Cable Management Made Easy
For certain environments in the home or office, cables can be a little bit of a nightmare. If you have too many of them in the same place, then you might find that they quickly degenerate into a tangled ‘rat’s nest’. You might find that you can’t stretch your legs without snagging on something under your desk. Cables that are bent and stretched will tend to need replacing sooner – and the job of replacing will be made more difficult when your cables are messy.
In certain environments, like server rooms and recording studios, you might find that effective cable management can make an enormous difference in terms of productivity, too.
So, what can we do about it? Let’s take a look at some of the methods.
Consolidate cables
When multiple cables are going from one place to another, you can bunch them together and get them tied, or bound by a plastic coil-like cable organizer. So, for example, you might have a power, DisplayPort, and USB cable running into the rear of your monitor. Get them all bound together into a single chunky length, and you’ve reduced the problem by a factor of three.
For best results, look for cable ties that can be reclipped and attached – the chances are good that you’re going to be readjusting things, so Velcro might be preferable.
Use shorter cables
If you have a six-meter cable stretching over just a short space, then tangling is inevitable. Try to use a length that’s appropriate. If you can’t, then look for ways to coil the cable up slightly and secure the excess somewhere that isn’t going to get in the way of everything else. Here’s another instance where cable ties are invaluable.
Color coding
If all of your cables are different colors, then you’ll have an easier time determining which is which. If you’re confronted by a mass of black and dark grey every time you need to get underneath the desk, life can be stressful. You don’t need to change the cables themselves – just attached colored stickers to either end.
Hide the mess
You can run cables along the underside of the desk, or use cable management raceway trays to make things that are a little bit neater, visually speaking. In some cases, you might even build a recess into your wall, so that all your cables can be kept truly out of sight and mind.
Go wireless
In the case of some data cables, you can often make progress by getting rid of the wires entirely. Use Bluetooth to transfer items from your computer to your phone and use Wi-Fi streaming to add new devices to the network. While there are performance advantages to going wired, they might not be justified for every cable that you’re currently using.
