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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by Quicky@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
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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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[โ€“] Eat_Your_Paisley@lemm.ee 40 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (13 children)

3:2 and 4:3 used to be fairly common but I think economies of scale made everything 16:9 because of TVs

Fortunately 16:10 is becoming more popular again which does give a bit more vertical space

[โ€“] Quicky@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (11 children)

Yeah. Strange that in general the applications themselves haven't transitioned with the hardware. Every office desktop seems to have a widescreen, but every office application still has its menus along the top by default, and does little to take advantage of the increased horizontal space.

[โ€“] kersploosh@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 days ago (2 children)

At work I usually need to have multiple windows up, so no one window spans the width of the display. It's often nice to have two documents side-by-side instead.

[โ€“] UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If it's Windows give Fancy Zones (included in PowerToys) a whirl. Modifiable window snap zones are excellent.

[โ€“] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Also altsnap is a great tool for throwing stuff around when not suited to fixed layouts

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