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Comment by lbrito | Hacker News Reader

Do you have 20/20 eyesight, and how tall are you?

I use glasses (myopia) and can kind of tolerate the edges of my 32" 4k monitor, but I can't fathom craning my neck all the way up to the edges of a 55"+ display. Not to mention font sizes.

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I have fairly bad eyesight with both myopia and astigmatism (-5 sph, -2 cyl) and I wear glasses. I got glasses with 1.71 index lenses, which I greatly prefer over the more common 1.74 index lenses due to the higher Abbe number, resulting in less chromatic aberration.

Anyway, I use browsers at 150% scaling usually, although the text is finer on my terminals. I don't use any scaling for UI elements and terminals. Using the i3 tiling window manager, I put more commonly used terminals on the bottom half of the screen since I find that the top half does require more neck craning.

I'm 184 cm tall.

FWIW there are lenses that are high index while still having a higher Abbe number, but they're expensive and pretty specific materials. Interesting that 1.74 are more common where you are, where I am lower index polycarb are the standard (sadly)

I had a 55" TV as my main display in 2022. Had it about a foot away from my face. It takes a few days, but your brain and body get used to the size.

I just bought a 39" ultrawide and for the first few days I thought "oh dear, I have to keep turning to see the whole thing," but I've not even thought about it for a couple of weeks now, so I guess I'm acclimated.

YMMV.

I have been using a 32" monitor for the last 10 years. I have found that I am using mostly the center of the monitor. The peripheral edges remain unused.

If I sit far from the monitor, then the FOV could be reduced, but then I have to increase the font size defeating the very purpose of maximizing screen real estate.

This is pretty much what I concluded as well after using my 43" 4K LG monitor for about 3 years. Lately I've been trying out my wife's 27" Apple Studio Display. It's smaller but the PPI is amazing...

You can achieve the same perceptual PPI by sitting further away from your 43" monitor.

The longer focal length is much better for eye health, with less stress on ciliary muscles for focusing.

https://www.tools.rodrigopolo.com/display_calc/

You don't maximize windows except to watch videos at that size. It's more like having multiple monitors with fluid borders. You focus as needed, leaving the rest in your peripheral vision. That said I did miss maximizing windows to focus on tasks.

yeah key binds to move windows around is a must for me

Aquasnap for Windows users has been great (it's a tiling window manager). Worth the ~30USD.

I use a combination of Aquasnap's magnetic border feature with MS Power Toys hotkeys and it has been a treat. Still room for improvement tho', esp. if I can force specific browser tabs into particular windows based on purpose.

Isn't it good for a little exercise? Maybe we should have 300" monitors so we jog from one edge of the screen to the other as we type code :)

How about a 2000" monitor so you can run alongside Mario across the whole map on screen at the same time? https://youtu.be/X5OIucMnw7M?t=809

You sit back far enough that the TV encompasses your entire field of view, so at that point there is no need to move your neck at all, only your eyes.

> craning my neck

IIRC, some monitors have curved surfaces. Maybe that feature would help you?

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