[beebeepka]

I have been doing this ever since 16:9 became a thing, and have converted several people to this simple solution.

Canonical had the right idea with Unity which not many people are willing to acknowledge

[mixmastamyk]

The Windows task bar has been movable since 95 I believe. I know because I moved it to the top in the old days. With Mate I keep the main panel on the left as well, however some widgets were not happy in vertical orientation until a few years ago.