet works). I work in software support, so left is log management, centre is web browser (case management, research, etc), right is comms (email + chat).
If I’m working somewhere away from my desk, I’ll have three virtual desktops with the same type of split.
Lol we’re posting FancyZones now? I’m only 42" so not as much content up. usually have Kodi up top, main browser in the center, comms upper left, music upper right. Didn’t think I’d get to nerd out about FancyZones today but here we are!
I find that what is needed depends on the task. Mostly, it’s about whether you need to switch views on information frequently. If you’re working in a maximally focused way you already have the right info, so you don’t have to make the view more diverse.
Two monitors can be really helpful if you’re in a situation where you need one view to always stay the same(e.g. reading one document while editing another) and the editing app is some fussy internal thing that always wants to be on the first window when started, but I also haven’t had that setup in quite a few years. Tiling can get you 80% of that if the screen is sufficiently large and the software cooperates.
When in Windows I stick to using the Win + arrow keys shortcuts to tile; in Linux I’ve used a few different WMs over the years but lately have been using Ubuntu defaults and basically working with it like Windows.
There is a lot of utility from not relying on screens and using a small gridded or ruled notebook with a spiral binding as the second screen. Mark it up with color multipens and sticky notes, and take it around in your jacket pocket or a belt bag.
I usually have apps take up the full screen when working - up to three displays (but sometimes even that’s not enough.
Windows 11 has basic window management functionality with Snap Layouts, but with the FancyZones power toy, you can customise the available layouts.
Currently I just use a shortcut window manager that allows me to sort windows semi automatically. But definitely looking to go a similar route @[email protected]
Using workspaces is great (at least in linux), otherwise lookin into other window managers could be beneficial. I use i3-gaps on my small laptop, and gnome on desktop and I frequently swap and split up everything I do into workspaces.
