this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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Stop making a single browser window full screen and use the additional space on the side for something useful. A chat application, a notepad, a calculator, file browsing, a second browser window, documents, etc.
Or rotate the display to be tall instead of wide if you really want the extra vertical space.
Just because you haven't bothered to take advantage of the space doesn't mean it's useless. You've just trapped yourself in a close-minded box. Making the monitor wider doesn't 'reduce the amount of viewable area top to bottom', it adds additional area to the sides, primarily for additional tasks in an office setting. It's up to you to actually use it.
So stop using monitors the way I've been using them since 1982? Stop using them the way that literally every other screen I interact with functions?
That's what 2nd and 3rd monitors are for.
That's not so easy when you're using multiple curved monitors with a stand or mount.
I get what you're saying, I really do, but from my point of view it's incorrect. It breaks the usage paradigm that's been in place since these things were invented and there's no other screens in our lives where we intentionally use less than the full width available for a single task.
Yes. Technology has grown and expanded rapidly over those 43 years. You should also be changing with time to take advantage of such technological growth.
Your other screens can be used to multi task as well. Phones/tablets have picture-in-picture and app split-screen (both of which I use frequently).
TVs are admittedly geared towards single wide screen tasks like the obvious: media consumption. Though some smart TVs will also let you web browse while watching TV. And I'm pretty sure game consoles that facilitate streaming allow you to display chat over or beside the game.
That's what additional monitors can be used for; but the point is with a single wide monitor you don't have to run a second monitor. You already have that additional space available when/if you want it.
Sure, I'm usually viewing a single window; but there's plenty of times when I want to open multiple applications side by side. I also play games and watch media; both of which are widescreen experiences. You might not need it 100% of the time, but it's there when you do.
You've got tons of screen real estate to work with then; what's your concern? You could mount one vertically, you could use different sized displays, you could stack them.
Nobody's forced you to stick with the setup you have. If you wamt something different, set things up differently; it's your setup. Don't trap yourself in a box thinking you can only set things up or use them the way you've seen others do it. Be your own person.
Whoo boy that's funny, thanks for the chuckle. I've been technology professional so long that I literally predate NAT. To say that I've changed with the time would be an understatement.
Huh, media consumption. You mean like Lemmy or any other web media?
Here's where we diverge and despite considering the issue for several hours now I'm still not sure if this is a generational issue or something else. Obviously I'm from the time before widescreen and it looks like to me like you're trying to use a workaround (multiple windows on a single screen) to justify what is objectively a downgrade in display technology.
You are in essence saying "Yes I know the monitor doesn't have enough vertical space but you are supposed to use the extra horizontal space to overcome that." I am going to counter by saying that computer monitors shouldn't be 16x9, that's a TV / Movie format forced into the computer industry by display makers who wanted to leverage their investment in television panels to produce cheap computer monitors. In short you are forcing yourself to find ways to work around display tech that doesn't fit the use case; the screen is wider than it needs to be while not being tall enough.
Amusingly I was discussing this with a peer about an hour ago and he brought up ultra wide monitors like the Samsung Odyssey QD-OLED G9 (5120x1440) and after looking at it we decided that a monitor with the same physical width (48") but double the physical height (20" vs 40") and double the horizontal resolution (2880) would be near perfect. With such a monitor there would be so much real estate that app windows would stay large enough to be readable while still being capable of displaying lots of data vertically.
Ahhh, now we hit the rub. I do a lot of remote GUI work and what I'm dropping into expects widescreen and uses all of it. Downscaling that into an app window makes the problem worse because it leaves large areas unused horizontally and there's still not enough vertical. I could flip a monitor to portrait but then it's too narrow to be handled correctly because what was a lack of vertical resolution has now become a lack of horizontal resolution. This is another symptom of 16:19 being a bad aspect ratio for computer displays.
This person is seriously considering a pair of frameless ultra widescreen displays in a vertical stack. Expensive AF but potentially oh so usable.
You do you with multiple app windows squished to fit into today's displays. If it works for you then it works for you.
Enjoy your day.