: Wide Screen Setup

[Kent Heatherington]

I built a Mat Mgt system for our Fed Jail system a few years ago, and I'll share my experience. They had a demand for goods
form they had been using since WW2 and wanted the entry screen to look exactly like the form. You've all been there I'm sure.
So I built the screen 132 which soon began to be referred to as the Squint Mode Screen.  They loved it.  Wow !
The problem was they loved it so much from that moment on, the proj Mgr wanted all the screens that way. He developed the
theory that subscreens were not a good thing. Why should we make the user go to other screens..

After about a year in production, Civil Servants started to book time off work with headaches.  The time off came to
be known as CAMS time off.  They were getting headaches from looking at such a small font.  So the same proj mgr, decided
rather than heed my plea for 'normal' screen design, he ordered a 19" monitor for any user who complained.

Now I share this info, to tell you sure, 132 mode screens work, and Reflections and KIAterm worked fine.
But based on my experience I think they ought to be avoided if possible.

Kent Heatherington
Pont Rouge Systems Inc.
Fort Coulonge, Quebec