All popular IDEs (and most apps) seem stuck in a single-monitor paradigm. When are we going to get an IDE that sets the bar for working with multiple monitors? For inspiration, look at multi-monitor audio engineering consoles. Please
@jetbrains
@errata Uhhh, I regularly use @jetbrains IntelliJ with multiple monitors, so I’m not sure what else you’d expect from a multi-monitor paradigm…
Can you help me picturing it?
Sure. It's "possible" but it's clunky and even buggy.
Can't make a second window composed of multiple sections without starting with an editor window. Most popups always display on main window. No way to control in which window things open in, or to move things without dragdrop. No option to bring all windows to front on focus any, have to reveal each individually. No well-designed default multi-monitor layout. Zero options related to multi-monitor/multi-window workflow.
@steffo @jetbrains i.e. just a bunch of things which make it clear that multi-monitor is a second-class workflow that hasn't been given much attention. It just needs some love and care put into it.
Is there a specific audio engineering console your referring to? I cant imagine what you’re asking for besides supporting multiple windows which intellij does. You can break out tabs and docks into new windows and carry the windows over to other monitors.
@sudo Bitwig and Cubase are the first ones that come to mind
JetBrains IDEs can be easily configured for multi monitor setups. I use Rider daily and have a couple layouts saved for different purposes that make full use of 3 monitors, never really had a problem with it. Can you be more specific about what you want to achieve?
Yeah I can make a list of features that I’d like to have and annoyances that exist now, but I wouldn’t call it stuck in a single monitor paradigm either. Depends on what your needs are I guess!
Honestly I just ended up getting an ultrawide because of this. A bit more expensive than two monitors but also much better.
I was worried it would be a pain to put one app on each half of the screen when I wanted, but it actually isn’t at all. All OSes support easy shortcuts to do it (Win+left/right). Windows is the best at this but Linux is ok too. IIRC Mac needs a third party app (Spectacle? Or Rectangle or something?) but it’s free.
What kinda “multi-monitor” features are you looking for?
I usually use Visual Studio (the real one, not VSCode) - and their multi-monitor support seems fine to me. You can drag out any window component and put them somewhere else in a different screen. And when you drag things somewhere else, you can still snap them back together, so it’s really just 2 windows again, not just loose floating boxes.
VSCode recently got the feature to pop an editor tab to its own window. It makes the multi-monitor experience way better.
I’m not really sure why you would want IDE to work like an audio console. There’s a huge difference in the workflow: when you’re doing audio you can only “see” the end result inside the app. On the contrary when you’re coding you can only see the end result OUTSIDE the IDE. Thus you need your first monitor with IDE contained and your second monitor with your app running with live reload and a browser window with docs and Stack Overflow. There’s no need to put an IDE everywhere - you’ll only be missing out in terms of productivity.
I worked with multi monitor in Visual Studio a decade ago. Jetbrains products are a joke and always will be
Microsoft Lync, as shitty as it was, allowed you to have multiple chat windows where ever you pleased.