Why four column and not one column? If I add a new file that's longer than the old ones, the columns will re-flow and now where I used to look is no longer where I was looking, it's moved off to the side. Why not have just a single column so your eye only has to move in a single direction to find things, a-la `ls -alh` ?

Note I often wonder about bare `ls` usage for the same reason; it always seemed terrible to me, hence why I never type 'ls' and instead always use the `ll` alias (though I've customized it from the default that Ubuntu gave me over a decade ago).