Landscape

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What Does Landscape Mean?

Landscape is a horizontal orientation mode used to display wide-screen content, such as a Web page, image, document or text. Landscape mode accommodates content that would otherwise be lost when viewed to the left or right. Portrait mode is landscape’s counterpart.

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The landscape term is derived from visual artwork or photography requiring a wide viewing angle.

Techopedia Explains Landscape

Landscape is the most popular video display orientation and has an average ratio of 4:3 units (wide to vertical). Larger wide-screen displays have a 16:9 ratio.

Image rotation between landscape and portrait modes is a default feature for most software applications. However, not all OSs support this capability. For example, Windows XP Service Pack 3 conflicts with this feature on multiple graphics cards.

Issues may arise with rotating cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors after changing from landscape to portrait mode, as follows:

  • Inadequate air flow
  • Non-functioning cooling vents
  • Unstable display when shifted 90 degrees, resulting in case flexing or cracking
  • Some magnetic effects must be degaussed in the new orientation for correct display on color CRT screens.
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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.