Larger Displays vs. Multiple Displays
| Kelsey Ruger | Nov 25, 2009 | 6 Responses | Design |
Over the last 10 years or so I have gotten used to working with either multiple monitors or a single large display. Yesterday I posted a question on Twitter and Facebook asking “How big of a monitor would be too big for you to work on? What if the monitor could simply be wider?” There are some drawbacks to having a single large display but if I had my choice I would still go with a wider display over multiple screens. I put some thoughts together on it this morning (the image below is a doctored Dell 30″ monitor)
Any thoughts on this? Are you a larger display or multiple display person?
The day I got a second monitor at my old job, was the day I thought I was moving up in the world! But, the suky thing about it is having to decide what windows go on what monitor, then you have that weird disconnect in the middle of your workspace.
I am definitely a one big monitor kinda girl, but the wider the better. I heard some people turn their Dell monitors on their sides in portrait configuration, but I’m not sure I’d be down with that…
Currently I have 3 display devices, two 19″ Acer monitors and one Wacom Cintiq-12WX 12″ pen display. For some applications, it would be nicer to have one larger display to replace the two Acer monitors on two stands as your picture shows above. But I think the wider display might be a disadvantage in productivity resizing the page (maximizing/minimizing). Seems like it would be cumbersome re-arranging windows. Without testing it out, it is hard to have an opinion which is better.
@Liz I suppose if I were designing a big poster turning it on the side would be useful. When I worked at the Daily Cougar in college we had a monitor that had a portrait profile – none of us liked using it.
I’d definitely want one monitor but wider! Maybe not 50″ – I think there’s a limit to how far the eye can travel easily, especially with sitting closer to monitors than TVs – but 40″ diagonal would be good. I would however, love to have a second monitor that’s portrait, for notes and to do lists. With those kind of programs, a taller vertical and the separation of a second monitor is useful, otherwise those programs can be clutter amongst browsers and spreadsheets and documents.
My ideal setup (with existing available monitors): 30″ Apple Cinema, landscape, 27″ Apple Cinema, portrait.
I want a disconnect between my workspaces. It keeps me organized…especially if I am running multiple virtual machines at once. I rarely expand a workspace to cover all of my monitors as I want to keep my spaces segregated.
After experiencing both, I prefer one big monitor. One big monitor helps when you’re designing 1000px+ layouts in photoshop/fireworks.
As for size, depending on your desk size, typically you don’t want to go beyond 30″. Any size beyond that, you’re probably sitting too close to the monitor which is going to hurt your eyes and you can’t see everything on the monitor at once.