My Space NOT MySpace: Share What Your Workspace Looks Like
May 16th, 2007 (12:00pm) Stephen Collins 25 Comments
Following on from our post with tips for reorganizing your workspace for better productivity, we at Web Worker Daily want to know how you’ve arranged your own physical desktop. You can tell us about it in the comments or take a picture and share it via the Flickr group we set up.
Here’s what my workspace looks like:
My MacBook Pro is lifted up on a Griffin Elevator. This excellent product has made a significant difference to the amount of head tilting I have to do. Also aligning the top of the MacBook Pro screen with the top of the monitor makes a big difference ergonomically.
I’ve eliminated as many cables as I can - I have an Apple Wireless Keyboard and an Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse. I also use wireless networking, despite being just inches from the router most of the time. I have a 4-port USB hub under the Elevator for attaching my camera, USB keys and other such stuff. I’d prefer to have one of these sexy LaCie jobs, but at over AU$100, that’s an expensive hub! The rest of my cables are organized using velcro cable tape to attach them to the Elevator or cluster them behind the desk.
On clustering, I cluster my apps too. Apps where I don’t spend a lot of time - iTunes, Mail, Skype - but that I want open live on the 17″ monitor. Busier apps, where I do a lot of work - Firefox, NeoOffice, Lightroom and the like, stay on the MacBook Pro screen.
The only other kit I have on the desk is the router and storage - lots of it. I have a home-made NAS made up of a Linksys NSLU2 and a 500Gb HDD. Using the NSLU2 makes it available over the network to the other computers in the house as well as to me when I’m on a client site. I also carry a portable 80Gb USB HDD around with me when I’m away from the office.
Using an antique desk, while not suited to a large computer, is great for the notebook form factor. It also has a lot of drawers - seven, in fact. Those drawers hide paper, pens, folders, etc. My trays are over to the left of my desk (out of the photo) on a filing cabinet. I also keep company files and my GTD files in the cabinet.
So, what’s your setup like? Describe it here in the comments. Add a photo to your Flickr account, annotate it if you’d like, and make sure you add to to the My space NOT MySpace group photo pool.
25 Comments Post your own comment
Brian Purkiss says: May 16th, 2007 1:02pm
But hey, I’m going to be getting the Mac Book Pro soon - so my desk set up shall change… :-D
Brian Purkiss says: May 16th, 2007 1:03pm
Erm… My picture didn’t post…
Brian Purkiss says: May 16th, 2007 1:03pm
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/183/407456188_f23592cf87.jpg
Here it is…
matthew says: May 16th, 2007 1:10pm
man, i feel left out because i only have one computer.
aeschright says: May 16th, 2007 2:01pm
Mine is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ame/501261410/
Eric Gruber says: May 16th, 2007 3:31pm
I could post a picture, but I’d have to clean my desk first!
Clark says: May 16th, 2007 3:47pm
Here you go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelake/41297824/
ucantblamem says: May 16th, 2007 3:51pm
@ work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucantblamem/441639080/
@ home: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ucantblamem/320357000/
wagi says: May 16th, 2007 6:26pm
I wish i had 2 computers.
Kevin says: May 16th, 2007 6:37pm
To indigo_cin’s: How do you like the Kinesis ergo? I’ve been debating getting one of these for about 3 or 4 years now…
Kevin
ben says: May 16th, 2007 9:53pm
No camera, but…
Three computers: one desktop with a 19" LCD for Photoshop and other activities requiring lots of continuous desktop space, a subnotebook for writing code, and an ancient Dell for testing in IE6, with a cheap 15" LCD that’s either plugged into the Dell or running as a second monitor on the notebook. (With luck and grace I’ll be able to ditch that one soon; I didn’t realize how crappy it was until I got the 19", which itself merely rates as consumer-grade.)
All three of these machines share a 72" table with a desk lamp, a cordless telephone and satellite base, and a pair of speakers. The desktop towers are positioned inside the table legs. There’s a lot going on in twelve square feet of space.
(I swear by those tables. They’re big and they don’t fall apart, ever.)
The big wins are the phone and the wastebasket. It’s neat when all you need to do is look slightly to one side when someone calls, and… well, it’s easy to underestimate the value of having a wastebasket close by.
almostgotit says: May 16th, 2007 10:13pm
Another great post… no wonder WWD is consistently at the top of Word Press blogs!
So many new techy things (half of which are still Martian Objects to me) and yet the need to figure out how to organize our working space never changes (though the *way* we organize does, of course) Reminds me for some reason of the IT guy who was giving a presentation to a bunch of other IT guys (at, obviously, an IT guy convention of some sort. And this is not sexist, because from the northwest where I come from, “guys” is gender neutral.) Anyway, the IT guy says he was going to show them all the best organizational device he’d ever found (and he had tried them all) Out of his pocket he pulled a bundle of 3×5 index cards bound with a rubber band…
Kate says: May 17th, 2007 12:51am
Work space is a factor, but i’m kind a boring type, so i change my desk sometime.
I think for me, my workspace must not boring me.
@work : http://flickr.com/photos/katemag/501811246/
JJ Merrick says: May 17th, 2007 8:04am
Your Space
WWD has an article about people who post pictures of their workspaces online. I am very intrigued about how other web workers have their spaces setup. Some like the laptop/monitor setup, some go for old desks and cluttered desktops. You
Kelly says: May 17th, 2007 5:51pm
Submitted to the Lifehacker contest. What the heck.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/greyfodder/502691386/
Clifford Moonie Pusey says: May 18th, 2007 9:49am
My world that I do everything in. That is an old Mac 8500 under the desk which is used only when I need to work on OS 9 applications. The bulk of the work in done on a G4 Powerbook 15.2 which is hidden. No windows so it gets a little hot in the summer. I try to keep it somewhat organized.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8329129@N07/501284097/in/pool-355394@N20/
ig says: May 18th, 2007 12:54pm
This post inspired me to do a photo of my workspace. I’ve got a different thing going in that I do a daily blog on guitar stuff (www.igblog.wordpress.com), so, not only do I need computers, I need music production stuff to do playalongs for my audience (backing music tracks to learn improvisation), as well as other sound stuff. So, here’s the space of a “music blogger:”
http://igblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/igblogcentral.jpg
Once I had this photo, I thought of doing a small section on the blog called “behind the scenes,” where I can put stuff that’s not really value-driven for my audience, but, funny or interesting or just extra. I created a link called “IG BLOG Behind the Scenes” in the “About” section at the top of the blog, and the space photo is the first item there.
All of this, inspired by Web Worker Daily’s post.
On the computer side, I use a Mac mini and a PC Gateway laptop.
astobasto says: May 19th, 2007 4:21am
I listened to my needs and made my own “Media Desktop”: http://www.astounded.se/blog/?p=5
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dantcz says: July 26th, 2007 8:39am
Some cool home office set ups. Ive put up a load more links on my home office photos blog http://www.thehomeofficeblog.com
myspace layout stealer says: July 26th, 2007 12:31pm
myspace layout stealer
then again, the opposite could be true
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