Being a web designer I routinely work with photographs in portrait position rather than landscape. I decided some years ago to buy a monitor that enabled me the ability to twist it 90 degrees so I could work with portrait imagery easier, relieving me from having to constantly scroll up and down.

To the left is an example of the website Pinterest with my screen turned at 90 degrees.

Recently I decided to turn the monitor on it’s side, so to speak, for a piece of work. Whilst working on the clients design I flicked through various websites for a break. This included facebook, twitter, pinterest and various news websites.

With height now as a premium, rather than width I suddenly had a much better experience on the websites above because I didn’t have to scroll so much to see news, articles or comments further down the page.

In a market that is moving forward with screens that are getting wider (obviously for video and tv viewing) it’s important we take into consideration that we are also fanatics for information sites that have endless feeds as you scroll further down the page, which are still being built to fit within the width of 1024px.

To the left is an example of the website Pinterest on a normal laptop or desktop monitor.

Smart phones are primarily held in portrait position too, with the ability to turn it to the side for wider viewing. Tablets also begin in portrait position.

So why are we still working with monitors in the landscape position when information is clearly dictating a better experience with a portrait position?

Will the future see desktop and laptops perhaps moving in this direction?