Developer Touts the Benefits of 'Diagonal Mode' Linux Desktop
One developer has sought to find the most efficient monitor orientation for programming, but it's not horizontal or vertical. Aussie dev xssfox says the best monitor orientation is a diagonal tilt of about 22 degrees, and she's put her time and energy into proving it. Linux is the only operating system that supports diagonal monitor mode, though.
The more popular Windows and macOS platforms support myriad monitor setups. You can stick with the tried and true landscape orientation or spice things up with a vertical monitor. You can even mix and match different orientations. This has all been possible for years, and there's been little reason to add new kinds of monitor support. After all, who would want to use a square screen in any other orientation? Enter, xssfox.
According to the dev's breakdown, vertical and horizontal monitors are less than ideal for programmers. With horizontal, you can only see a limited number of lines. A vertical monitor solves that, but you're left with shorter lines, as well as poorly rendered websites with lots of padding. Rotating to 45 degrees might be tempting, but the actual ideal angle depends on your monitor's display ratio. For the 21:9 xssfox used, the perfect angle is 22 degrees. LG's weird 16:18 monitor would work best closer to 45 degrees.
Hackaday:
-
Welcome To The Year Of The Diagonal Linux Desktop
Sometimes you come across one of those ideas that at first appear to have to be some kind of elaborate joke, but as you dig deeper into it, it begins to make a disturbing kind of sense. This is where the idea of diagonally-oriented displays comes to the fore. Although not a feature that is generally supported by operating systems, [xssfox] used the xrandr (x resize and rotate) function in the Xorg display server to find the perfect diagonal display orientation to reach a happy balance between the pros and cons of horizontal and vertical display orientations.
Slashdot: