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Ask HN: Best Hacks for a Ultrawide Monitor?

6 points by Exorust 3y ago

Any awesome suggestions/tips/tricks for a ultrawide monitor?

ggm 3y ago
The lenovo (and some other) ultrawide can be driven as two monitors butted side by side, which means you can scroll or pan halves independently. Doesn't seem to work in OSX alas.
- wmf 3y ago
  Use a tiling window manager. I use Moom on Mac to create a three-column grid.
  - ggm 3y ago
    You missed the scroll and pan part. If you use (work) spaces then without more effort (tm) tiling is only partially the same as keeping one screen set while the other moves to another space. Otherwise yes.
stephenw310 3y ago
If you are using MacOS, I recommend these 2 apps 1. "Rectangle" for window management https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/ 2. "BetterDisplay" for better scaling quality on bigger screens, especially if you have a 4k ultrawide. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay
- spikey_sanju 3y ago
  If you're using Raycast app already, you can easily control your windows using just a few shortcuts.
shadowfax92 3y ago
I have a 49 inch CRG9 and the best recommendation for window management is Yabai (https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai) along with skhd (https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd). Yabai is a greedy window management solution that tries to fit opened applications in given space and skhd let's you easily jump between those using keyboard shortcuts. This has massively improved my ultrawide experience. Only disclaimer is, configuring yabai has a slight learning curve.
- tra3 3y ago
  came here to suggest yabai. do you have a way of preserving layouts between reboots? I manually configure layouts every startup but want to improve on that..
ensocode 3y ago
Interesting topic. Any suggestions for Linux?
- malfist 3y ago
  GTile is really handy. I have it setup so my screen is divided 31/38/31 and control+num1 through num3 correlate to those segments and move windows there and maximize them to fill it. Pretty awesome.
- gtirloni 3y ago
  I can't live without gSnap GNOME extension after switching to a LG Ergo DualUp monitor.
Exorust 3y ago
Any windows suggestions?
- btschaegg 3y ago
  A bit basic, but I've been using "FancyZones" [1] from Microsoft's PowerToys [2] (installable via winget) on my work machine. It at least provides options to e.g. split the display into 3 zones, meaning I can keep my main window centered with a non-ludicrous width and I don't have to permanently look to one side. [1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzones https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzon... [2]: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys
ruskyhacker 3y ago
Definitely try out fancyzones from powertoys if you're on Windows. For Linux I'm not really sure, not much of a Linux desktop environment type, but I'm sure there's something for gnome. Lg makes a software I think it's called screen split, but fancy zones is better in my opinion. I run six 34 inch 2k ultrawides. I use the "edges" for stuff on the back burner - main content goes in the middle. It you have the right monitor some ultrawides can split inputs if you have multiple machines/ sources. That could be useful for dual os or work & personal setups.
ActorNightly 3y ago
Yes, get a second one to put above it.
eimrine 3y ago
It provites great user experience in news web-sites if being used in vertical mode. News websites became greedy in receiving different kinds of activity from user (close cookie banner, close subscribe banner, close some video with overlay which fires after first scroll). And they love to give you nothing except header and few lines if you have not scrolled on your 1920x1080 monitor. But on vertical ultrawide it is possible to read most of the publication before giving any activity bits of my mouse to the webmaster and if the publication is not interesting I can understand it without reacting to the pesky AJAX features.

6 points by Exorust 3y ago

Any awesome suggestions/tips/tricks for a ultrawide monitor?

ggm 3y ago

The lenovo (and some other) ultrawide can be driven as two monitors butted side by side, which means you can scroll or pan halves independently. Doesn't seem to work in OSX alas.

wmf 3y ago
Use a tiling window manager. I use Moom on Mac to create a three-column grid.
- ggm 3y ago
  You missed the scroll and pan part. If you use (work) spaces then without more effort (tm) tiling is only partially the same as keeping one screen set while the other moves to another space. Otherwise yes.

stephenw310 3y ago

If you are using MacOS, I recommend these 2 apps 1. "Rectangle" for window management https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/ 2. "BetterDisplay" for better scaling quality on bigger screens, especially if you have a 4k ultrawide. https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay

spikey_sanju 3y ago
If you're using Raycast app already, you can easily control your windows using just a few shortcuts.

shadowfax92 3y ago

I have a 49 inch CRG9 and the best recommendation for window management is Yabai (https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai) along with skhd (https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd). Yabai is a greedy window management solution that tries to fit opened applications in given space and skhd let's you easily jump between those using keyboard shortcuts. This has massively improved my ultrawide experience. Only disclaimer is, configuring yabai has a slight learning curve.

tra3 3y ago
came here to suggest yabai. do you have a way of preserving layouts between reboots? I manually configure layouts every startup but want to improve on that..

ensocode 3y ago

Interesting topic. Any suggestions for Linux?

malfist 3y ago
GTile is really handy. I have it setup so my screen is divided 31/38/31 and control+num1 through num3 correlate to those segments and move windows there and maximize them to fill it. Pretty awesome.
gtirloni 3y ago
I can't live without gSnap GNOME extension after switching to a LG Ergo DualUp monitor.

Exorust 3y ago

Any windows suggestions?

btschaegg 3y ago
A bit basic, but I've been using "FancyZones" [1] from Microsoft's PowerToys [2] (installable via winget) on my work machine. It at least provides options to e.g. split the display into 3 zones, meaning I can keep my main window centered with a non-ludicrous width and I don't have to permanently look to one side. [1]: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzones https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/fancyzon... [2]: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys

ruskyhacker 3y ago

Definitely try out fancyzones from powertoys if you're on Windows. For Linux I'm not really sure, not much of a Linux desktop environment type, but I'm sure there's something for gnome. Lg makes a software I think it's called screen split, but fancy zones is better in my opinion. I run six 34 inch 2k ultrawides. I use the "edges" for stuff on the back burner - main content goes in the middle. It you have the right monitor some ultrawides can split inputs if you have multiple machines/ sources. That could be useful for dual os or work & personal setups.

ActorNightly 3y ago

Yes, get a second one to put above it.

eimrine 3y ago

It provites great user experience in news web-sites if being used in vertical mode. News websites became greedy in receiving different kinds of activity from user (close cookie banner, close subscribe banner, close some video with overlay which fires after first scroll). And they love to give you nothing except header and few lines if you have not scrolled on your 1920x1080 monitor. But on vertical ultrawide it is possible to read most of the publication before giving any activity bits of my mouse to the webmaster and if the publication is not interesting I can understand it without reacting to the pesky AJAX features.