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by eyelidlessness 1600 days ago
> I can see the need for cross-domain (e.g. UX or graphics) specialists to have high-accuracy monitors but for most devs I don't it as necessary, as generally speaking you have an IDE with a bunch of code (text) and probably another monitor with your terminals, web browser with documentation, instant messaging app, etc. pretty much all of which is text-based.

I was speaking specifically to the domains that serve use cases where display quality matters. Quite a lot of us at least overlap with that. Basically all FE web or GUI dev, any end-user image/video processing, pretty much anything that puts graphics on a screen that aren’t UI SDK builtins.

> With regards to viewing angle, I have a nice dual-arm monitor mount system that allows it to be easily repositioned (limited 6DOF) as I change sitting posture throughout the day. Maybe something like this would help you?

I have challenges with hyperfocus which include uncomfortable stillness for prolonged periods of time. I also have a puppy who reacts to very small motion adjustments during work hours in a way which becomes a huge ordeal. This is another reason my Comically Large Display (described in another comment in thread) works well for me. I think adjusting a mounting arm would be counterproductive for me.

> I will say I usually score badly on colour perception tests (not colourblind, rather the tests where you have to order a number of very similar hues) so I could be missing a whole bunch of subtle colour errors that would irritate regular users :)

I don’t do a lot of color accurate work but color/luminance wash is a huge problem for me if I have to deal with it. Like a background task that never stops until my brain is depleted. Having a panel that doesn’t distort that way in my peripheral vision is essential for me to be able to work.

2 comments

> Quite a lot of us at least overlap with that. Basically all FE web or GUI dev, any end-user image/video processing, pretty much anything that puts graphics on a screen that aren’t UI SDK builtins.

I completely disagree, except for high end picture or video production. I have used way too many websites that clearly only work well on large, nice displays. Most end users of anything will not have the same high quality expensive monitor/computer that's being suggested.

I remember reading some article about someone who used an old i3 processor on a 4:3 laptop screen or something, knowing that if his code is slow for him, it's slow for his users. I think this mindset is genius and should be more common. Take MS Teams for example. It's like their devs have only ever tested on a gigabit link M1 and it's painful for the other 99.9% of people who use it.

So if you want to get a nice setup for yourself, then you should. But you should not do it for your clients, and if you do, you should understand your users will not have machines like yours.

Upthread I also stressed the importance of using lower quality displays to account for that aspect of real world usage. The point of having high quality displays to support users who don’t is to be able to reliably understand what’s being displayed in the first place. If you’re working at low fidelity you can only address the users who have the same system flaws you do.
This comment is the equivalent of the developer having a redundant, 10GbE Ethernet connection, building a mobile app for users who will have spotty 3G.
I don’t see a problem with that? Artificially limiting my access to data doesn’t help me better serve people who have concrete limited access to it. It just limits my access to information and my ability to assess what their limits are. I agree that we should also test and experience the things we build the way our users do. But I don’t agree that we should build things by imposing those experiences on ourselves without exception.