Simulating "Traditional" Multi-monitor Workspaces in i3

I'm not in love with the way i3 handles workspaces when more than one monitor is involved. In i3, a workspace is similar to a workspace in most desktop environments (KDE, Mate, Cinnamon, I assume GNOME 3 as well), until you get another display involved, in which case, each display displays an individual workspace. At startup, on a stock i3 install, one display will be Workspace 1, and the other, Workspace 2. Switching to another workspace will affect the display containing the currently focused window. So if I'm editing some text on my right-most monitor (Workspace 2), and I mod+shift+3 into Workspace 3, I'll be looking at Workspace 1 on the left, and Workspace 3 on the right.

While I can see why that concept of workspaces could have some unique advantages, it's just not my expectation, and not the way I've been pre-wired by the desktop environments I've used before.

Initially, my solution was reasonably simple (at least in theory): modify the keybinds for workspace switching such that each one switches one display to one workspace (odd, e.g. ws1), and the other to another (even, e.g. ws2). This worked, but it also had a habit of getting confused and…