Is this a good monitor?

[Sservis]

I've been lurking on the forums for a while but finally joining in. Hi all!

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I'm also interested what window layouts you all use when on an ultra wide to make best use of the extra space. Previously I've been 5-boxing on a 16:9 24 inch and been using the standard lead character up top, 4 below approach which means my main window is roughly 21:9. Weirdly, on a 21:9 monitor I'm assuming the most efficient use of space is making the main window 16:9 and then putting the other four on the right in the extra space?

Welcome!

There's a reason the "standard" main on the top (or bottom), others smaller on a row at bottom (or top) is used so often. Mostly, it's because it's simple and it works well. Also, it creates an artificial wider screen with a bigger field of view. WoW is a Hor+ game (top to bottom, same amount depicted, horizontal size widens or narrows as needed to fill the screen). See http://www.wsgf.org/article/screen-change for more information on that, compare the two images in the Hor+ section, imagine the first one is 16:9 and the second what you see in the "standard" multiboxing layout (or in a 21:9 layout). A standard multiboxing layout on a 21:9 monitor is even wider still.

JohnGabriel is running at 43:14 (or about 27.6:9). Using only a side for the main screen and a vertical row for the others would reduce his FoV. Refer back to the two Hor+ pictures again, imagine an enemy standing in the space that is hidden on the first image, but shown on the second. Which would you rather play on?

Note that if a game is Vert-, then wider is not a better FOV, it's worse as instead of seeing more, you see less.

PS- The pixel math also doesn't work with making the main a side 16:9 (2560:1440) region of a 21:9 monitor. 16:9 smaller windows that are the width of the remaining 880 pixels of width would have a height of 495. You can fit roughly 2.9 of those on the side before they start overlapping. The standard window layout allocates 1 / (n + 1) * resolution pixels to the height of the row of smaller windows. This leaves n / (n + 1) * resolution pixels for the main screen and guarantees that when shrunk into the smaller row, it decreases in height by a factor of n. The width to keep proportionality also decreases by a factor of n, making exactly n windows fit across the screen.

More complex simple layouts are easily possible. JohnGabriel allocates 40 pixels for his start menu for instance before doing the chopping, leaving 1400 and n = 4, so to get the small row height he divides by 1 / (4 + 1) = 280, and that leaves 1120 remaining for the main window. It'd be 288 and 1112 if he didn't leave those 40, and different values if he had 5 smaller windows, etc