If you were to walk into our office and see my desk setup, you might be surprised. Not just for the fact that I usually have a half-finished knitting project on my desk, but because one of my screens is the wrong way up.
I have two monitors, as is becoming the norm in an office environment—and I could certainly make an argument for a third on some days. Your typical monitor sits horizontally, in landscape view, but my left screen has been rotated to portrait. “But why?”, I hear you ask, let’s dive a little deeper…
Desk Setup for Productivity
I enjoy playing around with my desk setup and one thing that’s always intrigued me is turning one screen in a multi-screen setup to portrait mode—so I gave it a go.
Pros
Grid Layout
There are two apps that I like to keep visible at all times on my desktop – Toggl, for time tracking, and Slack, for team communication. I dedicate the top quarter of my portrait screen to these two apps, which are used so frequently they need to be readily accessible without having to hunt for them below other windows or risk accidentally closing them. They are small apps that fit side by side, leaving plenty of room below for my primary browser.
Less Scrolling
The main advantage of rotating your screen is that you can utilise more of the screen height to make reading more efficient. Typically, I’ll have my emails open which allows me to see more of the email thread I’m working through, which means less scrolling. If I’m reading a long-form article it’s much more comfortable for this reason too, and it makes skimming much faster. If I have a large PDF, like a contract, to read, I’ll occasionally expand this to fill the entire height of the screen so I can see as much of the document as possible with no distractions.
Quick Cross-Referencing
Paired with my landscape screen, which is used for design, I can quickly cross-reference notes and articles when needed without needing to scroll. Having the extra height here is massively helpful so I’m not hunting for important info.
Maximising Desk Space
Another benefit of a portrait monitor is it takes up less width on your desk, giving a bit of extra space. I don’t feel so enclosed either, I can see past the edge of the portrait monitor and, luckily for me, out of a window. For eye health it’s recommended to change your focus point regularly, so I can very easily glance to the side and see off into the distance, reducing the strain of screen time.
Screenshot of my portrait monitor
Cons
Glare
It’s only an issue at certain points in the year, but the extra screen height does mean it catches the light more. This has been a bigger issue since we moved into a corner office, but it’s worth it for the view.
Awkward Resolution
My 24” monitor in portrait has an awkward resolution—1138px wide. This does mean that if I visit a website that isn’t responsive, or it hasn’t been implemented well, I have layout issues, with some websites even triggering a tablet viewing experience at <1200px. Thankfully, this is becoming less and less of an issue as time goes on, as more websites are redesigned to be fully responsive.
Mounting
Another issue I’ve encountered is mounting. Standard monitors come with stands that won’t work in portrait mode, so choosing a monitor that supports VESA mounting is crucial; however, this limits options and can be more expensive. I’m now on my second monitor stand too, so it’s not been a smooth journey to a setup I’m happy with. The first stand had dual adjustable gas-lift arms, which took a lot of tweaking and even the slightest knock would cause them to misalign. I’ve now got a static pole-mounted stand which is much more reliable, if more faff to adjust.
Monitor Controls
This is a minor one, but the monitor manufacturers clearly assume you’ll keep your screen in the usual orientation, so when it comes to adjusting brightness and contrast you will need to cock your head to the side uncomfortably so you can see what you’re doing on the overscreen display.
Summary
Finding a monitor setup that works for you can make a big difference to your productivity and I’d encourage anyone thinking of trying a portrait monitor to go for it—and if you have a third monitor (the dream) I would LOVE to see your setup. Send us photos of your setup on Instagram.
