# Better use of screen space

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-use-of-screen-space/50220>\
**Category:** UX\
**Created:** [September 16, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-use-of-screen-space/50220 "2016-09-16T02:39:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![barryvan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/barryvan/32/82635_2.png) [@barryvan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/barryvan)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/better-use-of-screen-space/50220/2 "2016-09-16T02:54:24Z")

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This is likely something you could customise up with CSS using media queries. The problem you’ll run into, though, is that users will get a very different interaction depending on the device they use and how wide their browser window happens to be. Especially on macOS, users tend to not maximise/fullscreen their windows all the time, and instead shuffle and resize them arbitrarily, so they might go to respond to a topic and get the “vertical” composer, then five minutes later get the normal one.

Maybe it would be worthwhile exploring making this an option on the editor’s “grippie” – kind of how browser developer tools work. This would then make it an explicit user action, so there would be fewer surprises.

I agree that composing long replies can be irksome – you have the binary choice of either a nice big composer or the ability to see the post. So I admit that I will occasionally use multiple browser windows (and screens, if I’m at the office) to “fake” the behaviour you’ve outlined, @mrjn.

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