Docked or undocked? That is the question.

So I ran a poll. And people answered and the results surprised me, to say the least. The question was simple. Developer Tools docked or undocked?

74% of all people that answered my question said that they prefer to use the developer tools docked. I was a bit surprised because this means that either they have small screens or they don't know they can undock.

The other 26% said they prefer to have it undocked because they know they can have docked but choose not to.

So what do these numbers actually mean? Well from what I understand and from my personal experience, it all depends on the case. If you're like me and at the office you have two monitors then, yes, you can afford to undock your developer tools and on one monitor have the browser and the other one have the developer tools. But if you're only using your small 1366x768 laptop rez (like I do at home), then undocking the developer tools is not such a great idea.

This issue is case depended, as I already said before, but that doesn't mean we can't talk about it further.

The developer tools are there to help you and as every tool you have to use it to it's full potential, thus undocking it is the best approach, in my opinion. Looking at the DOM properly and fiddling with it is as awesome as it sounds.

I'm not saying I'm not using the developer tools docked but it most cases it's the other way around, just because it feels more comfortable and it helps me read the code or console comfortably.

This is also browser dependent. Why? Well because if you're on Chrome, then my suggestion is to just try it undocked and the same goes for Firefox. On Firefox for example if you're using the 3D view to visualize your page then having something docked at the bottom or on the right is not the best choice.

What is your opinion on this? Let me know in the comments bellow.

Until next time, code long and prosper!

Stefan

Bonus: the poll is still up: http://votes.io/if3d