I mostly used it when I logged in over a 1200 baud modem. The terminal would have supported working full-screen, but it was just quicker to not keep the entire

I mostly used it when I logged in over a 1200 baud modem. The terminal would have supported working full-screen, but it was just quicker to not keep the entire screen visible all the time (even though classic vi is already very efficient about screen updates).