Productivity and Monitors

I haven’t really worked at an office to do Flash before Armor Games. In fact, I used to sit in my pajamas and program in a tiny apartment bedroom into the wee hours of the night. So now that I have an actual office space and a desk that doesn’t fall apart, I decided to start playing around with my desk and computer a bit.

I used to work on one 19″ monitor at my apartment, which was pretty good. Most developers in 2004 were lucky to have anything larger then a 17″ monitor, let alone an LCD monitor. About two years later, I got a second 19″ monitor to increase my productivity a bit. I could have Photoshop open in one window, and Flash in the other, which meant that nothing ever had to be closed or reduced. That was pretty good, until I got to Armor Games and started working on a 27″ single monitor. The big single monitor is nice because you don’t get that crease down the middle of the dual monitors. However, this meant that my cute little 19″ monitors sat at home in the garage, wondering when they would ever see the light of day again.

Today I decided to bring them in, and hook them up along with the 27″ monitor. When they are all plugged in, my desktop is roughly 4480 x 1024 pixels. And man, do I feel productive! My email, IM’s, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Flash can all be open at once, and I don’t have to go searching for windows.   It’s really helping me get this Mr Walters Grand Excursion game done too.  The levels are absolutely massive, and to pan around all over the place is a hassle, especially when I am trying to draw shapes bigger than the screen.  I’m hoping it will help me finish up (should be done by Tuesday!).

I am not sure how long this will last, because I feel like I am getting a tan here with all these monitors, but it’s a lot of fun for the meantime.