Howard, I think they are essential.. I have two monitors now.. (hell some of our developers have 5!) so 2 is conservative in my world... The real estate is great.. but the ability to see what you are documenting while you are documenting is just pure heaven..after only having 1 screen. Cheers Nikki ----------------------------------------------- > Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 11:38:45 +1000 > From: bob.trussler@xxxxxxxxx > To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > Subject: atw: Re: Dual-screen monitors > > Howard, > I first got a dual-screen setup in about 2000 when I asked for a crappy slow > PC with a small crappy screen so we could test webpages on the crappiest PC > on our network. We had lovely 22" screens (because as tech writers we needed > the best - and someone believed us) > The nice man came to install things and I left him to it. After he had gone, > I realised that I had a two headed beast. Not what I originally asked for > but I LOVED IT. We found a separate PC for crappy testing. > I was on a project last year where the programmers all had dual screen > setups, but as a TW I "didn't need one" ?? > I have found that unsupported statements like "As a TW, I need the biggest > screen available" usually gets me a nice setup. Try it yourself. > Bob T > On 7/21/06, Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > wrote: > I'm interested to get some idea how many tech writers out there use > dual-screen monitors, and how many (of those working on clients' or > employers' machines) have asked for them and been knocked back. Also I'd > be interested to hear from anyone who's switched to one about how they > find it. > A lot of my work seems to involve switching between documents and I'm now > interested in getting one for my PC. We were going to get them when I was > at Defence, but management suddenly had a change of heart and it never > happened. Many of the software developers had them and it seemed to me > that we had an equally good case. > I know from my experience working on short-term contracts that it was > sometimes hard for the client to find me a PC at all when I first arrived > - or even a desk to sit at sometimes! - but for long-term contracts or > permanent positions I'd have thought it a reasonable requirement. > Howard > Howard Silcock > Technical Writer > Electronic Systems > ADI Limited > PO Box 14, Deakin, ACT 2600, Australia > Ph: +61 2 6234 6000 > Fx: +61 2 6234 6011 > Email: howard.silcock @adi-limited.com > Web: www.adi-limited.com ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelists.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************