Get more windows on the Web with a three-monitor setup

I wrote about the benefits of using multiple monitors in 2004 (see Secrets to My Excess), and I haven't wavered from my position: If you use a single monitor--unless it's a giant 30-inch model--you are missing out on one of the easiest ways to increase your productivity. Yes, I know this isn't really a Webware story, but the tools I'm about to describe have made using Web apps (all apps, really) much easier for me.

It's dead easy to add a second monitor to either a desktop or a laptop computer. The operating systems handle it natively, and current the hardware does, too: Laptops can push video to an external display and to their built-in LCD at the same time, and almost all new video cards have two outputs.

But what if you want more control than the OS gives you, or if you want to move beyond two monitors? Let's look at a few products that make the multimonitor user's life even better.

The cheapskate's mega-monitor: Two low-cost old displays and a laptop.

(Credit: Rafe Needleman / CNET)

First up: DisplayLink. This is a new technology (and product) that routes a video signal over USB, allowing you to connect more monitors to your computer than you have actual video ports. Samsung actually makes a DisplayLink-enabled monitor, but you can slap any old screen onto your PC using a DisplayLink adaptor like this one from IOGear. I can vouch for the technology on Windows XP. I'm using it now and I love it. I did have problems displaying a high-resolution QuickTime movie on the USB-connected monitor, but everything else, including YouTube videos, has displayed perfectly. DisplayLink is also available for the Mac.

But actually managing apps on three monitors can be a bit of a drag. Literally. There's a lot of real estate to drag windows around on. So on my XP setup, I've been using a free download called DisplayFusion to help out. Although it's primarily pitched as a tool to mange multimonitor wallpapers (which it does well), I like it because it gives me very cool keyboard shortcuts for moving windows around. Ctrl-Windows-X sends the active window to the next monitor, Crtl-Windows-left arrow resizes a window to take up exactly the left half of the monitor it's on, and so forth. I even recommend this tool for unimonitor users, especially those with large displays.

Finally, if you're using a laptop and often switch between traveling mode (using the laptop's own display) and desktop mode (using two or three displays), you might find that keeping your icons where you want them becomes tiresome, as they often jump around when you switch display setups. I use Enterra Icon Keeper, a simple Windows add-on that lets you save icon positions for each setup. When you move from single- to multiple-monitor configurations, you just select "Restore Icon Positions," and it pops everything back to where it was the last time you saved icon positions.

Related: Tom Merritt and I discussed these products on our latest Real Deal Podcast.

Listen:

[adamsilverstein]

Don't forget about Synergy! I use this app on my Mac Pro, Macbook Pro (and previously my Dell XP workstation) to _share a single keyboard/mouse_ among multiple computers. I originally got into using synergy so I could use my old Unicomp (clackety IBM style) keyboard on my mac (it was plugged into my PC). Now I have the USB Unicomp keyboard (works great on a mac), but love being able to use it and my nice mouse on both computers that are at my desk.

You can literally drag your mouse off the left edge of your workstation in the picture above and onto the laptop! As an added bonus, you get (text) clipboard sharing so you can copy/paste from computer to computer. I found this to be a great productivity booster, check it out!

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

[xxdesmusxx]

Ultramon rocks for multi-monitor setups. It does the fancy stretched wallpaper stuff, but it has a lot of power settings also. It's one of the few non-free applications that I think is certainly worth the money.

[aintnorainbowdorothy]

I'm really tired of Web 2.0. First there was Arpanet, a dedicated Military site which I first worked on in 1968. It was refined and then came Tim Berners-Lee and HTTP, possibly the first Web 2.0., Arpanet was running, came simply enhancements. Streaming Media? Rich Media? Just more enhancements. There have been enhancements and enhancements to enhancements. Web 2.0 might be called Web 10.0 for all the different enhancements. Leave that tag alone. It just isn't a proper name for the various enhancements. I just call it enhancements, can and do program in nearly all languages, as well as code. I think that's pretty for an old guy who's seen nearly everything that's happened with computers from punch cards, paper tapes, magnet tapes, HTTP and all languages and codes. Come on boys and girls, there's nothing new under the sun. There are just enhancements.

[dsharkey72]

If you are serious about using Multiple Monitors, you may want to invest in a SUPER PC: Multi-Monitor Computer, from http://Multi-Monitors.com . Their prices are really low, and their computers are incedibly stable and powerful. Wikipedia lists them as the largest Multi-Screen Computer Company (for more than 2 Monitors).

Check out this video demo:
http://www.multi-monitors.com/category_s/941.htm

I have a 4 Monitor SUPER PC, very similar to the Quad video, and I just absolutely love it! Go for the good stuff, because you want stability! There are a lot of configuration techniques, that the pros use. Good luck!