I don’t “get” virtual desktops. I mean I’ve tried them out and don’t care for them. I’m curious if those who do are using single monitors or low resolution?
I can’t stand virtual desktops. I have 4 monitors specifically so I can have as many things visible at once at possible without switching. I work from home so this is my machine I use for everything. 1 monitor for main task or games, 1 for side tasks, 1 for media or even more side tasks, and 1 exclusively for work and personal chat. My top monitor is very large so I often have 2 or 4 different things going on at once side by side on that one. I disable virtual desktops and tiling windows on every operating system I’ve used.
If my GPU had more outputs, I would have more monitors. I also have a 2nd computer with a single 1080p monitor to the right (I have an L desk) for home network stuff, usually keep my security camera feed on that one.
I respect anyone who does use virtual desktops because I acknowledge that if you master the workflow, it can be more efficient if you have more than like 5 or 6 tasks going at once (vs 4 monitors), however I will die on the hill of never ever using them.
Just buy one giant high resolution TV. Same amount of pixels, similar DPI, but no bezels.
I’m using a 4k 48" OLED, with no scaling. So windows and text are “normal” sized but I have a huge amount of space for multiple windows.
Then you can configure zones, using them like virtual monitors, and just shift + drag windows around and they snap into the zone. Different layouts act like different monitor configurations.
It takes some getting used to but I can’t go back to multiple monitors now.
There’s a certain divide I’ll have where, I might want my CAD software, reference material etc. all open, and that can easily spread my two monitors, and then if I’ve got communication stuff like email, slack etc. open it’s easier for me to mentally switch to a different place to do that. Much more than my big center monitor and two others and that’s more than my visual field and I don’t really want to use my computer looking all around the room with me, trying to find the damn mouse cursor.
I use them to both maximize desktop space for multitasking (my monitor splits evenly into two 4:3 windows side by side) and keep my tasks organized, as I tend to let my brain wander of distracted. Been using i3 for like a decade now.
I never used them when i was still using a DE, but now as a tiling window manager user i use them all the time, since the point of those is that windows are placed in a layout and don’t overlap, so after opening like 3 windows max, it gets too cramped for my taste and i move to a different workspace.
Depends on your workflow. I’m usually using a i3wm or sway environment so I can put windows side by side, but on my ultrawide monitor it usually is best to limit that to two windows (usually a couple of browser windows or a browser and a terminal). I also often have a text editor open as well, so it helps if I can open that on another desktop, and quickly switch to it as needed. My main goal isn’t to really minimize anything, just switch desktops because I find it easier to just switch around. In windows I generally don’t use desktops as I find their goal is more to have you minimize stuff which I find kinda annoying because I have to resize the window or something when reopening them.
What OS are you on? Virtual desktops on Mac and windows are just terrible. On Linux I’ve been using virtual desktops on Linux since the 90s and when I see my colleagues on Mac using a single desktop with 20 windows trying desperately to switch between windows I just shake my head.
I use dynamic virtual desktops and have a separate desktop for every task. That keeps me focused on that task, but also lets me easily jump to something different. I couldn’t imagine trying to be productive any other way.
I don’t “get” virtual desktops. I mean I’ve tried them out and don’t care for them. I’m curious if those who do are using single monitors or low resolution?
I can’t stand virtual desktops. I have 4 monitors specifically so I can have as many things visible at once at possible without switching. I work from home so this is my machine I use for everything. 1 monitor for main task or games, 1 for side tasks, 1 for media or even more side tasks, and 1 exclusively for work and personal chat. My top monitor is very large so I often have 2 or 4 different things going on at once side by side on that one. I disable virtual desktops and tiling windows on every operating system I’ve used.
If my GPU had more outputs, I would have more monitors. I also have a 2nd computer with a single 1080p monitor to the right (I have an L desk) for home network stuff, usually keep my security camera feed on that one.
I respect anyone who does use virtual desktops because I acknowledge that if you master the workflow, it can be more efficient if you have more than like 5 or 6 tasks going at once (vs 4 monitors), however I will die on the hill of never ever using them.
Just buy one giant high resolution TV. Same amount of pixels, similar DPI, but no bezels.
I’m using a 4k 48" OLED, with no scaling. So windows and text are “normal” sized but I have a huge amount of space for multiple windows.
Then you can configure zones, using them like virtual monitors, and just shift + drag windows around and they snap into the zone. Different layouts act like different monitor configurations.
It takes some getting used to but I can’t go back to multiple monitors now.
There’s a certain divide I’ll have where, I might want my CAD software, reference material etc. all open, and that can easily spread my two monitors, and then if I’ve got communication stuff like email, slack etc. open it’s easier for me to mentally switch to a different place to do that. Much more than my big center monitor and two others and that’s more than my visual field and I don’t really want to use my computer looking all around the room with me, trying to find the damn mouse cursor.
I use them to both maximize desktop space for multitasking (my monitor splits evenly into two 4:3 windows side by side) and keep my tasks organized, as I tend to let my brain wander of distracted. Been using i3 for like a decade now.
I never used them when i was still using a DE, but now as a tiling window manager user i use them all the time, since the point of those is that windows are placed in a layout and don’t overlap, so after opening like 3 windows max, it gets too cramped for my taste and i move to a different workspace.
Depends on your workflow. I’m usually using a i3wm or sway environment so I can put windows side by side, but on my ultrawide monitor it usually is best to limit that to two windows (usually a couple of browser windows or a browser and a terminal). I also often have a text editor open as well, so it helps if I can open that on another desktop, and quickly switch to it as needed. My main goal isn’t to really minimize anything, just switch desktops because I find it easier to just switch around. In windows I generally don’t use desktops as I find their goal is more to have you minimize stuff which I find kinda annoying because I have to resize the window or something when reopening them.
What OS are you on? Virtual desktops on Mac and windows are just terrible. On Linux I’ve been using virtual desktops on Linux since the 90s and when I see my colleagues on Mac using a single desktop with 20 windows trying desperately to switch between windows I just shake my head.
I use dynamic virtual desktops and have a separate desktop for every task. That keeps me focused on that task, but also lets me easily jump to something different. I couldn’t imagine trying to be productive any other way.
CachyOS lately.
i used them a lot when i had 1 monitor and did more than one thing at a given time, then never needed more than 1 again after getting a second monitor
One 4k, two 1440p physical monitors with 4 virtual desktops at work
I use a lot of virtual desktops and yeah, I genuinely disable other monitors, if I sit at a workplace where I’d have two.
They were all the rage in the CRT years.
I don’t like them on any OS besides macOS. For me it just makes visual sense.