Are you using dual monitors? If so, how?

I use two monitors for many reasons:

1) Chrome monitor 1, Firefox monitor 2

2) SME change requests monitor 1, PPT slides monitor 2

3) PPT slides monitor 1, quiz question document monitor 2

4) Audacity monitor 1, lesson script monitor 2

Three monitors:

• Fireworks, Chrome and Klok at right. Sometimes Camtasia is here as well.
• PowerPoint, Excel, Word (storyboards, change request status, and SME notes, respectively) and Audacity at left
• Outlook and main authoring tools (Articulate, Lectora, myUdutu, etc) in the center. An open Dropbox folder usually rests here, but tends to float to whichever monitor makes the most sense for it to rest.

This is my setup at work. Once you go to this setup, however, it's really kind of hard to go back to one monitor..which is why I ordered two more monitors for my home office over the weekend.

Three monitors! Now that's a power setup. I've used two but mostly use my single, 30".

What's funny, is that I will often disconnect monitor and use only the laptop. Something about the smaller screen seems to help filter out the noise that comes with the larger screens

Although, I'm intrigued by the idea of three monitors...

I agree with Craig.  Once I went with dual monitors it's hard to work on anything else.  I find that it's more of a constant shuffle between screens depending on what I am working on at the time.  Nobody mentioned where they put their tunes.  I usually have iTunes or Pandora running on stage 2.  I think I might need the 3rd monitor like Craig mentioned for my tunes.

Oddly, I usually use my iPod shuffle (the little clip-on one) or my phone; this way, if i need to get up to get coffee or whatever, I don't lose the 'mental cocoon' that I've created for myself.

I run two monitors, typically I lay them out like this:

1. Outlook, PPT, Fireworks, Engage, and Quizmaker

2. IE, my content for online class or quizmaker quizzes, and misc programs

I love that I can roll from one screen to the other with what I'm cutting and pasting.  I use it to compare similar docs too.

I agree no way could I go back to one monitor.  Very little investment for a lot of efficiency!

Oh yeah and, of course, I can read my e-learning hero emails on one screen and open the links on the other one!

I'm super super jealous of Craig for having three monitors! I have two and I could NEVER go back to one. In fact, I started my current job in February after having worked for 3 years with dual monitors and when I got to my desk, the first thing I asked my boss was if I could bring in a second monitor. When you're incorporating comments, it is literally the best invention in the world. Here's my typical setup:

Monitor 1:

PowerPoint/Articulate Product Suite

Email

Monitor 2:

Word documents (client/SME comments, source material, etc)

Excel spreadsheets (source material, schedules, etc)

PDFs (source material)

Internet Explorer

Miscellaneous other junk

Now if I could only convince my boss to let me switch to Mac with Windows running in Parallels, my setup would be complete...

Agreed - that would be living the dream.

I would love to be able to have powerpoint on each monitor,

Phil

You can, with PowerPoint 2010.