dual lcd screen free sample

The application is completely open-source under MIT license. You can find the source code on GitHub: https://github.com/microsoft/surface-duo-dual-screen-experience-example

If you travel with a laptop and iPad, you need this app. I needed a second screen, but Duet gives me even more. Full gesture support, customizable shortcuts, Touch Bar, tons of resolution options, and very little battery power. How is this all in one app?

I just love this app. Especially when I am travelling for work an working from the company branches. Then I use my iPad as second monitor for Outlook, Lync and other chat while I use the laptop big screen for remote desktop to my workstation at the main office. :)

Dual-screen devices are portable devices with two symmetric screens that work together in unique ways to provide productivity in a flexible form factor.

With dual-screen devices such as the Microsoft Surface Duo, people can get things done on-the-go faster than ever: take notes on one screen and review the full project proposal on the other while in transit; sit down at a table to write a thoughtful email using a software or hardware keyboard while waiting for lunch; and then watch a video, browse the web, or read a book as you get back to your life.

Although dual-screen devices unlock new possibilities for your apps, your existing apps will work as expected on the devices, and there are improvements that you will get without doing any work. This documentation will point those out, while also showing new ways to enhance your app experience by making your app aware of the dual-screen nature of the device.

While there are different dual-screen devices now in the market and more coming, we believe there can be a common way of approaching the design of apps for these devices. We hope this will help your app reach more devices without re-designing from scratch for every device.

In this article, we talk about common design patterns and concepts that are applicable regardless of the operating system you target or the development language you use. For platform specific information about developing apps for dual-screen devices, see Kotlin and Java, React Native, Xamarin, Unity game development, Web technologies, or Windows.

Dual-screen devices can come in a range of hardware and industrial design variations. The recently released Surface Duo, along with other planned devices, are intended to help define the category, but other devices may come with larger displays or varying hinge designs. As you design your apps, keep in mind that you should avoid designing to the specifications of any specific devices available today.

All dual-screen devices can fold, flip, and rotate. Both screens can be used as displays, or one screen may act as a keyboard. The different form factors support a wide variety of activities and allow the user to fit the device to their situation. By taking advantage of the various modes with your app, you will help your users achieve more.

When the user launches an app, its core window opens maximized and occupies the full width and height of a single screen. Users can have multiple applications open at once this way, allowing for side-by-side use of apps and intuitive drag-and-drop scenarios.

An app can also appear across both screens, which is known as a spanned layout. By default, the app will act as if it is being displayed across a larger screen. You can modify your existing app layouts to accommodate the seam between the two screens, or you can go further and design your app using layout controls specifically created to take full advantage of dual-screen devices. This is discussed in more detail later in this article.

There are many features that you may already take advantage of with your apps that will continue to work with little-to-no effort on dual-screen devices supported by Microsoft and will continue to provide a good app experience. We will cover those before discussing how to design your app specifically for dual-screen scenarios.

If you design your app so that it uses responsive layouts, it will look great on every device, regardless of the device"s screen size and orientation. Use existing layout techniques for the UI platform of your choice that automatically scale to fill the screen. If you have screen elements that depend on size and aspect ratio, use the APIs provided by your UI platform to adjust your layout when the size or aspect ratio changes.

Because your app runs on many different devices, you"ve probably already developed it to handle various screen and window sizes, and it should continue to work seamlessly. However, keep in mind that you might need to account for new screen sizes and aspect ratios that are not typical for PCs and mobile devices, such as portrait (taller view), landscape (wider view), dual-portrait (double the width of portrait), and dual-landscape (double the height of landscape).

We expect users to be creative in using dual-screen devices in the manner that works for them. This means your application might not always be used in the typical orientation; portrait for Android, or landscape for Windows. Consider supporting all orientations and screen configurations. For example, if your app is designed primarily for portrait orientation but supports a lot of text entry, users might be more likely to use it in landscape orientation on a dual-screen device, with the keyboard on the bottom screen.

Dual-screen layouts can provide a better environment for multi-tasking. You won"t always know in what mode the user is going to hold the device; but knowing the potential modes lets you optimize your app for the modes that make the most sense for your app.

Many devices, including the new dual-screen devices, support a wide variety of inputs, including typing, touch, and pen. The flexibility of dual-screen devices lets a user quickly switch between modes to fit their task. To ensure a great user experience, make sure your app supports all available input types, so the user remains in control and can interact with your app in the way they prefer.

Making sure your app supports drag-and-drop is another way to ensure a great user experience when using different types of input, not only for dual-screen devices, but also for all other device types.

Drag-and-drop is a feature you can already take advantage of. However, a dual-screen device that runs apps side-by-side especially lends itself to drag-and-drop interactions for a great app experience.

Users may want to take advantage of the second screen to view different content from the same app. To enable this, consider supporting multi-instance, where multiple instances of your app run side-by-side.

If you are creating a media app that can benefit from continuing to play video in the foreground while another app is running, consider supporting picture-in-picture experiences. With more screen real-estate, this gives the user a chance to multi-task by watching the video and performing another task at the same time.

In the previous section we talked about features you can support in your app that are not specific to dual-screen devices, but that can improve the user experience when your app runs on a dual-screen device. Now we"ll look at things you can do to provide a unique experience only when your app runs on a dual-screen device.

On a dual-screen device, your app can run on a single screen, or across both screens. When a single app is presented across two screens, we say it is spanned. How your app responds to being in a spanned state can have a great impact on the user experience. The unique modes that a dual-screen device enables may unlock unprecedented ways your app can be used. For example, devices that have seams down the middle lend themselves well to productivity scenarios that benefit from the compartmentalization of content.

The spanned state should enrich the user"s experience as part of the end-to-end flow of tasks they perform with your app. It shouldn"t be a custom state that is only momentarily valuable. Rather than thinking about specific screens, think of the overall picture.

While this article provides several different ideas as to how you might want to handle multi-screen layout, please make a choice that is right for your users and your app.

When you design your app"s experience to take advantage of two screens, it"s important to learn about your users" intent behind spanning, in both dual-landscape and dual-portrait configurations. While there are more studies to be done, we are starting to observe a tendency for these user preferences:

Keep this in mind when deciding how to apply the dual-screen design patterns. Does the user benefit if you fully adapt your app"s layout and experience, or can you support spanning by simply arranging your app"s controls and elements so that they aren"t obscured by the seam?

There are four layout scenarios to consider when designing your app experience for a dual-screen device, depending on whether the app is on single screen or spanned, and whether the view is default or full-screen.

By default, apps open in a maximized state and occupy a single screen. In dual-screen modes, users can run two apps beside each other to simultaneously compare, consume, or cross-reference content.

Supported by default. If your app was designed to handle different screen sizes and portrait and landscape orientations as described earlier, there"s nothing more you need to do.

When the device is in a dual-screen modes (dual-portrait or dual-landscape), users can extend a single app across both screens, allowing more space for content. The user is responsible for spanning the app, it"s not a state the app enters programmatically.

Support is optional. Spanned mode is unique to dual-screen devices. If you don"t make any modifications to your app, it will behave as if it is being displayed across one large screen. However, you can implement a range of layout optimizations to make your app take advantage of the unique features of dual-screen devices. These are covered in more detail later in this article.

You can programmatically expand your app to use full screen mode when spanned. If an app that is displayed on a single screen in full screen mode is spanned by the user, it will remain full screen.

A spanned layout occurs when a single app is presented across two screens. By default, if an app is not customized for this scenario, the system notifies the app that it now occupies a greater screen width and height and the app"s UI will resize itself to fit the new screen dimensions.

When an app is spanned across two screens, there is going to be a seam — the space between the two screens. This is a byproduct of making a dual-screen device. This section talks about some of the ideas and techniques you might consider to make your app work with the seam.

For example, a map app may span both screens to take advantage of the screen real-estate, but not do anything to handle the seam because the user can move the map content around to avoid the seam. This is discussed in more detail later in the Extended canvas section.

Because there is an obvious seam in the middle of the two screens, some UI—especially elements that are centered inside your app layout—could be obscured by the seam when the user spans your app. This doesn"t cause any functional problems and the app will continue to work; however, it might provide a better experience if the UI were to be shifted to one side of the screen. It"s a good rule of thumb to avoid having text or content display at the seam as it may impact the legibility and usability of your app.

App-launched dialogs should move to one of the screens instead of stretching across both, especially when there are buttons or actions users need to take.

Moreover, many apps take advantage of partial-screen UI overlaid on top of the app content. Depending on its size, you might want to have the overlaid UI take up all of the second screen instead. This can make your app more usable and visually cleaner. Keep in mind that the overlaid partial UI may sometimes imply that it is collapsible or temporary, so be aware of the interaction implications when changing this behavior. This technique might be more appropriate for smaller sized devices.

One responsive layout technique you can use to optimize for dual-screen devices is to rearrange your content when the screen orientation or size changes. Instead of arbitrarily stretching elements of your app across the two screens, you may rearrange them with better groupings to adapt your app content more intentionally.

The split technique renders the image by cutting it and pulling it apart. This is the same behavior you experience when an app is displayed across multiple monitors. This technique works well for apps that have many controls such as buttons that may appear in the middle of the two screens.

The techniques previously discussed are mainly to accommodate the seam so that the app continues to provide value to users. The following patterns let you take advantage of the fact there are two screens.

Here are 5 dual-screen patterns for you to consider. These are not the only patterns for dual-screen devices, but are provided here as a starting point for your imagination to grow.

The extended canvas pattern is the simplest dual-screen pattern, but it"s powerful. You may consider this pattern if you need a bigger canvas for a task such as drawing, or if your app has a free-flowing canvas that the user can freely scroll to avoid the seam if some important content is obscured. This provides the benefit of giving your app more screen real-estate, rather than constricting it to one screen or another.

Taking advantage of the two distinct screens and snapping to the natural boundary, you could use one screen to show the "items" list and the other to show details of the selected item.

As mentioned previously, we are starting to observe a tendency of users to prefer using the dual-landscape view to utilize larger screen real estate. Because of this, you may consider showing list and detail views side-by-side in dual-portrait mode but changing to show only the list view or only detail view in dual-landscape mode.

Having two screens provides a natural affordance to compare and contrast two versions of the same type of content side-by-side, like two images, lists, or documents.

It can also be used to show the same information in two different ways at the same time, with each screen working seamlessly to provide more information to the user. For example, a list of restaurants on one screen, and a map with locations on the other.

If you want to achieve a dual view-like experience without designing two specific views, consider instead supporting multi-instance with your app to take advantage of the built-in support the OS provides. This could be useful for comparing two products opened on two tabs or other similar scenarios.

The companion pane pattern is a great opportunity to take advantage of added screen real-estate by taking second-level surfaces that are otherwise hidden and exposing them when the app is spanned.

You can also take advantage of two screens by placing the app canvas on one screen and using the other to hold tools that manipulate the content of the canvas. When using the companion pane for a tooling scenario, due to the ergonomics, it is likely better suited for tools to be on the right or bottom, but test your app to see what works best for your app.

Separating content for consumption from tools for interactions makes it easier for users to parse and focus on the content. It provides a more ergonomic experience by having tools closer to the hands, especially in dual-landscape modes.

Example: EIZO LCD display FlexScan EV2455 connected to 13.3" 2in1 notebook PC (VAIO Z). Projecting the 13.3" notebook PC display to a 24.1" WUXGA (1920 x 1200 pixels) external display greatly enhances one’s work efficiency.

In this case we opened the multi-display function from the desktop UI by selecting the OS “Project” menu. From the taskbar, click on the Action Center (bottom right of screen) and select “Project,” or if you want to use the shortcut keys, press the Windows Key andP key and the “Project” menu will appear. There are four types of display methods that can be chosen. If you want to expand the desktop UI over two screens, select the “Extend” option.

From here the two screens’ position relative to each other, display size such as text (expansion rate), display orientation, the previous four display method settings, and the main / sub-display monitor settings can be changed. Additionally, if you cannot see your connected display, click on “detect” to try to find the display (if this doesn’t work we recommend reconnecting the cable and/or restarting your PC).

In the “System > Display” menu the screen position, display size (enlargement ratio), display orientation, display method of the multi-display, and main/sub display can be set.

In Windows 10, the Snap Assist function that sticks the window to the edge of the screen is available, and even more convenient. If you drag the window to the left or right of the screen, the window will expand to fill half of the screen. This is also possible in the extended desktop function where two windows can be placed onto the left and right sides of each monitor, making a total of four open windows. This can also be accomplished with the shortcut keys Windows + left or right arrow.

In Windows 10, after a window has been snapped to either the left or right side using the snap function, the empty area in the opposite side will display all other available windows as thumbnails. Choose one of these windows and it will fill that side of the screen.

Furthermore in Windows 10, if a window is moved to one of the four corners of the screen, it will shrink to 1/4 the size of the screen, so that four windows can be displayed at once. Additionally, in a multi-display environment, if you are displaying too many windows and your desktop has become messy, click and drag the window you want to view and quickly shake it to minimize all other windows. You can also press Windows and Home.

If you connect an external display to a notebook PC, being able to create a large-screen, high resolution dual-display environment can significantly improve one’s work efficiency. These days products with high density pixel displays larger than full HD are becoming more common, but if a notebook PC with a screen size of 13 or 14 inches is displayed on one of these high resolution displays, the screen will end up shrinking so that it’s difficult to read, and so it has to be enlarged by 150% or 200%. Therefore it’s not that resolution = workspace, but rather that your workspace is limited to the size of your screen.

For example you could do things like compare multiple pages at once in a web browser; create a graph on a spreadsheet and paste it into a presentation while reading a PDF document; do work on one screen and watch videos or view a social media timeline on the other; play a game on one screen while reading a walk-through on the other, or use an external color management monitor to check for correct colors. Using an external monitor in addition to your notebook PC allows all of these things to be done seamlessly without having to switch between windows.

Example: An EIZO 24.1 inch WUXGA display (FlexScan EV2455) connected to a high-spec 2in1 VAIO Z notebook PC (from here on the examples will display the same set-up). The VAIO Z notebook display has a high definition resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels, but because the screen is only a “mobile” 13.3 inches, on Windows it is expanded to 200%. Adding this to the FlexScan EV2455’s 24.1 inch 1920 x 1200 pixel display, gives a vast area of work space. Of course, because the FlexScan EV2455 has a large screen and 1920 x 1200 pixels, the notebook’s display can be displayed at 100% without needing to increase the 1920 x 1200 pixels. This makes for comfortable browsing of multiple web pages as shown.

Example: On a large external display, you can watch an online video while searching for relevant information on your notebook. Of course you can surf the internet on anything, but the large external screen is perfect for enjoying video content.

A word of advice when choosing a monitor to connect to your notebook PC, in a dual display environment — having the two taskbars at the bottom of the screen be uniform makes it easier to use, but a notebook PC’s height cannot be adjusted, so choosing a product that can be easily adjusted is desirable. Furthermore, because a notebook’s display is situated at a fairly low height, an external monitor that can be lowered to the table surface is better.

On the other hand, if you have an external monitor that can be raised quite high, it can be situated on top of the notebook – achieving an extended workspace on a narrow desk. Additionally, if you have an external monitor that is capable of rotating to a vertical (portrait) position, you can take advantage of the long screen by using it for web pages, SNS timelines, and reading documents.

If an LCD display’s height adjustment range is wide, you can create a vertical multi-display environment like this, reducing the required width of your working space. The image gives the example of a VAIO Z and FlexScan EV2455, but if you tilt the screen of the VAIO Z, the FlexScan EV2455 can be made to not overlap as shown; naturally creating two screens.

In our examples we used the EIZO 24.1-inch WUXGA display FlexScan EV2455 because it is a monitor with a height adjustment range of 131 mm and the ability to be vertically rotated, so it can be easily combined with a notebook PC. Additionally, because of the narrow “frameless” design, the black border and bezel (i.e. noise) is minimized as much as possible. It’s easy to appreciate how the visual transition from one screen to the other becomes naturally gentler on the eyes. This monitor will also suit any photo-retouching and content creation by correctly displaying the sRGB color gamut; i.e. displaying colors the same as those found in most notebook PCs.

It should be noted that in Windows 10, the “tablet mode” cannot be used in a multi-display environment. In Windows 8/8.1 a notebook PC could display the modern UI start screen while an external display could display the desktop UI, but in Windows 10 the multi-display environment is restricted to only using the desktop UI. This is one of the revived functions that were found to be most useful in Windows 7.

Because there are no screen size or resolution restrictions like in a notebook PC, the desktop multi-display environment can use a flexible combination of screen sizes and resolutions according to your location, budget or application. If so inclined, using the previous EIZO monitor, a resolution of 5760 x 1080 pixels could be made from 3 monitors, 5760 x 2160 pixels from 6 monitors, and many more variations can be made.

An example of how a multi-display environment can be used in the business scene. The left display can display tables and calculations of statistical data, while comparing the graphs, and the right screen can be used to summarize the findings in a document. If this were just one monitor, you would be constantly switching between windows, but with two monitors you can see all the necessary data without needing to switch between windows; improving work efficiency and reducing transcribing errors.

An example of how map-based services can be used. On just one screen, the display range of a map is quite narrow, but with two screens, a map, aerial photo, information about the location, and photos from the location can all be displayed at the same time. You can take advantage of the realism of the large screen by doing virtual tours of tourist destinations.

An example of how the multi-display environment can help with photo re-touching. Rotating one monitor to the vertical position can help with retouching portrait photos, or editing long documents and websites. If you want to take advantage of a vertical screen, you need to choose a monitor that can be rotated or buy a separate rotating mount to attach your monitor to.

Most commonly when people want to build a multi-display environment, they start with one monitor, and then later add another one. Ideally, it’s best to purchase multiple monitors of the same model in the beginning. This way the screen size and resolution can be aligned, but also the color and aesthetics will match. But perhaps more importantly, because the monitors are the same age, any defects in the screen such as color variations can be found early-on by comparing the two monitors next to each other.

Another note for those who might be thinking about trying to build a multi-display environment, is that the more monitors you align, the wider your viewing angle will need to be. In order to be able to see each monitor clearly without having to move, you need to buy a product that has wide viewing angles. Furthermore, the more screens you have the harder it is to avoid light reflecting on your screen and into your eyes. To prevent this, we recommend buying a monitor with a glare reducing surface, which will make the screens easier to see and will be easier on your eyes. Additionally, as mentioned above we recommend a monitor with a narrow bezel and black border as it is space-saving and increases visibility among other advantages.

The 24.1-inch WUXGA display FlexScan EV2455 that we used, uses an IPS LCD panel with wide viewing angles and a glare reducing screen. Furthermore it has a narrow-frame design of only 6.2 mm (1 mm bezel and 5.2 mm black border). Therefore two monitors side by side will only have a gap of 12.4 mm, so you can make an almost noiseless multi-display environment. Another feature is the automatic dimming function (Auto EcoView) which leads to less eye fatigue, and less power consumption.

Trying to boost your productivity with a second screen? Want more immersive gaming sessions? Multiple monitors can help. Dual displays are great for multitasking and are easy to set up, but there are a few things to consider before you wade into a multiscreen world—whether you"re on Windows or Mac.

Be sure to check out our advice on how to use a second monitor or screen with your laptop, and you can find recommendations for monitors, monitor arms, and desks in our Home Office Gear guide.If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more.

You can mix and match the types of screens you have at your workstation, though you"ll likely want some consistency. The most common monitor size is 24 inches, but 27-inch screens are increasingly popular. Having the same size screens will be nice for symmetry. Just keep an eye on resolution when you buy. A 1080p screen on a 27-inch monitor might look too fuzzy.

We dive into orientation and arrangements below, but consider different types of screen arrangements. My current preference is a 34-inch ultrawide screen paired with a 27-inch screen in portrait orientation. As the name suggests, ultrawides are really wide and can deliver the experience of two screens, minus the screen"s bezel in between. Pairing it with a screen in portrait mode means you get enough space on the ultrawide to run two full-size browser windows side by side, plus a vertical screen on the side for apps that benefit from it, like Slack and email.

Alternatively, you can mount your screen to your desk and get rid of the stand, freeing up a lot of space. (You can also freely move your screen to various angles and positions.) Many displays support the VESA mount system. There are different sizes, and monitor arms have a screen size range and maximum weight they can support. Always check whether the monitor"s product page mentions VESA support, and note the VESA mount size. When you buy an arm mount, make sure it supports the screen size and weight of your new screen.

With the Dual-Screen Two Arm"s independent monitor positioning, a whole host of configurations become available. Arrange your monitors side-by-side, or stack them up vertically. If you have a touchscreen monitor, you can angle it low or flat while keeping the other upright. You can even share monitors among two workers sitting opposite one another. Just about any configuration option you can think of is at your fingertips.

iMovR"s Tempo Dual-Screen Two Arm Monitor Arm provides 14.5” of height adjustment, giving you optimal ergonomics for sitting or standing. It can extend outward to an impressive 31.6”, which is especially useful for deeper desks (like corner desks), or retract to a 8.4” depth for maximizing your desktop space. You can also tilt back your touchscreen monitor up to 90 degrees or forward up to 45 degrees—or lower your screen all the way down to the surface of the desk.

The ZipView Single and ZipView Dual monitor arms are our most budget friendly options, and usable with monitors weighing up to 17.6 lbs each and featuring a 10-year warranty. Available in silver.

If your workstation only has one LCD screen, our range of single screen monitor arms will give you the range of motion you need to adjust your screen"s position for perfect ergonomics. We have a variety of arms to hold screens of all sizes and weights.

For larger workstations with more than one screen, a dual screen monitor arm is an ergonomic necessity. With an added laptop holder mounted to one of the arms, it can even turn a small notebook computer into a dual screen workstation.

A dual monitor setup isn"t always plug-and-play. Extending your screen to a second or third monitor requires a suitable graphics card with sufficient ports. This is particularly challenging if you"d like to add more than one external screen to your laptop.

When it comes to laptops, another option is to purchase and use compatible docking stations. You may have a docking station option that could extend your laptop (which may only have a single video port), into a docking station that features two or more ports. So, even if you only have one video port available, definitely research the graphics cards if you want to set up a dual monitor laptop.

If you"re still not certain whether your computer can support dual monitors, another option is to research your graphics card. First, look up the brand of your graphics card.

Now, in the Display Settings screen, you should see both monitors detected. You can arrange them to either mirror or extend your desktop. There is also the option to split an HDMI signal to multiple monitors.

Whichever approach you take to set up a dual monitor setup, you configure it all under Settings (press Windows + I) > System > Display. The example above is a laptop connected to an external monitor using the HDMI port on a USB-C dock.

To display different things on two or more displays, you need to extend your screen to the other monitors. Under Settings > System > Display, scroll down to Multiple displays and select Extend these displays.

When it comes to desktop PCs, one thing is for sure: two screens are better than one. That"s especially true for the tech expert who has to multitask several graphics-intensive programs simultaneously.

For one, the aesthetic opportunities of a dual or triple monitor setup are fantastic. Compared to a single display, multi-display arrangements allow you to tailor different screens according to their distinct function and purpose. Where dual or multi-monitor setups excel, however, is in their productivity bump. Most programs—especially those used in professional settings—display poorly when using even half of a complete display.

That"s why a dual-monitor setup allows users dramatic productivity increases. You can constantly view all available tools, menu selections, and information without constantly switching between tasks. In other words, alternate displays allow users additional screen real estate. You don"t have to sacrifice any particular function to monitor hardware, listen to music, edit graphic elements, analyze data, or write content.

You don"t even have to invest in an ultra-high definition display out of the gate to have a decent multi-monitor setup. Older, flat-screen monitors can still do their job rather well in a dual monitor setup. This is especially true when you consider flipping your monitor from landscape to portrait.

If you rotate your desktop on its side, you can use your 24-inch monitor in portrait. This setup can provide plenty of screen real estate, allow for easier reading and scrolling functions, or pose as a live (and endless) news and timeline UI.

Whether you"re a novice or a pro, you can benefit from a basic dual monitor setup. Best of all, most graphics cards allow multiple monitor setups out of the box. Besides, multi-monitor configuration couldn"t be easier!

Picking a second monitor couldn"t be easier, assuming you"re already viewing this via a PC monitor. That"s because most modern monitors in the market are both flat-screen and high definition (16:9 aspect ratio). This allows users plenty of space either in landscape or portrait mode. For example, a simple 23.8-inch Acer monitor can give you crisp 1080p resolution in vivid color.

Larger screen sizes and display resolutions typically determine higher price points. Yet, the setup for an expensive or budget monitor is exactly the same. For a basic dual-monitor setup, not much more than a 23.8-inch display would be necessary. You can even use your laptop as a second monitor.

As trivial as it may sound, part of the fun of a dual or multi-monitor background is using multiple backgrounds. No longer are you tied down to a stale, single background. Better yet, it"s readily available to do in Windows 10!

That"s it! While there are third-party applications out there that also allow for a multiple background setup, the easiest and fastest way to get it done is by default. Below is an example of two reflected wallpapers on a dual-monitor setup.

This step is an extension of the step we just discussed above. Like wallpapers, you can also combine entire displays so that the Windows is maximized across all the monitors. While a widescreen might not increase productivity at work, it can be great for gaming or even watching movies.

Dual monitor setups remind me of solid-state drives. Before users own one, they seem frivolous. After they own one, they become indispensable. Maybe you want to be more productive, or maybe you have a flair for a dramatic PC setup.

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A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ("touch panel") and output ("display") device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is often an LCD, AMOLED or OLED display while the system is usually used in a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. A user can give input or control the information processing system through simple or multi-touch gestures by touching the screen with a special stylus or one or more fingers.zooming to increase the text size.

The touchscreen enables the user to interact directly with what is displayed, rather than using a mouse, touchpad, or other such devices (other than a stylus, which is optional for most modern touchscreens).

Touchscreens are common in devices such as game consoles, personal computers, electronic voting machines, and point-of-sale (POS) systems. They can also be attached to computers or, as terminals, to networks. They play a prominent role in the design of digital appliances such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and some e-readers. Touchscreens are also important in educational settings such as classrooms or on college campuses.

The popularity of smartphones, tablets, and many types of information appliances is driving the demand and acceptance of common touchscreens for portable and functional electronics. Touchscreens are found in the medical field, heavy industry, automated teller machines (ATMs), and kiosks such as museum displays or room automation, where keyboard and mouse systems do not allow a suitably intuitive, rapid, or accurate interaction by the user with the display"s content.

Historically, the touchscreen sensor and its accompanying controller-based firmware have been made available by a wide array of after-market system integrators, and not by display, chip, or motherboard manufacturers. Display manufacturers and chip manufacturers have acknowledged the trend toward acceptance of touchscreens as a user interface component and have begun to integrate touchscreens into the fundamental design of their products.

The prototypeCERNFrank Beck, a British electronics engineer, for the control room of CERN"s accelerator SPS (Super Proton Synchrotron). This was a further development of the self-capacitance screen (right), also developed by Stumpe at CERN

One predecessor of the modern touch screen includes stylus based systems. In 1946, a patent was filed by Philco Company for a stylus designed for sports telecasting which, when placed against an intermediate cathode ray tube display (CRT) would amplify and add to the original signal. Effectively, this was used for temporarily drawing arrows or circles onto a live television broadcast, as described in US 2487641A, Denk, William E, "Electronic pointer for television images", issued 1949-11-08. Later inventions built upon this system to free telewriting styli from their mechanical bindings. By transcribing what a user draws onto a computer, it could be saved for future use. See US 3089918A, Graham, Robert E, "Telewriting apparatus", issued 1963-05-14.

The first version of a touchscreen which operated independently of the light produced from the screen was patented by AT&T Corporation US 3016421A, Harmon, Leon D, "Electrographic transmitter", issued 1962-01-09. This touchscreen utilized a matrix of collimated lights shining orthogonally across the touch surface. When a beam is interrupted by a stylus, the photodetectors which no longer are receiving a signal can be used to determine where the interruption is. Later iterations of matrix based touchscreens built upon this by adding more emitters and detectors to improve resolution, pulsing emitters to improve optical signal to noise ratio, and a nonorthogonal matrix to remove shadow readings when using multi-touch.

The first finger driven touch screen was developed by Eric Johnson, of the Royal Radar Establishment located in Malvern, England, who described his work on capacitive touchscreens in a short article published in 1965Frank Beck and Bent Stumpe, engineers from CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research), developed a transparent touchscreen in the early 1970s,In the mid-1960s, another precursor of touchscreens, an ultrasonic-curtain-based pointing device in front of a terminal display, had been developed by a team around Rainer Mallebrein[de] at Telefunken Konstanz for an air traffic control system.Einrichtung" ("touch input facility") for the SIG 50 terminal utilizing a conductively coated glass screen in front of the display.

In 1972, a group at the University of Illinois filed for a patent on an optical touchscreenMagnavox Plato IV Student Terminal and thousands were built for this purpose. These touchscreens had a crossed array of 16×16 infrared position sensors, each composed of an LED on one edge of the screen and a matched phototransistor on the other edge, all mounted in front of a monochrome plasma display panel. This arrangement could sense any fingertip-sized opaque object in close proximity to the screen. A similar touchscreen was used on the HP-150 starting in 1983. The HP 150 was one of the world"s earliest commercial touchscreen computers.infrared transmitters and receivers around the bezel of a 9-inch Sony cathode ray tube (CRT).

In the early 1980s, General Motors tasked its Delco Electronics division with a project aimed at replacing an automobile"s non-essential functions (i.e. other than throttle, transmission, braking, and steering) from mechanical or electro-mechanical systems with solid state alternatives wherever possible. The finished device was dubbed the ECC for "Electronic Control Center", a digital computer and software control system hardwired to various peripheral sensors, servos, solenoids, antenna and a monochrome CRT touchscreen that functioned both as display and sole method of input.stereo, fan, heater and air conditioner controls and displays, and was capable of providing very detailed and specific information about the vehicle"s cumulative and current operating status in real time. The ECC was standard equipment on the 1985–1989 Buick Riviera and later the 1988–1989 Buick Reatta, but was unpopular with consumers—partly due to the technophobia of some traditional Buick customers, but mostly because of costly technical problems suffered by the ECC"s touchscreen which would render climate control or stereo operation impossible.

The first commercially available graphical point-of-sale (POS) software was demonstrated on the 16-bit Atari 520ST color computer. It featured a color touchscreen widget-driven interface.COMDEX expo in 1986.

In 1987, Casio launched the Casio PB-1000 pocket computer with a touchscreen consisting of a 4×4 matrix, resulting in 16 touch areas in its small LCD graphic screen.

Touchscreens had a bad reputation of being imprecise until 1988. Most user-interface books would state that touchscreen selections were limited to targets larger than the average finger. At the time, selections were done in such a way that a target was selected as soon as the finger came over it, and the corresponding action was performed immediately. Errors were common, due to parallax or calibration problems, leading to user frustration. "Lift-off strategy"University of Maryland Human–Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL). As users touch the screen, feedback is provided as to what will be selected: users can adjust the position of the finger, and the action takes place only when the finger is lifted off the screen. This allowed the selection of small targets, down to a single pixel on a 640×480 Video Graphics Array (VGA) screen (a standard of that time).

Sears et al. (1990)human–computer interaction of the time, describing gestures such as rotating knobs, adjusting sliders, and swiping the screen to activate a switch (or a U-shaped gesture for a toggle switch). The HCIL team developed and studied small touchscreen keyboards (including a study that showed users could type at 25 wpm on a touchscreen keyboard), aiding their introduction on mobile devices. They also designed and implemented multi-touch gestures such as selecting a range of a line, connecting objects, and a "tap-click" gesture to select while maintaining location with another finger.

In 1990, HCIL demonstrated a touchscreen slider,lock screen patent litigation between Apple and other touchscreen mobile phone vendors (in relation to

An early attempt at a handheld game console with touchscreen controls was Sega"s intended successor to the Game Gear, though the device was ultimately shelved and never released due to the expensive cost of touchscreen technology in the early 1990s.

Touchscreens would not be popularly used for video games until the release of the Nintendo DS in 2004.Apple Watch being released with a force-sensitive display in April 2015.

In 2007, 93% of touchscreens shipped were resistive and only 4% were projected capacitance. In 2013, 3% of touchscreens shipped were resistive and 90% were projected capacitance.

A resistive touchscreen panel comprises several thin layers, the most important of which are two transparent electrically resistive layers facing each other with a thin gap between. The top layer (that which is touched) has a coating on the underside surface; just beneath it is a similar resistive layer on top of its substrate. One layer has conductive connections along its sides, the other along top and bottom. A voltage is applied to one layer and sensed by the other. When an object, such as a fingertip or stylus tip, presses down onto the outer surface, the two layers touch to become connected at that point.voltage dividers, one axis at a time. By rapidly switching between each layer, the position of pressure on the screen can be detected.

Resistive touch is used in restaurants, factories and hospitals due to its high tolerance for liquids and contaminants. A major benefit of resistive-touch technology is its low cost. Additionally, as only sufficient pressure is necessary for the touch to be sensed, they may be used with gloves on, or by using anything rigid as a finger substitute. Disadvantages include the need to press down, and a risk of damage by sharp objects. Resistive touchscreens also suffer from poorer contrast, due to having additional reflections (i.e. glare) from the layers of material placed over the screen.3DS family, and the Wii U GamePad.

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over the touchscreen panel. When the panel is touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed. The change in ultrasonic waves is processed by the controller to determine the position of the touch event. Surface acoustic wave touchscreen panels can be damaged by outside elements. Contaminants on the surface can also interfere with the functionality of the touchscreen.

A capacitive touchscreen panel consists of an insulator, such as glass, coated with a transparent conductor, such as indium tin oxide (ITO).electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. Different technologies may be used to determine the location of the touch. The location is then sent to the controller for processing. Touchscreens that use silver instead of ITO exist, as ITO causes several environmental problems due to the use of indium.complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chip, which in turn usually sends the signals to a CMOS digital signal processor (DSP) for processing.

Unlike a resistive touchscreen, some capacitive touchscreens cannot be used to detect a finger through electrically insulating material, such as gloves. This disadvantage especially affects usability in consumer electronics, such as touch tablet PCs and capacitive smartphones in cold weather when people may be wearing gloves. It can be overcome with a special capacitive stylus, or a special-application glove with an embroidered patch of conductive thread allowing electrical contact with the user"s fingertip.

A low-quality switching-mode power supply unit with an accordingly unstable, noisy voltage may temporarily interfere with the precision, accuracy and sensitivity of capacitive touch screens.

Some capacitive display manufacturers continue to develop thinner and more accurate touchscreens. Those for mobile devices are now being produced with "in-cell" technology, such as in Samsung"s Super AMOLED screens, that eliminates a layer by building the capacitors inside the display itself. This type of touchscreen reduces the visible distance between the user"s finger and what the user is touching on the screen, reducing the thickness and weight of the display, which is desirable in smartphones.

This diagram shows how eight inputs to a lattice touchscreen or keypad creates 28 unique intersections, as opposed to 16 intersections created using a standard x/y multiplexed touchscreen .

Some modern PCT touch screens are composed of thousands of discrete keys,etching a single conductive layer to form a grid pattern of electrodes, by etching two separate, perpendicular layers of conductive material with parallel lines or tracks to form a grid, or by forming an x/y grid of fine, insulation coated wires in a single layer . The number of fingers that can be detected simultaneously is determined by the number of cross-over points (x * y) . However, the number of cross-over points can be almost doubled by using a diagonal lattice layout, where, instead of x elements only ever crossing y elements, each conductive element crosses every other element .

In some designs, voltage applied to this grid creates a uniform electrostatic field, which can be measured. When a conductive object, such as a finger, comes into contact with a PCT panel, it distorts the local electrostatic field at that point. This is measurable as a change in capacitance. If a finger bridges the gap between two of the "tracks", the charge field is further interrupted and detected by the controller. The capacitance can be changed and measured at every individual point on the grid. This system is able to accurately track touches.

These environmental factors, however, are not a problem with "fine wire" based touchscreens due to the fact that wire based touchscreens have a much lower "parasitic" capacitance, and there is greater distance between neighbouring conductors.

This is a common PCT approach, which makes use of the fact that most conductive objects are able to hold a charge if they are very close together. In mutual capacitive sensors, a capacitor is inherently formed by the row trace and column trace at each intersection of the grid. A 16×14 array, for example, would have 224 independent capacitors. A voltage is applied to the rows or columns. Bringing a finger or conductive stylus close to the surface of the sensor changes the local electrostatic field, which in turn reduces the mutual capacitance. The capacitance change at every individual point on the grid can be measured to accurately determine the touch location by measuring the voltage in the other axis. Mutual capacitance allows multi-touch operation where multiple fingers, palms or styli can be accurately tracked at the same time.

Self-capacitive touch screen layers are used on mobile phones such as the Sony Xperia Sola,Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S5, and Galaxy Alpha.

Capacitive touchscreens do not necessarily need to be operated by a finger, but until recently the special styli required could be quite expensive to purchase. The cost of this technology has fallen greatly in recent years and capacitive styli are now widely available for a nominal charge, and often given away free with mobile accessories. These consist of an electrically conductive shaft with a soft conductive rubber tip, thereby resistively connecting the fingers to the tip of the stylus.

Infrared sensors mounted around the display watch for a user"s touchscreen input on this PLATO V terminal in 1981. The monochromatic plasma display"s characteristic orange glow is illustrated.

An infrared touchscreen uses an array of X-Y infrared LED and photodetector pairs around the edges of the screen to detect a disruption in the pattern of LED beams. These LED beams cross each other in vertical and horizontal patterns. This helps the sensors pick up the exact location of the touch. A major benefit of such a system is that it can detect essentially any opaque object including a finger, gloved finger, stylus or pen. It is generally used in outdoor applications and POS systems that cannot rely on a conductor (such as a bare finger) to activate the touchscreen. Unlike capacitive touchscreens, infrared touchscreens do not require any patterning on the glass which increases durability and optical clarity of the overall system. Infrared touchscreens are sensitive to dirt and dust that can interfere with the infrared beams, and suffer from parallax in curved surfaces and accidental press when the user hovers a finger over the screen while searching for the item to be selected.

A translucent acrylic sheet is used as a rear-projection screen to display information. The edges of the acrylic sheet are illuminated by infrared LEDs, and infrared cameras are focused on the back of the sheet. Objects placed on the sheet are detectable by the cameras. When the sheet is touched by the user, frustrated total internal reflection results in leakage of infrared light which peaks at the points of maximum pressure, indicating the user"s touch location. Microsoft"s PixelSense tablets use this technology.

Optical touchscreens are a relatively modern development in touchscreen technology, in which two or more image sensors (such as CMOS sensors) are placed around the edges (mostly the corners) of the screen. Infrared backlights are placed in the sensor"s field of view on the opposite side of the screen. A touch blocks some lights from the sensors, and the location and size of the touching object can be calculated (see visual hull). This technology is growing in popularity due to its scalability, versatility, and affordability for larger touchscreens.

The key to this technology is that a touch at any one position on the surface generates a sound wave in the substrate which then produces a unique combined signal as measured by three or more tiny transducers attached to the edges of the touchscreen. The digitized signal is compared to a list corresponding to every position on the surface, determining the touch location. A moving touch is tracked by rapid repetition of this process. Extraneous and ambient sounds are ignored since they do not match any stored sound profile. The technology differs from other sound-based technologies by using a simple look-up method rather than expensive signal-processing hardware. As with the dispersive signal technology system, a motionless finger cannot be detected after the initial touch. However, for the same reason, the touch recognition is not disrupted by any resting objects. The technology was created by SoundTouch Ltd in the early 2000s, as described by the patent family EP1852772, and introduced to the market by Tyco International"s Elo division in 2006 as Acoustic Pulse Recognition.

There are several principal ways to build a touchscreen. The key goals are to recognize one or more fingers touching a display, to interpret the command that this represents, and to communicate the command to the appropriate application.

There are two infrared-based approaches. In one, an array of sensors detects a finger touching or almost touching the display, thereby interrupting infrared light beams projected over the screen. In the other, bottom-mounted infrared cameras record heat from screen touches.

The development of multi-touch screens facilitated the tracking of more than one finger on the screen; thus, operations that require more than one finger are possible. These devices also allow multiple users to interact with the touchscreen simultaneously.

With the growing use of touchscreens, the cost of touchscreen technology is routinely absorbed into the products that incorporate it and is nearly eliminated. Touchscreen technology has demonstrated reliability and is found in airplanes, automobiles, gaming consoles, machine control systems, appliances, and handheld display devices including cellphones; the touchscreen market for mobile devices was projected to produce US$5 billion by 2009.

The ability to accurately point on the screen itself is also advancing with the emerging graphics tablet-screen hybrids. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) plays a major role in this innovation due its high piezoelectric properties, which allow the tablet to sense pressure, making such things as digital painting behave more like paper and pencil.

TapSense, announced in October 2011, allows touchscreens to distinguish what part of the hand was used for input, such as the fingertip, knuckle and fingernail. This could be used in a variety of ways, for example, to copy and paste, to capitalize letters, to activate different drawing modes, etc.

For touchscreens to be effective input devices, users must be able to accurately select targets and avoid accidental selection of adjacent targets. The design of touchscreen interfaces should reflect technical capabilities of the system, ergonomics, cognitive psychology and human physiology.

Guidelines for touchscreen designs were first developed in the 2000s, based on early research and actual use of older systems, typically using infrared grids—which were highly dependent on the size of the user"s fingers. These guidelines are less relevant for the bulk of modern touch devices which use capacitive or resistive touch technology.

Much more important is the accuracy humans have in selecting targets with their finger or a pen stylus. The accuracy of user selection varies by position on the screen: users are most accurate at the center, less so at the left and right edges, and least accurate at the top edge and especially the bottom edge. The R95 accuracy (required radius for 95% target accuracy) varies from 7 mm (0.28 in) in the center to 12 mm (0.47 in) in the lower corners.

This user inaccuracy is a result of parallax, visual acuity and the speed of the feedback loop between the eyes and fingers. The precision of the human finger alone is much, much higher than this, so when assistive technologies are provided—such as on-screen magnifiers—users can move their finger (once in contact with the screen) with precision as small as 0.1 mm (0.004 in).

Users of handheld and portable touchscreen devices hold them in a variety of ways, and routinely change their method of holding and selection to suit the position and type of input. There are four basic types of handheld interaction:

Touchscreens are often used with haptic response systems. A common example of this technology is the vibratory feedback provided when a button on the touchscreen is tapped. Haptics are used to improve the user"s experience with touchscreens by providing simulated tactile feedback, and can be designed to react immediately, partly countering on-screen response latency. Research from the University of Glasgow (Brewster, Chohan, and Brown, 2007; and more recently Hogan) demonstrates that touchscreen users reduce input errors (by 20%), increase input speed (by 20%), and lower their cognitive load (by 40%) when touchscreens are combined with haptics or tactile feedback. On top of this, a study conducted in 2013 by Boston College explored the effects that touchscreens haptic stimulation had on triggering psychological ownership of a product. Their research concluded that a touchscreens ability to incorporate high amounts of haptic involvement resulted in customers feeling more endowment to the products they were designing or buying. The study also reported that consumers using a touchscreen were willing to accept a higher price point for the items they were purchasing.

Unsupported touchscreens are still fairly common in applications such as ATMs and data kiosks, but are not an issue as the typical user only engages for brief and widely spaced periods.

Touchscreens can suffer from the problem of fingerprints on the display. This can be mitigated by the use of materials with optical coatings designed to reduce the visible effects of fingerprint oils. Most modern smartphones have oleophobic coatings, which lessen the amount of oil residue. Another option is to install a matte-finish anti-glare screen protector, which creates a slightly roughened surface that does not easily retain smudges.

Touchscreens do not work most of the time when the user wears gloves. The thickness of the glove and the material they are made of play a significant role on that and the ability of a touchscreen to pick up a touch.

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