<< What web design is REALLY like... | Home | Don't run websites in IIS from SUBST drives >>

Multi tasking and real estate

I arrived to work one day, and I meet this guy just as I setup my laptop for the morning. He noticed that I have the task bar set to three lines height, and he couldn’t understand why I was doing this. I am also the only developer I know personally who uses dual monitors  regularly.

Both the height of the taskbar and the dual monitors are not indulgences, I need them to actually work effectively. Take a look at my task bar at the moment:

 

 

And that is not uncommon. Add a couple of debug sessions, a few emails that I am in the middle of answering to, a couple more notepad windows, and I would completely lose track of what I am doing.

How does your taskbar looks like at the moment?

Print | posted on Friday, June 30, 2006 8:00 PM

Feedback

Gravatar

#  6/30/2006 9:06 PM Bill Pierce

About the only thing you are missing is Enterprise Manager and Remote Desktop Connection (or other remote control software).

Do you use MultiMon Taskbar on your second monitor? It has now become a must for me.

http://www.mediachance.com/free/multimon.htm

Gravatar

#  6/30/2006 9:42 PM Ayende Rahien

Both usually _are_ there.
Multiply instances of remote desktop, actually.
I once got into a position where I had so many of those that I literally had to look up which computer I was working on at any given moment.

Gravatar

#  6/30/2006 11:14 PM Zvika Rap

A like using the default settings for the taskbar: default height (single row) and grouping similar items together. Its not umcommon having more than 4 open devenv instances, but grouping them together seems to keep it under control.
I also remove the quicklaucn toolbar, lock the taskbar and minimize whatever I can to the tray. When the taskbar wraps to 2 rows, its time for me to close some applications.

Gravatar

#  6/30/2006 11:55 PM Eber Irigoyen

on the right hand side, so I don't have to sacrifice much space, and I do use a dual monitor too

http://ebersys.blogspot.com/2006/01/you-begin-to-wonder-if-you-have-too.html

Gravatar

#  7/2/2006 1:03 AM Ben Scheirman

I keep mine to a single row, and group programs together. Usually if I have a lot of processes running I'll rely more on TaskSwitchXP than clicking on the taskbar, b/c I get screen previews with Alt-Tab...

Gravatar

#  7/2/2006 1:51 PM Tomer Gabel

Always single-row and grouping for me. Here's what it looks like right now:

* RSSOwl (the RSS reader with which I'm writing this comment -- usually hidden in the notification area)
* 2x Firefox (browsing and downloads) - always on the taskbar
* Total Commander - always
* Cygwin - a must for my current project. I usually have between one and three concurrent sessions.
* Notepad++ - a newly found (and wonderful) toy. Constantly open on configuration files, makefiles, C files and the like. Useful as hell.
* Two separate project-specific applications on which I won't expand
* Outlook (usually hidden in the systray)
* 2x Notepad windows (pending use, usually I have none or one max at any given time)
* Visual Studio 6.0 (don't ask, I generally use 2-3 concurrent windows of VS2k5)
* Word (not usually there, it's a document I'm reading while doing everything else)
* IDA Pro
* DynaText 4.1 online book reader (should give you a hint as to what my current project is about...)

My running state is usually less cluttered, but it always consists of the same toolset (Total Commander, RSSOwl, Outlook, Notepad++, Trillian, XMPlay, Firefox) and several instances of one or two IDEs (VS2k3, VS2k5, VS6, IDA Pro - depending on the task at hand). It's all perfectly manageable with two monitors at 1280x1024, although I always yearn for more (I use single-monitor 1400x1050 on my laptop and it's a blessing).

Gravatar

#  7/3/2006 11:32 AM Carl

I have double row, which generally fills up pretty quick, even with the grouping on...

As an aside, have you ever used www.meebo.com, this would have the effect of removing the need for GTalk and MSN Messenger, by moving them into a single tab in Firefox... Also, imagine what your taskbar would look like if you were using IE6 instead of firefox!

Carl

Gravatar

#  7/3/2006 11:59 AM J&#248;rn Schou-Rode

Three rows without grouping is my preference as well. Right now I have just one FireFox window and nothing else running - guess I am just to lazy to get anything started right now... (Usually all three rows are in good use!)

Gravatar

#  7/4/2006 4:21 PM Mathias

I use a double bar and typically have 20-30 windows open (= normal usage for me) since most of my windows hold state that I don't want to recreate all the time. I don't like the grouping feature and don't use it (actually, I typically turn of the disney-land version of the desktop and XOR most default settings as soon as possible, they hurt my eye and just steal performance).

I normally start all applications in a certain order to get a certain order between the window icons in the task bar. That is, the relative position in the task bar &quot;tells me&quot; where what applications are and I like it that way. To me its like ordering the books in a bookshelf.

As a consequence I don't like rebooting and I would absolutelly LOVE a feature that lets you drag and drop window icons in the toolbar. I have no idea why this does not exist yet. That is, I want to be able to control the order of windows in the task bar (overriding the default order that just puts the windows in the same order they where created).

Anybody else who does this or something similar?

Gravatar

#  7/4/2006 9:11 PM Ayende Rahien

@Mathias,
There are several tools that will let you reorganize the toolbar.
Scott Hanselman posted about them at one time, I think.

Gravatar

#  7/5/2006 8:12 AM Mathias

I'm familiar with his blog. I'll check it out. Thanks!

Comments have been closed on this topic.