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It will be great if it have two column view mode, like StackEdit. Every time I'm writing a long post, it is frustrating to scroll down and up.

Sometimes I just write the post using StackEdit and then paste it here, but why doesn't Stack Exchange do it on its own?

Maybe most of time people are writing short answers, which do not need a left-right panel. However, in many cases, especially in math and physics sites, people are writing formula and derive. It is best to have a left and right panel. You can visit the math and physics site to see that many answers actually is very long and using and scrolling up and down is very unpleasant.

I can see that the editor area of the up-down is not fully used, the left side have some empty space and the right side is some link of hot post or something which is not very useful for editing. So I think if we can organize left-right panel economically, we will still have the same editing and previewing area as now we have.

I've measure the width on my computer, the middle area is about 15cm, the left area is about 4cm, and the right area showing how to format is about 12cm.

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    What if someone has a smaller screen? Like a 4:3 not a 16:9
    – Tim
    Jun 22, 2015 at 11:00
  • @Tim Note that smaller screen has nothing to do with the ratio of the screen.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 11:06
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    @buzhidao but I can't fit in 2 SE pages on my 4:3 screen and I can on my 16:9 screen.
    – Tim
    Jun 22, 2015 at 11:08
  • @Tim Have you ever put a text on the left and another on the right? Or have you ever used vim's :vsp command? I think this situation is rather an everyday practice. I do not exactly know what do you mean by 'fit', may be you can upload a picture to clarify.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 11:43
  • At least it won't hurt to make an option to let the user to choose rather they like the left-right mode or up-down mode.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 11:44
  • Not all of us run our browsers at 2500px wide. Or even 1900px. I've no objection to an option, but this must not become the default (let alone only) way to edit.
    – Monica Cellio
    Jul 28, 2015 at 2:58

3 Answers 3

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I don't think we have the width necessary to make a side-by-side editor + preview setup usable on the majority of devices.

I'm typing this on a monitor with a 1440×900 resolution. There's just not a lot of room to work with here, and this probably isn't even the worst one could do.

The vertical editor arrangement allows you to see exactly how the post is going to look since the preview's width and layout is exactly the same as the main content area.

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    Most people are editing it in computer. If they are editing in other devices, I don't think it will make any difference with up-down or left-right, for using other devices other than computer to write post is painful, no matter how the editor is organized.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 7:12
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    @buzhidao I'm on a desktop computer. Wouldn't want to cram a two-column editor onto this monitor, though. The thing is, the vertical editor arrangement allows you to see exactly how the post is going to look since the preview's width and layout is exactly the same as the main content area.
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Jun 22, 2015 at 7:14
  • I can see that the editor area of the up-down is not fully used, the left side have some empty space and the right side is some link of hot post or something which is not very useful for editing. So I think if we can organize left-right panel economically, we will still have the same editing and previewing area as now we have.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 7:23
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    @buzhidao what Adam is saying is, not all monitors are the same size - mine is 1920 x 1080, and I can't really fit 2 on 1 - make the window 1/2 the size and see if it fits.
    – Tim
    Jun 22, 2015 at 11:00
  • @buzhidao it has extra space for you, because of the decisions you've made about your system configuration. Plus, I daresay, you have no need of browser zoom or larger fonts. You are not the only class of user, and the site has to work for all reasonable configurations. I'm typing this on a desktop machine on which your layout would not work, and I do actually post from my tablet sometimes where that definitely wouldn't work.
    – Monica Cellio
    Jul 28, 2015 at 3:01
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I really want a 2-column editor where:

  • The 1st column is for the editor.
  • The 2nd column is for the preview.

My screen is wide enough to make great use of this.

Currently it is very disturbing that I need to scroll up and down every time I am writing something lengthy.

Please, give us this choice. Something like a tick box for "2 column editor [yes/no]" would be fine, so that we would choose the layout most optimal for our display.

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    There's a Stack App for that: stackapps.com/questions/6461
    – Laurel
    Jun 1, 2016 at 0:31
  • Thanks it helps. But it still doesn't work when I edit the posts. It only works when I post a new question. Plus, any reason why isn't this integrated into the sites by default (instead of me installing greasemonkey).
    – caveman
    Jun 1, 2016 at 1:27
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In most cases we need at StackExchange only short texts and a piece of code to discuss or explain question or answer. IMHO the existing solution is sufficient.

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    If you go to math and physics stackexchange, you will see how hard it is to write formula and derive in the up and down form.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 6:22
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    I haven't put any formulas so far - so it's maybe a community specific requirement.
    – NilsB
    Jun 22, 2015 at 6:25
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    It won't hurt if we change it to left and right in the edit mode.
    – an offer can't refuse
    Jun 22, 2015 at 6:27

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