alt Hacker NewsI'm not sure I'm convinced.
If splitting the UI is useful then it feels like you should just let me choose to split it even on a single display rather than deciding for me. My laptop has a display aspect similar to a folding phone when unfolded, so if splitting each half of the display into two panes is useful it should be useful regardless of device.
Personally if I bought a folding phone, I'm probably buying it specifically because I want a bigger display for existing content. I don't want your app to decide for me, to treat it like 2 displays. Imagine in vi or emacs auto split panes based on your aspect as shown in the article. No please! Let me choose when I want it split
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Let me choose when I want it split
It would be good if there was an OS level setting for something like prefer-unified-display in the same way we have things like prefer-reduced-motion. This should be a choice.
A configurable setting might be a good idea, but I definitely see the appeal of being able to make use of a split display for various use cases - the PowerPoint presenter mode example is a good one, Nintendo DS style split games might be another, and I’m sure there are more scenarios where it would be neat to have control over and knowledge of the segments available.