Display settings should not be per user

[birger]

On Fri, 2010-02-12 at 07:39 +0100, Tobias Ringström wrote:
> Why would anyone even want user specific display settings? Are users 
> expected to move monitors around between logging in? Per user settings 
> might be useful as a feature, but it's a very unfriendly default, or am 
> I missing something?

Yes and no...

Remember the old CRT screens? You know, those that are big and bulky?
They are still in use, and on those changing the resolution was the easy
way to adjust the user experience in one step for users with either
better or poorer sight than the norm.

For flat screens this is a very, very wrong way to do it, but old habits
never die. I could agree that users shouldn't be allowed to change
resolution on flat screens. Instead they should get info on the proper
way.

Placement of screens is a different story. No, users are not supposed to
move their screens around. What they frequently do is move the computers
around. You know - laptops? For laptops you definitely want users to
control placement of screens, right? At work I have one setup, at my
home office a second one. Then there are at least two frequently used
meeting rooms, one with a big screen, the other with a projector.

Ideally, each external screen should be recognized (does EDID hold a
serial number?) so the previous setup for that screen could be recalled
automagically.

I could agree that it should be easy to set a system default, especially
for desktop systems. I clearly see the problem with the login prompt in
certain configurations.

For the first problem, adjusting to sight, there are other possibilities
that should be used, but adjusting resolution was more user friendly
than having to tweak a whole lot of settings to get everything right.
Perhaps there should be a tool in 'assistive technologies' to handle all
of this? The display configuration could then have a button to launch
this tool.

birger