Display Planner
Describe every monitor on your desk and compare them on the things a spec sheet hides. Then lay the desk out to scale, and take the plan with you as a table, a diagram or a link.
The desk scene
Two displays on a 55 inch desk, drawn to scale as you would see them from your chair, with the viewpoint marked. With JavaScript on you can drag them, or move the selected one with the keyboard alone.
27" 4K: 598 by 336 mm, landscape. Left edge 124 mm across, bottom 0 mm above the desk, 466 mm back. Display 1 of 2.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| [ and ] | Pick the previous or next object, ending with the viewpoint. |
| Arrow keys | Move the selection across the desk and up or down, 10 mm a press. |
| Shift or Alt with an arrow | 100 mm a press, or 1 mm a press. |
| Page Up and Page Down | Move the selection away from you or towards you. |
| r, d, Delete | Rotate between landscape and portrait, duplicate, remove. |
| Home and End | Centre it on the desk, or drop it to the desk surface. |
| a and s | Lay every display side by side, or stack them. |
The six layout templates
Six desks people actually work at, drawn to the same scale as the one above. Each is a starting point rather than a recommendation: with JavaScript on you pick one and it becomes your desk, with every panel free to move.
With JavaScript on you pick one of these and it becomes your desk, ready to edit. Here all six are drawn instead, because there is nothing to press.
34" ultrawide above 2 x 27" 1440p
A pair side by side on the desk, the wide one on a shelf above them. It puts down 27" 1440p (left), 27" 1440p (right), 34" UW (above) on a 55 inch desk.
49" super-ultrawide, single display
One panel about as wide as two 27 inch screens, with no seam down the middle. It puts down 49" super-UW on a 55 inch desk.
32" 4K + vertical 27" 1440p
A wide main panel with a second one stood on its end for long documents. It puts down 32" 4K (main), 27" 1440p (upright) on a 55 inch desk.
3 x 24" 1080p
Three ordinary panels in a row. It needs a wider desk than the rest. It puts down 24" 1080p (left), 24" 1080p (centre), 24" 1080p (right) on a 66 inch desk.
2 x 32" 4K stacked
One panel directly above the other, same centre line. It puts down 32" 4K (lower), 32" 4K (upper) on a 55 inch desk.
Laptop + 27" 4K
The laptop at the front of the desk, the big panel behind it. It puts down 16" laptop (in front), 27" 4K (behind) on a 55 inch desk.
| Template | What it puts on the desk | Displays | Desk |
|---|---|---|---|
| 34" ultrawide above 2 x 27" 1440p | 27" 1440p (left), 27" 1440p (right), 34" UW (above) | 3 | 55 in |
| 49" super-ultrawide, single display | 49" super-UW | 1 | 55 in |
| 32" 4K + vertical 27" 1440p | 32" 4K (main), 27" 1440p (upright) | 2 | 55 in |
| 3 x 24" 1080p | 24" 1080p (left), 24" 1080p (centre), 24" 1080p (right) | 3 | 66 in |
| 2 x 32" 4K stacked | 32" 4K (lower), 32" 4K (upper) | 2 | 55 in |
| Laptop + 27" 4K | 16" laptop (in front), 27" 4K (behind) | 2 | 55 in |
The ergonomic overlays
Arch's eight optional overlays, all drawn at once here: the desk's edges, your eye line, your centre line, the reach arcs from your shoulders, the keyboard space, the head turn to each display, the minimum viewing distance, and any panels that would run into each other. In the page each one is its own checkbox, and every one starts off. The ergonomic overlays are informational, not medical advice.
| Overlay | Finding |
|---|---|
| Desk boundaries | The row fits a 55" desk with 10.5" to spare. |
| Eye line | The top of 27" 4K is 84 mm below your eye line, so you would look down at it. |
| Eye line | The top of 24" 1080p is 121 mm below your eye line, so you would look down at it. |
| Centre line | The displays are centred on you, within 50 mm. |
| Arm reach and pivots | 27" 4K is 826 mm away at its nearest point, beyond a seated arm's reach of 635 mm. |
| Arm reach and pivots | 24" 1080p is 827 mm away at its nearest point, beyond a seated arm's reach of 635 mm. |
| Keyboard position | The keyboard and the display stands want 470 mm of the desk's 686 mm depth. |
| Neck rotation | To face 27" 4K you would turn about 18 degrees to its centre and 45 degrees to its far edge, inside the 45 degree comfortable turn. |
| Neck rotation | To face 24" 1080p you would turn about 21 degrees to its centre and 44 degrees to its far edge, inside the 45 degree comfortable turn. |
| Minimum viewing distance | 27" 4K is 906 mm from your eyes, at or beyond the 500 mm minimum. |
| Minimum viewing distance | 24" 1080p is 922 mm from your eyes, at or beyond the 500 mm minimum. |
The four comparison views
The same desk, drawn four ways. Each view says underneath it what its numbers mean and what its scale bar measures, because only the first one is in millimetres.
The ergonomic overlays are measured in millimetres on the desk, so they are drawn in the physical view only. Switch back to Physical to see them.
Physical
Physical view. Every panel at its true size, in millimetres, seen from your chair. Scale bar: 100 mm.
Pixel density
Pixel density view. The same window on every panel, drawn at that panel's own density and OS scaling, in millimetres: the smaller the box, the denser the panel. Scale bar: 100 mm.
Effective workspace
Effective workspace view. Every panel sized by the room it gives after OS scaling, in logical points, not in millimetres. Scale bar: 500 points.
Viewing angle
Viewing angle view. Every panel as the slice of your view it covers from where you sit, in degrees, not in millimetres. Scale bar: 10 degrees.
The application mockups
The panels can be filled with a pretend interface, drawn at each display's own pixel density. That is what makes the difference between two panels something you can see rather than a number you have to work out: the desk below is a 27 inch 4K panel beside a 24 inch 1080p one, and the same mockup comes out with visibly different text on each. The drawings are schematic and belong to no product, but every text size in them is real.
With JavaScript on there are ten mockups and you pick one. Here four of them are drawn, because every drawing on this page has to be sent whether you look at it or not; all nine of the drawn-at-build-time mockups are read out in words in the table further down, and the tenth is your own screenshot.
Choosing your own screenshot needs JavaScript, because the browser reads the file inside the page. Without JavaScript the other nine mockups are drawn here and no file is asked for. Either way nothing is ever uploaded.
Terminal
Code editor
Spreadsheet
Empty grid
| Mockup | Display | What is drawn, and how big its text comes out |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal | 27" 4K | Terminal, 320 by 84 character cells. Text 4.0 mm tall. |
| Terminal | 24" 1080p | Terminal, 240 by 63 character cells. Text 4.7 mm tall. |
| Code editor | 27" 4K | Code editor, 303 columns by 83 lines, with a gutter and a minimap. Text 4.0 mm tall. |
| Code editor | 24" 1080p | Code editor, 223 columns by 62 lines, with a gutter and a minimap. Text 4.7 mm tall. |
| Web browser | 27" 4K | Web browser, 66 characters across by 50 lines of page text. Text 6.1 mm tall. |
| Web browser | 24" 1080p | Web browser, 66 characters across by 36 lines of page text. Text 7.2 mm tall. |
| Documentation window | 27" 4K | Documentation window, 53 characters across by 48 lines, contents beside it. Text 6.5 mm tall. |
| Documentation window | 24" 1080p | Documentation window, 53 characters across by 35 lines, contents beside it. Text 7.7 mm tall. |
| Video timeline | 27" 4K | Video timeline, 18 tracks and 25 ruler ticks under a preview. Text 4.2 mm tall. |
| Video timeline | 24" 1080p | Video timeline, 13 tracks and 19 ruler ticks under a preview. Text 5.0 mm tall. |
| Spreadsheet | 27" 4K | Spreadsheet, 27 columns by 63 rows of cells The picture stops part way, because a panel this size holds more of this interface than is worth drawing; the counts above and the text size are the real ones.. Text 5.1 mm tall. |
| Spreadsheet | 24" 1080p | Spreadsheet, 20 columns by 46 rows of cells The picture stops part way, because a panel this size holds more of this interface than is worth drawing; the counts above and the text size are the real ones.. Text 6.1 mm tall. |
| Chat panel | 27" 4K | Chat panel, 56 message lines beside a channel list. Text 5.6 mm tall. |
| Chat panel | 24" 1080p | Chat panel, 41 message lines beside a channel list. Text 6.6 mm tall. |
| Monitoring dashboard | 27" 4K | Monitoring dashboard, 42 tiles, 7 across by 6 down. Text 4.7 mm tall. |
| Monitoring dashboard | 24" 1080p | Monitoring dashboard, 25 tiles, 5 across by 5 down. Text 5.5 mm tall. |
| Empty grid | 27" 4K | Empty grid, 25 by 14 squares of 100 logical points. |
| Empty grid | 24" 1080p | Empty grid, 19 by 10 squares of 100 logical points. |
The same spreadsheet, in the effective-workspace view
Effective workspace view. Every panel sized by the room it gives after OS scaling, in logical points, not in millimetres. Here every panel's text is the same size, because the drawing is measured in logical points rather than millimetres. What changes is how many rows and columns fit, which is the room the panel actually gives you after its scaling.
| Display | What is drawn, and how big its text comes out |
|---|---|
| 27" 4K | Spreadsheet, 27 columns by 63 rows of cells The picture stops part way, because a panel this size holds more of this interface than is worth drawing; the counts above and the text size are the real ones.. Text 22.0 points tall. |
| 24" 1080p | Spreadsheet, 20 columns by 46 rows of cells The picture stops part way, because a panel this size holds more of this interface than is worth drawing; the counts above and the text size are the real ones.. Text 22.0 points tall. |
The 3-D view
A 3-D view of this desk is available when JavaScript and WebGL are both on. It is drawn from exactly the scene above and adds one thing to it: depth, so you can see how far each panel stands from you and how much desk its stand takes. Every measurement it could show is already written out on this page.
The 3-D view is an extra way to look at the same layout, never a requirement. Everything it shows is in the 2-D scene, the object list and the readings below it, and placing displays is always done in 2-D.
| Viewpoint | What it shows |
|---|---|
| From the seat | Your own eye position, looking at the displays: what the layout actually looks like from the chair. |
| Front | Square on, the same face the 2-D scene draws, with depth restored so you can see which panel is nearer. |
| From the left | From the left of the desk, where the distance from your eye to each panel is a length you can see. |
| From the right | From the right of the desk, the mirror of the left view. |
| From above | Looking down, the only view that shows how much desk the stands are standing on. |
This is generated in browser and is not sent to pah.moi servers.
About this tool2 paragraphs
Configure each monitor in full: pick a preset or enter a custom panel, rotate it to portrait, set diagonal, resolution, OS scaling, refresh rate, curvature, bezel, viewing distance and placement angles, and add, remove or duplicate as many displays as your desk holds. Compare them on the things a spec sheet hides: PPI, physical size, effective logical resolution after OS scaling, relative text size and UI density, field of view, pixels-per-degree, viewer-to-edge distance, neck-rotation and desk overhang, with a scale-accurate layout and mixed-density / mixed-scaling warnings. Take the comparison with you: copy it as a Markdown table, a JSON plan or a plain-text summary, download the layout as an SVG or a PNG, or copy a share link that stores the whole layout in the address after the #.
Then lay the desk out: a scale desk scene you drag the displays around, with snap-to-align guides, stacking, side by side, rotate, per-display height and a movable viewpoint. Every drag has a key that does the same thing, so the layout can be built without a mouse. Compare the same layout four ways: at true size, by pixel density, by the workspace each panel gives after OS scaling, and by the angle each one covers from where you sit. Each view says what its units are, because only the first is in millimetres.