Why Do The Screens Have to Change So Much???

I must admit that it took me a little while to understand the entire thread, but I think I have an understanding of it now. Please excuse me if I've not quite got what you are after.

While imparting my limited knowledge to a small number of people on a variety of desks, from two screens on an Element with a tiny lighting rig, to five screens on a Ti with a rig of several hundred channels of various dimmers and intelligent fixtures, I developed an approach that lead me to introduce the newer programmer to setting up the environment before finishing patching the rig. Disclaimer - ideal situations rarely exist... so going between many different tasks will be the norm. However, imagine (for a moment) a world where you can set up your environment without being given a constant stream of other information and then you can begin making the rig work.

One example of ergonomics: I value the comfort of my chair (12+ hours a day) more than the the number of screens I have... and I like my screen real-estate on big shows!!

Another example of ergonomics: I want my manual channel selection to appear directly in front of me, so I tell it to be on the screen in front of me. Direct Selects go on the left-hand Eos screen and an external touch screen to my right. Cues go to my left on a monitor at head height, so it's a little glance to my left. However, the info about the active cue is also on the Eos screen in front of me near the manual channel selection. Why? Immediacy of information. This is what works for me, most of the time - and therefore I make sure the desk is programmed to respond to my requests. It doesn't take long to set it up like this, but it did take a lot of learning in order to know what I wanted.

When I was talking with newer programmers, my basic advice was to set up each tab where you expect it to be and once done, select your preferred live tab (in my case manual channels), then record snapshot 1. That can be your default display - and you can also record it as a macro, so it can be a single button operation. I have my own menu system - and I think there are many of us who do similar. It is at this sort of point, when you get comfortable with your approach, Eos doesn't 'fight back'.

Once setup using this approach, double-tapping (for example) effect will show you the effect editor exactly where you specified. You want it on monitor 3? There it is, ready and waiting.

If a certain display is particularly important for the show you're working on, you can give it a dedicated monitor (or corner thereof). You could keep your show control (tab 11) on one screen and have nothing else appear on that screen, then that can be achieved easily.

Also, Eos will be so flexible as to allow you to have various different events triggered by different means. You might want different sources of timecode and manual triggers. It can do it: you could have timecode (internal or external), OSC, MSC and several 'go' buttons' on the same show. It's all possible - but knowing what you want to achieve is paramount: then select the right tool for the job, and the advice here is generally free-flowing so do ask. Maybe Eos isn't the right tool for your specific job.

I at one time had various snapshots programmed to bump buttons, which I can't really use anymore because my ipad (direct selects) is on the table between the board and I. So I would need to rest my hand on top of the ipad to have direct access to those bumps. But hey, maybe I should just put that snapshot on my macro page of direct selects on the ipad. 

What I've learned just now is that I need to change my workflow to reduce—or possibly eliminate altogether—presses of the Live and Blind buttons. Because those buttons consistently annihilate the screen setup I have every time. So maybe I just need to stopping using those stupid buttons. Find a setup that doesn't require me to use them.

The way to avoid this is to lock the frames on your 1st page and then to have one or more unlocked blind frames on page 2 or 3 (patch for instance). Each time a blind window wants to open it opens in this frame and if you press live you return to the untouched first page.

Be sure to store all workspaces/frames/monitors in your initial snapshot. As an extra measure I recall the snapshot as a start-up macro.

The way to avoid this is to lock the frames on your 1st page and then to have one or more unlocked blind frames on page 2 or 3 (patch for instance). Each time a blind window wants to open it opens in this frame and if you press live you return to the untouched first page.

Be sure to store all workspaces/frames/monitors in your initial snapshot. As an extra measure I recall the snapshot as a start-up macro.