A desktop layout that stops wasting the screen
A vertical video on a widescreen monitor spends two thirds of the screen on nothing. We gave that space a job.
In short
On a computer, full screen on Generated Worlds shows the vertical picture on the left and the series' episode list on the right, so a viewer can see what they are watching and what comes next at the same time. On phones the player is unchanged: the picture fills the screen.
Short drama is made for a phone, and the assumption that it is only watched on one is wrong often enough to matter. People watch at a desk, in a second tab, on a laptop in the evening. What they got was a phone-shaped picture in the middle of a wide black rectangle — the format working exactly as designed, and looking like a mistake.
01What it does
- The picture stays vertical and uncropped, on the left.
- The episode list sits beside it, so choosing the next episode does not mean leaving the one playing.
- Nothing changes on phones, where the picture already fills the screen.
The alternative — cropping the picture to fill a widescreen frame — was never seriously on the table. The composition of a vertical episode puts faces and burnt-in captions in the middle of a tall frame; widening it cuts the captions in half. We have measured that on our own catalogue, and the result is not a trade-off, it is damage.
What it does not do
It is a layout, not a living room experience. There is no television app, no casting, and no keyboard shortcuts worth memorising yet. If you want short drama on a big screen at the other end of a sofa, we are not there.
Questions
- Can I watch vertical short drama full screen on a computer?
- Yes. On Generated Worlds, full screen on a desktop or laptop shows the vertical picture beside the series' episode list rather than stretching or cropping it.
- Does the desktop layout crop the video?
- No. The picture keeps its vertical shape. Cropping a vertical episode to fill a widescreen frame cuts through faces and burnt-in captions, so we use the space for the episode list instead.
Keep reading
- Search the words, not the titles
Generated Worlds search now reads subtitles, so a half-remembered line finds the episode it came from and opens it at that moment.
- We removed the account from the checkout
Viewers can now pay for the next episode, or the rest of a series, without creating an account first. A password comes afterwards, by email, if they want one.
All posts from the Generated Worlds Tech Blog.