this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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Why aren't computer monitors more commonly square, specifically in the workplace? (lemmy.world)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Almost all business applications have horizontal menus and ribbons that take up a decent percentage of a landscape monitor instead of utilising the "spare" screen space on the left or right, and a taskbar usually sits at the bottom or top of the screen eating up even more space (yes I know this can be changed but it's not the default).

Documents are traditionally printed/read in portrait which is reflected on digital documents.

Programmers often rotate their screens to be portrait in order to see more of the code.

Most web pages rarely seem to make use of horizontal real estate, and scrolling is almost universally vertical. Even phones are utilised in portrait for the vast majority of time, and many web pages are designed for mobile first.

Beyond media consumption and production, it feels like the most commonly used workplace productivity apps are less useful in landscape mode. So why aren't more office-based computer screens giant squares instead of horizontal rectangles?

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 months ago (8 children)

It sounds like people in your workspace haven’t discovered opening multiple windows side by side.

I’ve found people in the windows world often make everything full screen all the time- such a waste. You have a 40” 6k display and you open a single giant word doc.

You could have 3 or more documents open side by side- or a webpage for reference, a notepad, and your work or 1000 other combinations.

I do development work so my workflow is extremely text heavy, but it’s rare that I don’t have 4+ windows open simultaneously per display. I also use an old dell monitor I had laying around rotated 90 degrees as others mentioned for log monitoring or chat threads.

I think people just need to get more creative using their space- it’s not the monitor’s fault if you don’t fill it with stuff.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

I get so triggered by people just using the external screen as a mirror. With wrong aspect ratio and resolution. With maximized windows.

There's a reason I need tiling shortcuts and an ultrawide screen.

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