Screen Editor Tool for Synergy 1
Back when we were working on Synergy 3, one of the long-standing pain points was screen layout. Synergy 1 used a fixed drag-and-drop grid, which was fine for basic setups but completely broke down for anything more advanced. You couldn’t overlap screens, place one above another, or align two screens to the side of a vertical monitor. Synergy 2 improved on this by letting users move screens around more freely, but there was still no way to resize them, which meant a lot of edge cases still couldn't be handled properly.
We knew we had to do better for Synergy 3. I asked Kyle to build a prototype for a new layout system that allowed for full movement and resizing. Since we were already planning to use Electron for the GUI, we went with a browser-based prototype to test the concept quickly. The physics worked well and it felt intuitive right away.
At that point, I suggested we spin it out as a standalone screen editor for Synergy 1 users. There were plenty of people with setups that just didn’t fit the grid model, and I wanted to give them a way to configure everything visually without editing config files by hand. It also gave us a chance to test the new config parser and generator we were planning to use in Synergy 3.
Like a lot of side projects, it started small but the scope grew quickly. Every time we improved one part, the bar went higher for the rest. Eventually it became clear we were spending too much time on something that wasn’t core to the Synergy 3 launch, so we paused development and refocused.
Even so, it wasn’t wasted effort. The prototype ended up forming the basis for the new layout engine in Synergy 3. Internally, we also used it as a support tool. If a user had a complex setup, our team would use the tool to map it out and generate a config for them.
After using it internally for a while, we decided to make it public. If you’re on Synergy 1 and stuck with a layout that the old grid can’t handle, this tool finally gives you a way to build your setup visually.
And if you want to see where we’re heading, Synergy 3 has this built in, along with a lot more. You can sign up to join the alpha and try it out.
Edit: Kyle's screen editor web app is no longer online, since the feature is available in Synergy 3.
