Instant Productivity Booster – Vertically Responsive Application

In much the same way that a larger TV can reduce eye strain and improve your viewing experience at home, there are dozens (maybe hundreds) of studies that show increasing your computer monitor size can also improve your productivity, not to mention reduce eye strain.   I’m personally always interested in improving my productivity, and I can use all the help I can get reducing eye strain after looking at these monitors 8 hours a day.   I decided to put the bigger monitor theory to the test.  After reading a few hundred reviews and doing my own research I went with the 32″ BenQ WQHD monitor.  It’s absolutely a behemoth of a monitor, but after just a couple weeks I’m hooked and I’ll never go back.  Whether my productivity has improved only time will tell, but my eyes definitely feel better since they don’t have to strain to see the little words on the monitor any more.

So after hooking up the monitor my first stop was my favorite property management software program.  The first thing I want to know is how the application looks on this big beautiful new monitor.  I immediately noticed a problem!  What’s with all the empty space at the bottom of the screen!?!  I have ledgers with thousands of line items, a monitor that can easily display at least 25 lines, and I was only seeing 13.  Same issue on the property and tenant lists.

Fortunately, I have a little bit of pull with the development staff and here we are just a few days later introducing an update to Rentec Direct where all pages are now vertically responsive (see old vs new screenshot).  Whether you have a 24″ monitor or use Rentec Direct on your 65″ wide-screen home theater setup, the screen now automatically adjusts to use the vertical space available.  Now I’m a happy man and each and every one of us with monitors larger than 21″ are that much more productive!

Today’s TODO list:

1. Buy the biggest quality monitor you can find.  Steer clear of the 4k monitors as everything will be tiny.  I recommend WQHD resolution as it maintains a balance between sharpness and image size.  I got mine here.
2. Load up your favorite property management software and stretch your browser window from the top of the screen to the bottom!
3. Enjoy!

p.s. To everyone in the office who wants a 32″ screen on their desk, the answer is yes.  Let’s see who really reads these. =)