Minimum Widths at Which Horizontal
Scrolling Can Be Avoided Show that New Wide Monitors Provide Advantages
Version 1
5:11 AM
11/18/2009
For a long time I had been toughing it out using a
NEC MultiSync 75 monitor, with a screen area of 121 square inches, and a width
of 12.75 inches. This week I acquired a new Samsung 2343BWX
monitor with a screen area of 225 square inches, and a
width of 20 inches.
I decided the wise thing to do would be to assess
the advantages produced by the new monitor, because such assessment would render
me more capable of taking advantage of the capabilities of the new
monitor, and help me to understand if the investment in the new monitor
is worth it. After all, it is possible that the newest versions
of things are merely a fad and not worth the money. Also such assessment is
useful to and impresses persons. I concluded that I had 'hoofed it' and 'toughed
it out' for way too long with the old NEC MultiSync 75.
As of now I conclude that the new wide
Samsung 2343 BWX monitor offers significant advantage because
a page on the monitor, at the minimum width at which no horizontal
scrolling is required and the horizontal scroll bar disappears from view, takes
up a much lower percentage of the total monitor screen width compared
to my old NEC MultiSync 75.
For example, the MSN main page, at the minimum
width at which the horizontal scroll bar disappears, takes up
76% of the monitor width on the NEC MultiSync 75, leaving only
3 inches of width for other windows such as notepad. But with the
Samsung 2343BWX, the MSN main page at the minimum width at
which the horizontal scroll bar disappears, takes up only 50%
of the monitor width leaving 10 inches of monitor width for
other windows.
True, you can find pages that will require
horizontal scrolling when at maximum width on both the NEC MultiSync 75 and also
the Samsung 2343 BWX; however, most of the web pages are not
like that.
Obviously, it is a huge pain in the ass to have to
tinker around with horizontal scrolling when reading a web page. Also, it is
another huge pain in the ass, to have to switch back and forth between having
one window in front and another window in front; such leads to a need to
temporarily memorize things and makes it impossible to type into one window
while reading from another window. When a window containing say
notepad is compressed to a tiny width due to necessities generated by a small
monitor screen width, less of the text in the notepad document is visible at a
glance. Such problems are exacerbated when more than two windows are
open. Attempting to place one window above another window run into
problems because of all the space at the top of the windows that is used for
things like Google search toolbar, buttons, menu, address, tabs
list.
With the 20 inch width on the Samsung, I find
that more of the links in quick launch and etc are visible at a glance.
We hear alot about the computer's effect on
computing speed; however, everything seems to function at a faster speed with
the new Samsung monitor.
Using the 20 inch wide screen on the
Samsung 2343BWX, for me feels like being out in the
great outdoors, compared to the relatively claustrophobic feeling of having to
deal with a monitor with a width of only 12.75 inches.
The web pages on the Samsung 2343
bwx look brighter, the colors in the web pages look cleaner compared to
the NEC MultiSync 75; I find that this uplifits my spirit.
Using the Samsung 2343BWX improves my morale. Using
the Samsung 2343BWX I feel young, accomplished, energetic, optimistic and clean.
Using the little old monitor, I now realize, had a demoralizing effect on me.
But this should not be taken as an insult to NEC.
The NEC monitor was built at a time when the level of engineering sophistication
was lower; the NEC monitor is cheaper; the NEC monitor is old whereas the
Samsung is brand new.
Table 1 below shows information I
gathered regarding the amount of width web pages eat up on a monitor when pages
are at the minimum width at which the horizontal scroll bar disappears because
it is no longer necessary.
Table 1
Widths of Web Pages if no Horizontal Scrolling
Required
(text sizes used are smallest I feel comfortable with; resolutions shown
are minimum and maximum except for NEC 1280x768, because the Quick Launch Bar
disappeared on the NEC MultiSync 75 at its max resolution of 1280x1029; I
found that text size in Internet Explorer did not effect the minimum width at
which horizontal scrolling can be avoided)
|
|
NEC MultiSync
75
Dimensions: H:
9.5";
W: 12.75" |
|
Samsung 2343BWX
Dimensions: H:
11.25";
W: 20" |
|
|
Page |
NEC
MultiSync 75
800x600 Res
Medium
text size |
NEC
MultiSync 75
1280x768 Res
'Medium'
text size |
|
Samsung
2343BWX
800x600 Res
'Smaller'
text size |
Samsung
2343BWX
2048x1152 Res
'Medium'
text size |
|
|
|
Minimum width of page in
inches
if no horizontal scrolling
required |
|
|
msn
|
Page would require
20% more width
than max available
if no horizontal
scrolling required. |
9.75"
|
|
Page would require
20% more width
than max available
if no horizontal
scrolling required. |
10"
|
|
|
Google search
|
12"
|
7"
|
|
18"
|
7"
|
|
|
Google News
|
12.75"
|
7.5"
|
|
20"
|
7.75"
|
|
|
MSNBC
|
Page would require
20% more width
than max available
if no horizontal
scrolling required. |
9.75"
|
|
Page would require
20% more width
than max available
if no horizontal
scrolling required. |
10"
|
|
|
Newsweek
|
Page would require
20% more width
than max available
if no horizontal
scrolling required |
9.75"
|
|
Page would require
20% more width
than max available
if no horizontal
scrolling required. |
10"
|
|
|
Folder with three columns at default
widths |
6"
|
3.5"
|
|
9"
|
3.5"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
@2009 David Virgil
Hobbs
