Ampers & Dot

Last week gadget geeks began buzzing about the prototype Lenovo Yoga, an awkwardly named, but sleekly designed ultra portable notebook - seen here:

The Yoga is a conceptual spin on the Sony P, taking the bite sized computer and slimming it down even further. With a tiny keyboard and nub mouse, space on this puppy is at a premium. But surprisingly, there’s still a super wide screen display.

On one hand this is looks awesome gives you considerably more square inches of screen than most Mobile Internet Devices - but on the other hand, much of the screen is entirely wasted space.

I’m not sure how manufacturers haven’t realized this, but extra wide screens aren’t necessarily good for user experience. The problem, is that the web isn’t built in wide screen. Web “pages” are built like, well… pages. Not always 8.5″ by 11″, but if one of the dimensions stretches it’s the length, not width.

Look at your browser right now - you’ll realize that it’s actually one dimensionally navigational: you get the option of Up or Down. Have you ever tried to read a page that scrolled right and left? How annoying was that? (Side note: I’m entirely convinced this is why Plurk failed and Twitter succeeded. Side scrolling does NOT work.)

Ultimately this introduces a massive problem: unoptimized computing experience. Browsing the web on an ultra-wide screened device gives you a lot of wasted left-to-right.

Let’s take a look at the Yoga’s Flickr page in “Yoga-View”:

What the heck is that? You can’t even get a picture in the frame all at once, but look at all the wasted space on the sides. And hell, this doesn’t even have my taskbar in it - that would rob an additional 30-45 pixels.

So if the web is inherently vertically functional, then why do device screens continue to get shorter and wider? My guess, is that it’s to increase screen real-estate by keeping the device pocketably small. Larger, squarer devices just don’t look or feel as tiny - while smaller thin units just feel more “gadgety”. In the case of the Yoga or Sony P, it was likely a trade off to get a full sized keyboard clamshell - you just can’t cut out any more room and expect to have a functioning qwerty pad.

The see one of two solutions: first, the entire web could change. Pages can be re-written to accommodate wide screen displays, meaning no more wasted space on each side - think of five or six column blog layouts… Second, gadget screens are going to need to advance, making foldable displays that slim down to fit in your pocket, but open up to a rich browsing experience.

But for now, I’d rather have a clunkier device that allows me to functionally use the computer as opposed to an incredibly slick looking one that requires  me to scroll more often than I click.