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Same here. In the circumstances where I need multiple things up at once I use Windows' window tiling features to arrange things as I need. They even made this functionality better in Windows 11. I'm a big proponent of using one good monitor over any number of other monitors.

One thing that cracks me up is how many of my users request multiple monitor setups, but look at the keyboard while they type.

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I tried powertoys fancy zones (from MS itself) and never looked back. Can’t tell if it will work with 11. My layout is 4 overlapping vertical full-height panes, so I can split the screen in half, or around 2:3 either way. E.g. my browser is usually x=0, w=3/5, and my vim is x=1/2, w=1/2. This way I can see the changes in 1500+-width but slightly overlapped by an editor to feel comfortable with line widths and their left margin.

What stands out in fancy zones is that these areas do not have to tile each other and may overlap. Positioning windows in there is also very UX. I couldn’t find anything close enough in linux world (well, one may always program i3 or awesome, but it’s beyond my scope of interest).

I don’t get why MS doesn’t just build it into windows, since it’s their own, free tool.

> powertoys fancy zones

Second FanzyZones. I've remapped the keys I could to mimic i3, and the only thing keeping it from "perfect" is keyboard shortcuts to control splitting/moving/resizing. You can toggle between pre-configured fixed zones using the keyboard, which is mostly good enough.

PowerToys also has a ton of other useful tools like a color picker, bulk file rename, and keyboard remapping (useful when using Synergy between Windows/MacOS). Highly recommend.

I miss i3 on win - do you have a how-to for that? I use powertoys but only to tweak window layout a bit.

I just remapped the super-pagedn/up keys for window switching (only next/prev instead of hjkl). Otherwise I'm using i3 on Linux, and use Synergy to move between Windows, MacOS, and Linux so it helps to have as much between the three environments consistent.

Windows 11 has a cut down version of fancy zones built in.

I use multiple monitors, look at the keyboard to type, and drive barefoot. 3 things that have no bearing on each other.

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