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Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Split screen

My biggest problem staying on top of the river of news is that it’s hard to fit on one screen. Tweetdeck wants to sprawl across the width of the monitor, so I have to either cover it up or minimize it when working in Word or Photoshop or some other application. The same issue leads me to leave my RSS reader minimized or closed.

For the holidays, Michele bought me a 28-inch widescreen monitor. At first, I just ditched my old monitor. But then I brought it back onto the desk, jacked it into the computer, and extended the desktop across both monitors. Now, I use the widescreen for my work and keep the applications that update me on the river of news open on the older screen; this includes Tweetdeck, Yammer (for the Ad Hocnium team), and FeedDemon, my RSS reader of choice.

Shel Holtz

It works like a dream. There is a downside, however. I’m now jonesing for a four-monitor set-up.

01/16/09 | 6 Comments | Split screen

Comments

  • 1.hi Shel,
    No fair! I have serious "monitor envy" now!
    Funny that you would post this, because just yesterday I saw on the Yahoo homepage that two monitor setups increase productivity. Just found the story and here's a quote:
    "[per] the New York Times, which cites research that -- on certain text-editing tasks -- users were 44 percent faster using two 20-inch monitors instead of a single 18-inch screen."
    So are you 44 percent faster now?
    Actually, with your 28" maybe you should be 66 percent faster! :)
    ~ Steve, aka the single-monitor purveyor of trade show booths

    trade show booths | January 2009

  • 2.It is addicting, do you have an older machine that you can just use to run Tweetdeck or other light-weight comms apps? At my desk I run two laptops with external monitors:

    http://flickr.com/photos/hyku/2741405451/

    Josh Hallett | January 2009

  • 3.Hi, Josh. I do have an extra laptop, but I have to computers running on my desk as it is. My laptop handles email and podcasting, since I do both on the road. I'm running the two monitors on a single machine, but the desktop extension capability (I'm a happy Windows Vista user) gives me what I need.

    Shel Holtz | January 2009

  • 4.Shel, I work on two monitors, and it helps me significantly with research. I can have data on one screen and write up the report on the other. It is a wonderful luxury.

    Tiffany Gallicano | January 2009 | University of Oregon

  • 5.Four monitors? Oh no, you gotta think big. Try... 8 monitors!

    http://tinyurl.com/7v8mhj

    Neville Hobson | January 2009 | Wokingham

  • 6.Nice article in the NY Times on the benefits of multiple and large-sized displays.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/technology/personaltech/15basics.html?scp=3&sq=multiple monitors&st=cse

    Michael Rudnick | January 2009

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