| User | Thread poster: Gary Smith Vertical screen |
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Gary Smith 
Spain
Local time: 12:53
  Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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We all work in A4 format, a vertical oblong, and not just translators. Web pages are designed to scroll vertically, not horizontally. So why on earth are ALL computer screens manufactured as a HORIZONTAL screen that takes up room on a desk? Has anybody seen a vertical screen, or plasma screen used for a computer…? Or have I just given away a multi-million euro patent deal…?
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Jan Wentzlaff-Eggebert
Germany
Local time: 12:53
English to German
| | to pivot or not to pivot... | Oct 13, 2009 |
Hi Gary,
you definitely got a point there. In my opinion there are two approaches. If you don't need the "extra" space on your widescreen TFT turn the screen by 90 degrees (and have your graphics driver turn the picture accordingly).
The other approach: let's introduce a new webdesign paradigm! I'm sure there are a lot of people to whom a horizontal design would appeal more than the vertical variety.
As for your patent - it would be interesting to know whether someone has already claimed a patent on the 90° angle.
Cheers,
Jan
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Erik Hansson
Germany
Member (2002)
Swedish
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Angela Dickson
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:53
Member
French to English
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 12:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| | Which is why I don't upgrade | Oct 13, 2009 |
Gary Smith wrote:
We all work in A4 format, a vertical oblong, and not just translators. Web pages are designed to scroll vertically, not horizontally. So why on earth are ALL computer screens manufactured as a HORIZONTAL screen that takes up room on a desk? |
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My laptop is 3 years old and I'm fortunate to have a screen resolution of 1400 x 1050. Most newer models that I can buy have 768 pixels vertical resolution only, even if the screens are physically wider than mine. If I wanted to upgrade my laptop to a more recent model, I'd have to buy a rather expensive "desktop replacement" with full keyboard layout, and even then I'd get only 900 pixels vertically.
And don't forget that MS Office 2009 has a thicker toolbar at the top. And don't forget that Windows 7 has a thicker taskbar at the bottom too. It seems that we'll be having mailbox views somewhere in the future.
Some toolbars/taskbars can be moved to the side of the screen -- are you aware of this?
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Gary Smith
Spain
Local time: 12:53
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | | Pivot it si then! | Oct 13, 2009 |
Thanks, everyone...looks like I know what my next purchase is going to be.
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Jabberwock
Poland
Local time: 12:53
Member (2004)
English to Polish
| | Landscapes and A4s | Oct 13, 2009 |
Before you make the purchase, make note that most modern monitors easily allow displaying a A4 page in 1:1 scale even in horizontal position. That is, you can have your A4 page and some other windows (like CATs etc.).
Oh, why horizontal, you ask? Because our field of vision is horizontal, too... As for what is most convenient for translators... It's true that a single page may be vertical, but an open book is not
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CommsLab
Romania
Local time: 12:53
Member (2003)
English to Romanian
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I have two pivot monitors on my desk and I tried to use one of them on the vertical for the reasons that you mentioned. I couldn't get used to that and I quickly moved back to the horizontal. A possible reason: with a vertical screen, the space for each line of text is reduced and you will probably have to display the text in a smaller format (I usually use the Page width option in Word). We usually don't need to see the entire page but just the source and the target segments.
You may find that your problem would be better solved if you used two screens instead of using one on the vertical, which would surely make most applications' interfaces less practical.
I hope you find the right solution for you.
Dan
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FarkasAndras
Hungary
Local time: 12:53
English to Hungarian
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| | Vertical didn't win me over | Oct 13, 2009 |
tradofilia wrote:
I have two pivot monitors on my desk and I tried to use one of them on the vertical for the reasons that you mentioned. I couldn't get used to that and I quickly moved back to the horizontal. |
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I also specifically bought a monitor that has portrait mode (i.e. it pivots to vertical) and my video card supports it. Switching between modes takes about 5 seconds.
I thought portrait would be great for proofreading, reading websites with lots of scrolling text and maybe even translating. Not so... the eye can move from right to left quite comfortably, so I have no trouble scanning the width of a landscape mode monitor, but it just ucomfortable to look up and down much. The eyes don't like having to move up and down, so you have to tilt your head... which feels really odd.
Bottom line: I hardly ever flip my monitor and I don't think many people would if they had the chance.
I do agree with Samuel: 4:3 aspect ratio seems like a better option a lot of the time, and - while it was common 5 years ago - it's basically extinct now. Pretty much all new laptops and monitors are some flavour of widescreen now. Widescreen is nice if you want to view two documents side by side or watch a widescreen film, not so nice for almost anything else.
I now think my ideal monitor would be a very large 4:3 with fairly low resolution, say, a 24" 1600x1200. Or maybe even bigger, 26" or so, or a crazy 30" 2000x1500, if such a thing existed...
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Michael Barnett
Canada
Local time: 06:53
English
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| | Vertical didn't work for me... | Oct 14, 2009 |
I use my computers mostly for my medical practice. Everything is recorded in an Electronic Medical Record (EMR). One of my many minor annoyances is the need to scroll to see all the lab results and so on, so I bought a 24 inch, high resolution screen that pivots into portrait mode and the software rotates the image. As expected, it eliminated my need to scroll and I could get a gigantic amount of material on the screen.
I did NOT expect that within a few hours my neck would start to hurt from tipping the head up to read the top of the screen, which now towers way above me. To make matters worse, the progressive lenses of my glasses have the "reading" part at the bottom, so I really have to tilt to be able to read anything in the upper third.
I have returned the screen to its landscape position.
Michael
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Angela Dickson
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:53
Member
French to English
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| | I guess mine works for me because... | Oct 14, 2009 |
... my secondary monitor, pivoted into portrait mode, is the same height as my primary widescreen monitor. I don't think I'd like to pivot a giant screen.
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Gary Smith
Spain
Local time: 12:53
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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TOPIC STARTER | | back to horizontal then... | Oct 14, 2009 |
Interesting comments from those with experience of vertical screens. It looks like the manufacturers know what they're doing after all...
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The translation workplace 
