In the age of the iPhone and the BlackBerry, it's easy to forget that when it comes to computer displays, bigger really is better.
Whether you're an analyst running a spreadsheet, a call-center worker pulling together information from multiple sources, or an office worker juggling multiple tasks, more screen real estate can make the job easier and faster.
The advantages are simple: The more of your work that's visible, the less time needed to scroll through documents or to hunt among all open applications. With multiple screens, you can separate different kinds of tasks, with one dedicated to work that requires more concentrated attention while another holds email, instant messaging and other interruptions. If email is open on a second monitor, messages can be checked at a glance with barely a break in work flow. A third can be used for research, checking databases or browsing the Web.
With more screen real estate, 'you spend less time mucking around with windows management, and you spend more time making better decisions,' says Mary Czerwinski, a research manager at Microsoft Research, the software giant's research and development arm.
More Software, Cheaper Monitors
Still, companies are only beginning to see the benefits of more and bigger monitors for their employees. Several recent developments have combined to spur the practice. Most built-in video cards can handle two monitors, so it isn't necessary to buy add-on cards. More important, the price of monitors has fallen sharply: While the older 19-inch cathode-ray displays used to sell for $300 to $400, a new 22-inch flat-panel liquid-crystal display can run about $225. (Extra-large, high-resolution displays are still too expensive for every-desk use and are limited to high-value uses.)
At the same time, developers are beginning to create software that makes better use of multiple and bigger monitors. With Microsoft Corp.'s new Vista operating system, for instance, the taskbar that runs across the bottom of the screen can be extended across all the screens in use. What's more, it can be set up so that the icon for each application shows up on the display where it's open, reducing the confusion that comes with running several different programs each on different screens. (With earlier versions of Windows, the taskbar is squeezed onto the main screen so that each icon is barely visible when several applications are running.)
Multidisplay software from Nvidia Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif., maker of graphics chips, can also be set up to divide extra-large displays into separate sections, with each section acting almost like a separate monitor.
Martin Reynolds, a vice president at research firm Gartner Inc., goes with a four-monitor setup. In the middle of his desk is a high-resolution 24-inch display, which is his main work space for writing and editing text, drawing diagrams and cleaning up photos. To the right is a 20-inch monitor, rotated 90 degrees so that's in 'portrait' mode, for researching items on the Web and instant messaging; the portrait setup reveals more of the content of a Web page with less scrolling up and down. To the left side is another 20-inch screen for viewing his email, calendar and contacts, and the fourth, the newest, which holds additional reference material, such as PDF files or long emails.
Even having just two monitors has a big impact, he says. The bigger main monitor reduces the amount of scrolling through spreadsheets, making more information available at a glance. And with documents open on multiple screens, it's easier to cut and paste information from one to another, reducing the need to print out a copy to work from.
Starting With Call Centers
An early corporate adopter was Paccar Inc., a commercial-truck maker based in Bellevue, Wash., which in 2001 saw multiple monitors as a way to improve employee efficiency and effectiveness. First, though, corporate planners had to identify where the addition of more monitors could have the biggest payoff. It needed to be a place where people have to make decisions quickly and need access to lots of information to make those decisions.
The answer: the call-center workers in the company's roadside-assistance program, which fields calls from stranded truckers, dispatches the necessary help and sometimes has to arrange alternative transportation and lodging for drivers. Call-center employees have to juggle a customer-information program, a Web application that maps nearby dealers, troubleshooting databases and other programs to quickly resolve the problem.
The call-center group saw a 10% productivity gain after a three-monitor system was installed, says Kyle Quinn, general manager and chief information officer in Paccar's information-technology division. The operators 'can use the larger area to spread out all the information they need and see it more clearly,' he says. 'You can make better decisions.'
Paccar has added multimonitor setups for material planners on its manufacturing lines, who have to manage demand for production parts using information on inventories inside and outside the company. Because of limited desk space and falling prices of displays, planners received two larger widescreen monitors instead of the three-screen setup in the call center. The ability to manage more rapidly changing information has produced a 10% to 20% boost in productivity, Mr. Quinn says.
在這個(gè)iPhone和黑莓(BlackBerry)流行的年代，大家很容易忘記對(duì)于電腦顯示器而言，真的就是越大越好。
不管您是操作電子表格的分析師，還是匯集多方信息的呼叫中心員工，或者是應(yīng)付多項(xiàng)任務(wù)的辦公人員，更大的顯示空間可以使工作更簡便，效率更高。
多顯示器的優(yōu)勢(shì)顯而易見：工作界面越大，在文件之間切換或在所有開啟的應(yīng)用程序中搜尋要花的時(shí)間就越少。如果采用多顯示器，就可以將不同類型的任務(wù)分開，一個(gè)顯示器著重處理需要集中注意力的工作，另一個(gè)屏幕顯示郵件、即時(shí)消息等具有干擾性的內(nèi)容。如果通過單獨(dú)的顯示器察看郵件，瞥一眼就可以了解其內(nèi)容，幾乎不會(huì)打斷主要工作的進(jìn)程。還可以用第三個(gè)顯示器完成搜索、查詢數(shù)據(jù)庫或?yàn)g覽網(wǎng)頁等操作。
微軟研究院(Microsoft Research)研究經(jīng)理捷文斯基(Mary Czerwinski)稱，采用多顯示器后，花在窗口管理上的時(shí)間減少了，可以用更多時(shí)間進(jìn)行決策優(yōu)化。微軟研究院是軟件巨頭微軟公司的研發(fā)部門。
支持軟件增多，顯示器價(jià)格下降
不過，企業(yè)才剛剛開始意識(shí)到為員工配備更多和更大顯示器的好處。近期的幾項(xiàng)相關(guān)進(jìn)展推動(dòng)企業(yè)將這一想法付諸實(shí)踐。大多數(shù)內(nèi)置顯卡都支持雙顯示器，因此沒有必要購買附加卡。更重要的是，顯示器的價(jià)格已經(jīng)大幅跳水：老式的19英寸陰極射線管顯示器原售價(jià)300-400美元，而新型的22英寸平面液晶顯示器價(jià)格大約在225美元。（高分辨率超大屏幕顯示器仍然太過昂貴，難以普及應(yīng)用，目前仍僅限于高端應(yīng)用。）
與此同時(shí)，開發(fā)人員著手設(shè)計(jì)更適合多顯示器和大屏幕顯示器應(yīng)用的軟件。以微軟(Microsoft Corp.)新推出的Vista操作系統(tǒng)為例，屏幕下端的任務(wù)欄可以擴(kuò)展到所有顯示器。另外也可以通過設(shè)置，使應(yīng)用程序窗口分別顯示在該窗口打開的顯示器上，從而減輕了每個(gè)顯示器運(yùn)行幾個(gè)不同程序所產(chǎn)生的混淆。而之前的Windows操作系統(tǒng)，任務(wù)欄都擠在主顯示器上，當(dāng)幾個(gè)程序同時(shí)運(yùn)行時(shí)，幾乎就看不到程序圖標(biāo)了。
總部位于加利福尼亞州圣克拉拉的顯示芯片生產(chǎn)商N(yùn)vidia Corp.推出的多顯示器管理軟件也可以通過設(shè)置，將超大顯示器劃分成幾個(gè)分區(qū)，每個(gè)分區(qū)幾乎就相當(dāng)于一個(gè)單獨(dú)的顯示器。
研究公司Gartner Inc.副總裁瑞諾茨(Martin Reynolds)用了4個(gè)顯示器。他桌子正中放著一臺(tái)24英寸的高分辨率顯示器，這是他寫作和編輯文檔、制圖、整理照片的主要工作區(qū)；右邊是一臺(tái)20英寸的顯示器，旋轉(zhuǎn)90度，呈縱向?yàn)g覽模式，用于網(wǎng)絡(luò)搜索和即時(shí)通訊；縱向?yàn)g覽模式可以在一頁之中顯示更多內(nèi)容，從而減少翻頁次數(shù)。左邊也是一臺(tái)20英寸的顯示器，用于瀏覽郵件、日歷和聯(lián)系人；第四臺(tái)、也是最新的一臺(tái)顯示器放置額外的參考資料，如PDF文件或長郵件。
他說，即使只用兩臺(tái)顯示器也會(huì)方便很多。較大的主顯示器降低了在不同報(bào)表間轉(zhuǎn)換的頻率，可以同時(shí)看到更多信息。而在多個(gè)顯示器上開啟文件，就使得在兩個(gè)文件之間進(jìn)行剪切和粘貼操作更為簡單，有時(shí)就不需要把其中一份文件打印出來了。
從呼叫中心開始
總部位于華盛頓州貝爾維尤的商用卡車生產(chǎn)商Paccar Inc.是較早應(yīng)用多顯示器的公司之一。該公司2001年就意識(shí)到采用多顯示器是提高員工工作效率和效果的一條途徑。不過，公司管理人士必須首先明確哪個(gè)部門可以通過增加顯示器數(shù)量獲得的回報(bào)。應(yīng)當(dāng)是一個(gè)員工要迅速作出決定，并且決策過程中需要參考大量信息的部門。
答案是公司路邊援助部門的呼叫中心員工，他們負(fù)責(zé)答復(fù)拋錨的卡車司機(jī)打來的電話，提供必要的幫助，有時(shí)候還需要安排替代運(yùn)力，同時(shí)安排司機(jī)住宿。呼叫中心員工需要同時(shí)面對(duì)顯示附近分銷商位置的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)應(yīng)用程序--客戶信息系統(tǒng)、故障檢修數(shù)據(jù)庫和其它一些程序，以迅速解決問題。
Paccar信息技術(shù)部門總經(jīng)理兼首席信息長奎因(Kyle Quinn)表示，呼叫中心安裝了包括3臺(tái)顯示器的系統(tǒng)后，生產(chǎn)率提高了10%。接線員可以將所需要的全部信息同時(shí)展現(xiàn)在擴(kuò)展后的顯示區(qū)域，顯示更加清晰。這有助于提高決策水平。
Paccar也為生產(chǎn)部門的物料規(guī)劃人員配備了多顯示器系統(tǒng)；他們需要利用公司內(nèi)外的庫存信息管理生產(chǎn)部門的需求。由于辦公空間有限、顯示器價(jià)格下降，物料規(guī)劃人員使用大尺寸寬屏雙顯示器，而不是呼叫中心那樣的三臺(tái)顯示器系統(tǒng)?？蛘f，對(duì)迅速變化的信息的掌控能力推動(dòng)生產(chǎn)率提高了10%-20%。
Whether you're an analyst running a spreadsheet, a call-center worker pulling together information from multiple sources, or an office worker juggling multiple tasks, more screen real estate can make the job easier and faster.
The advantages are simple: The more of your work that's visible, the less time needed to scroll through documents or to hunt among all open applications. With multiple screens, you can separate different kinds of tasks, with one dedicated to work that requires more concentrated attention while another holds email, instant messaging and other interruptions. If email is open on a second monitor, messages can be checked at a glance with barely a break in work flow. A third can be used for research, checking databases or browsing the Web.
With more screen real estate, 'you spend less time mucking around with windows management, and you spend more time making better decisions,' says Mary Czerwinski, a research manager at Microsoft Research, the software giant's research and development arm.
More Software, Cheaper Monitors
Still, companies are only beginning to see the benefits of more and bigger monitors for their employees. Several recent developments have combined to spur the practice. Most built-in video cards can handle two monitors, so it isn't necessary to buy add-on cards. More important, the price of monitors has fallen sharply: While the older 19-inch cathode-ray displays used to sell for $300 to $400, a new 22-inch flat-panel liquid-crystal display can run about $225. (Extra-large, high-resolution displays are still too expensive for every-desk use and are limited to high-value uses.)
At the same time, developers are beginning to create software that makes better use of multiple and bigger monitors. With Microsoft Corp.'s new Vista operating system, for instance, the taskbar that runs across the bottom of the screen can be extended across all the screens in use. What's more, it can be set up so that the icon for each application shows up on the display where it's open, reducing the confusion that comes with running several different programs each on different screens. (With earlier versions of Windows, the taskbar is squeezed onto the main screen so that each icon is barely visible when several applications are running.)
Multidisplay software from Nvidia Corp., a Santa Clara, Calif., maker of graphics chips, can also be set up to divide extra-large displays into separate sections, with each section acting almost like a separate monitor.
Martin Reynolds, a vice president at research firm Gartner Inc., goes with a four-monitor setup. In the middle of his desk is a high-resolution 24-inch display, which is his main work space for writing and editing text, drawing diagrams and cleaning up photos. To the right is a 20-inch monitor, rotated 90 degrees so that's in 'portrait' mode, for researching items on the Web and instant messaging; the portrait setup reveals more of the content of a Web page with less scrolling up and down. To the left side is another 20-inch screen for viewing his email, calendar and contacts, and the fourth, the newest, which holds additional reference material, such as PDF files or long emails.
Even having just two monitors has a big impact, he says. The bigger main monitor reduces the amount of scrolling through spreadsheets, making more information available at a glance. And with documents open on multiple screens, it's easier to cut and paste information from one to another, reducing the need to print out a copy to work from.
Starting With Call Centers
An early corporate adopter was Paccar Inc., a commercial-truck maker based in Bellevue, Wash., which in 2001 saw multiple monitors as a way to improve employee efficiency and effectiveness. First, though, corporate planners had to identify where the addition of more monitors could have the biggest payoff. It needed to be a place where people have to make decisions quickly and need access to lots of information to make those decisions.
The answer: the call-center workers in the company's roadside-assistance program, which fields calls from stranded truckers, dispatches the necessary help and sometimes has to arrange alternative transportation and lodging for drivers. Call-center employees have to juggle a customer-information program, a Web application that maps nearby dealers, troubleshooting databases and other programs to quickly resolve the problem.
The call-center group saw a 10% productivity gain after a three-monitor system was installed, says Kyle Quinn, general manager and chief information officer in Paccar's information-technology division. The operators 'can use the larger area to spread out all the information they need and see it more clearly,' he says. 'You can make better decisions.'
Paccar has added multimonitor setups for material planners on its manufacturing lines, who have to manage demand for production parts using information on inventories inside and outside the company. Because of limited desk space and falling prices of displays, planners received two larger widescreen monitors instead of the three-screen setup in the call center. The ability to manage more rapidly changing information has produced a 10% to 20% boost in productivity, Mr. Quinn says.
在這個(gè)iPhone和黑莓(BlackBerry)流行的年代，大家很容易忘記對(duì)于電腦顯示器而言，真的就是越大越好。
不管您是操作電子表格的分析師，還是匯集多方信息的呼叫中心員工，或者是應(yīng)付多項(xiàng)任務(wù)的辦公人員，更大的顯示空間可以使工作更簡便，效率更高。
多顯示器的優(yōu)勢(shì)顯而易見：工作界面越大，在文件之間切換或在所有開啟的應(yīng)用程序中搜尋要花的時(shí)間就越少。如果采用多顯示器，就可以將不同類型的任務(wù)分開，一個(gè)顯示器著重處理需要集中注意力的工作，另一個(gè)屏幕顯示郵件、即時(shí)消息等具有干擾性的內(nèi)容。如果通過單獨(dú)的顯示器察看郵件，瞥一眼就可以了解其內(nèi)容，幾乎不會(huì)打斷主要工作的進(jìn)程。還可以用第三個(gè)顯示器完成搜索、查詢數(shù)據(jù)庫或?yàn)g覽網(wǎng)頁等操作。
微軟研究院(Microsoft Research)研究經(jīng)理捷文斯基(Mary Czerwinski)稱，采用多顯示器后，花在窗口管理上的時(shí)間減少了，可以用更多時(shí)間進(jìn)行決策優(yōu)化。微軟研究院是軟件巨頭微軟公司的研發(fā)部門。
支持軟件增多，顯示器價(jià)格下降
不過，企業(yè)才剛剛開始意識(shí)到為員工配備更多和更大顯示器的好處。近期的幾項(xiàng)相關(guān)進(jìn)展推動(dòng)企業(yè)將這一想法付諸實(shí)踐。大多數(shù)內(nèi)置顯卡都支持雙顯示器，因此沒有必要購買附加卡。更重要的是，顯示器的價(jià)格已經(jīng)大幅跳水：老式的19英寸陰極射線管顯示器原售價(jià)300-400美元，而新型的22英寸平面液晶顯示器價(jià)格大約在225美元。（高分辨率超大屏幕顯示器仍然太過昂貴，難以普及應(yīng)用，目前仍僅限于高端應(yīng)用。）
與此同時(shí)，開發(fā)人員著手設(shè)計(jì)更適合多顯示器和大屏幕顯示器應(yīng)用的軟件。以微軟(Microsoft Corp.)新推出的Vista操作系統(tǒng)為例，屏幕下端的任務(wù)欄可以擴(kuò)展到所有顯示器。另外也可以通過設(shè)置，使應(yīng)用程序窗口分別顯示在該窗口打開的顯示器上，從而減輕了每個(gè)顯示器運(yùn)行幾個(gè)不同程序所產(chǎn)生的混淆。而之前的Windows操作系統(tǒng)，任務(wù)欄都擠在主顯示器上，當(dāng)幾個(gè)程序同時(shí)運(yùn)行時(shí)，幾乎就看不到程序圖標(biāo)了。
總部位于加利福尼亞州圣克拉拉的顯示芯片生產(chǎn)商N(yùn)vidia Corp.推出的多顯示器管理軟件也可以通過設(shè)置，將超大顯示器劃分成幾個(gè)分區(qū)，每個(gè)分區(qū)幾乎就相當(dāng)于一個(gè)單獨(dú)的顯示器。
研究公司Gartner Inc.副總裁瑞諾茨(Martin Reynolds)用了4個(gè)顯示器。他桌子正中放著一臺(tái)24英寸的高分辨率顯示器，這是他寫作和編輯文檔、制圖、整理照片的主要工作區(qū)；右邊是一臺(tái)20英寸的顯示器，旋轉(zhuǎn)90度，呈縱向?yàn)g覽模式，用于網(wǎng)絡(luò)搜索和即時(shí)通訊；縱向?yàn)g覽模式可以在一頁之中顯示更多內(nèi)容，從而減少翻頁次數(shù)。左邊也是一臺(tái)20英寸的顯示器，用于瀏覽郵件、日歷和聯(lián)系人；第四臺(tái)、也是最新的一臺(tái)顯示器放置額外的參考資料，如PDF文件或長郵件。
他說，即使只用兩臺(tái)顯示器也會(huì)方便很多。較大的主顯示器降低了在不同報(bào)表間轉(zhuǎn)換的頻率，可以同時(shí)看到更多信息。而在多個(gè)顯示器上開啟文件，就使得在兩個(gè)文件之間進(jìn)行剪切和粘貼操作更為簡單，有時(shí)就不需要把其中一份文件打印出來了。
從呼叫中心開始
總部位于華盛頓州貝爾維尤的商用卡車生產(chǎn)商Paccar Inc.是較早應(yīng)用多顯示器的公司之一。該公司2001年就意識(shí)到采用多顯示器是提高員工工作效率和效果的一條途徑。不過，公司管理人士必須首先明確哪個(gè)部門可以通過增加顯示器數(shù)量獲得的回報(bào)。應(yīng)當(dāng)是一個(gè)員工要迅速作出決定，并且決策過程中需要參考大量信息的部門。
答案是公司路邊援助部門的呼叫中心員工，他們負(fù)責(zé)答復(fù)拋錨的卡車司機(jī)打來的電話，提供必要的幫助，有時(shí)候還需要安排替代運(yùn)力，同時(shí)安排司機(jī)住宿。呼叫中心員工需要同時(shí)面對(duì)顯示附近分銷商位置的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)應(yīng)用程序--客戶信息系統(tǒng)、故障檢修數(shù)據(jù)庫和其它一些程序，以迅速解決問題。
Paccar信息技術(shù)部門總經(jīng)理兼首席信息長奎因(Kyle Quinn)表示，呼叫中心安裝了包括3臺(tái)顯示器的系統(tǒng)后，生產(chǎn)率提高了10%。接線員可以將所需要的全部信息同時(shí)展現(xiàn)在擴(kuò)展后的顯示區(qū)域，顯示更加清晰。這有助于提高決策水平。
Paccar也為生產(chǎn)部門的物料規(guī)劃人員配備了多顯示器系統(tǒng)；他們需要利用公司內(nèi)外的庫存信息管理生產(chǎn)部門的需求。由于辦公空間有限、顯示器價(jià)格下降，物料規(guī)劃人員使用大尺寸寬屏雙顯示器，而不是呼叫中心那樣的三臺(tái)顯示器系統(tǒng)?？蛘f，對(duì)迅速變化的信息的掌控能力推動(dòng)生產(chǎn)率提高了10%-20%。