Dec 03, 2021 19:00:00

The result of the engineer's pursuit of 'What is the ideal monitor rotation angle for programmers?'

Xssfox, an engineer based in Melbourne, Australia, pursues 'the ideal monitor rotation angle for programmers' and summarizes the results in his blog.

Ideal monitor rotation for programmers
https://sprocketfox.io/xssfox/2021/12/02/xrandr/

Engineer xssfox has used a portrait display (portrait monitor) for reading and programming in the past. It seems that this was certainly suitable for displaying a large amount of text, but there were some problems.

xssfox summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of a landscape monitor and a portrait monitor as follows.

◆ Horizontal monitor
·Strong Points
Almost all applications can work. Most of the video content is usually landscape and is suitable for landscape monitors.

・ Disadvantages
Websites and documents are usually made vertically, so landscape monitors create a lot of blank space and

padding .

◆ Vertical monitor
·Strong Points
Great for reading texts, you can browse content on the web as if you were reading a book.

・ Disadvantages
I can't play video content such as movies well due to the aspect ratio problem.

In Windows and macOS, it is only necessary to rotate the monitor 90 degrees based on the normal landscape monitor, but in Linux, using XRandR makes it possible to use the monitor from various angles. Therefore, xssfox adjusts the monitor to all angles while pursuing the optimum monitor angle during programming.

The following shows how the monitor is tilted once clockwise. xssfox said, 'It's useful when the desk is tilted a little', but 'Please note that some menu bars will not be usable' and 'Fonts will be rendered a little strangely', describing the advantages and disadvantages. I am.

When the monitor is rotated 45 degrees clockwise, xssfox clearly states the drawback, 'I'm out of space.'

Tilt the monitor at various angles, xssfox, says that tilting the monitor counterclockwise 22 degrees is 'perfect.' The reason for perfection is 'because the diagonal of the monitor can be used horizontally', and xssfox says that this will not be bound by the limit of 80 digits per line of Linux kernel code. However, he said that the disadvantage is that the webcam attached to the monitor slips off because the monitor is used at an angle.

In addition, since the monitor used by xssfox is a monitor with an aspect ratio of 21: 9, which is longer than a normal monitor, the 'perfect rotation angle' that xssfox says is a little from 22 degrees on monitors with different aspect ratios. You may have to make fine adjustments.