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.
This is an unnecessarily patronising response.
Your answer to apps not utilising left and right space efficiently is "well you should do something else then". It's not the user's fault.
Yes, that is my response and I stand by it.
Some applications take advantage of the full widescreen, some don't need it. It's entirely up to you to use the additional space for something else when a single application doesn't need the extra space given to it or you just accept that it's not needed right now.
Yes, it is the users fault. Because the user is whining that not every single application and piece of media is the exact same form factor like that's at all a reasonable expectation.
You're seriously upset that sometimes you've got more space available than absolutely necessary?
No I'm not upset by anything ๐
It sounds like you're excusing poor UI design by saying "just use the extra space for something else"
If only those apps displayed even less content horizontally, we could get even more of them on the screen and be yet more productive, right!? ๐
I'm not excusing poor design, I'm saying in many cases there is no UI design you could implement to use the full space. You have to accept that somethings are a different form factor and either use the extra space for something else yourself or accept that it's just unnecessary space in this particular use case.
I am saying "just use the extra space for something else", because that's exactly what it's for. You have a wide display so that you can display wide content or several pieces of tall/square content. Expecting EVERYTHING to conform to a single form factor is insane.