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[rek]

People wanted wider monitors, and then they wanted taller monitors...

We should just have square monitors and life would be a lot simpler.

Pfff, no!

CIRCULAR MONITORS

[Richard Kain]

But think about square monitors. Wouldn't it make more sense?

The reason why standard monitors are wider than they are tall is because it is assumed that this better mimics the human range of vision. Humans have two eyes side-by-side, which creates a range of vision that is wider than it is tall. This is why that aspect ratio is considered better for visual experiences that are supposed to absorb the audience's entire attention.

But as has already been pointed out, devices like smartphones and tablets are showing people that screens oriented differently can be quite useful for some experiences.

[Ishi]

Passage is the most obvious example I can think of that uses a weird screen size. Think I read that the wide screen with everything to the right compressed represents the vague path ahead in life, and the narrow height is the alternate choices you could make but can't see the result of. Something like that. I'm not much for this kind of metaphor myself but it's relevant to the thread.

[BrixxieBee]

I'm going with a 912x384 screen resolution, which is apparently a 19:8 resolution. Do you think this is a bad choice since a width of 912 extends beyond the width of 800x600 which I feel some people still use as their max? This resolution gives a really unique screen size and it works great with the player speed and gravity but doesnt easily conform to any normal fullscreen resolution.

[rivon]

I seriously doubt that someone uses 800x600 for any normal work. Max it would be used in some server terminals. Other than that all the notebooks are 1024x600 or bigger, desktop screens are 1366x768/1280x1024 or bigger.

But, 912x384 is a really bad choice.

[Core Xii]

I believe that it has position "locks". It definitely isn't free 360 degree movement.

Mine was. And sure it was supposed to lock into place, but that plastic piece of crap had a very loose definition of "lock".

Square monitors would be suitable for both vertically and horizontally oriented games.

No they wouldn't. In an FPS for example it's far more critical to have a wide horizontal field of view than vertical. You rarely need to look up or down.

Overhead games (think RTS) look stupid in widescreen because you see can further in X than you can see Y.

Most RTS' are angled isometrically, so the visible area is roughly square. And well designed HUDs are put on the side (see Command & Conquer series).

[rivon]

Square monitors would be suitable for both vertically and horizontally oriented games.

No they wouldn't. In an FPS for example it's far more critical to have a wide horizontal field of view than vertical. You rarely need to look up or down.

Not true. This is true pretty much only for COD4 or similar games which are "horizontal" and where you can't change FOV. But in serious FPSes like Quake or UT which are more vertical, you need the vertical space a lot.

I'd love square monitors. If you don't need it, you can add black borders. No problem.