Advice On A New Monitor.

[~misfit~]

Somewhere on the interweb "kony" typed:

Somewhere on the interweb "kony" typed:


[large amount of snippage]

Something else less often mentioned is to be sure that the
monitor has the height and angle adjustments you will need
based on your (desk?) worksurface height, chair height, and
your eye-level height. A monitor that is too short might be
put on a pedestal of some sort but ideally not. If the
angle adjustment can't allow a direct 90 degree angle from
your eyes to the screen surface, it can significantly effect
contrast on many LCDs so having a large enough viewing angle
for your use might be critical.

Kony, what is the accepted wisdom as to monitor/eye level? I
remember reading once that you should have to look up slighly to
your monitor for best posture/long-term comfort. That anything
below eye-level is bad for posture etc. I have my monitor on a
large up-turned wooden bowl so that it's higher than desk height.
However, eye level is still not the center of the screen, more like
the top quarter.

What say you? <g>

Cheers,

At one point I thought the recommended ergo position was
that the eye level be slightly above the center of the
monitor, but that it was not critical as a person who's
going to slouch will have to instead maintain proper torso
and neck alignment regardless of whether their eyes have to
look a few degrees up or down, but it should be eyes instead
of neck bending to make up the difference and so I tend to
agree a slightly above-eye-level monitor would tend to
promote better posture. How many people really have good
posture all the time though? I would suspect it's more
common in an office than home environment but that due to
the typical monitor and desk heights in the market, most
people are looking downward a bit and placing too much
stress on their neck unless semi-reclining in their chair.

Right. I'm an invalid due to compression fractures of the lumbar vertabrae
and spend a lot of time in front of my PC, hence the question. I used to
have a chair that reclined and found it quite good. However, it broke and
when I looked to replace it I realised I could pay more for a good chair
than a good PC. Which wouldn't be a problem if I had the money.

As D.N.S.M. mentioned, having no discomfort after the
required usage period is a reasonable sign the height is ok.

Yeah, excellent point. The problem is, I have _constant_ "discomfort" of my
whole spinal column, knowing whether a small percentage of it is caused by
the monitor position is difficult. ;-)

Cheers,

 

[kony]

Right. I'm an invalid due to compression fractures of the lumbar vertabrae
and spend a lot of time in front of my PC, hence the question. I used to
have a chair that reclined and found it quite good. However, it broke and
when I looked to replace it I realised I could pay more for a good chair
than a good PC. Which wouldn't be a problem if I had the money.


Yeah, excellent point. The problem is, I have _constant_ "discomfort" of my
whole spinal column, knowing whether a small percentage of it is caused by
the monitor position is difficult. ;-)

Your needs may not necessarily coincide with someone else's.
IIRC, generally the idea for most people is to have a
straight spine supporting all their weight vertically
instead of being supported by the chair, but in your case I
would wonder if trying to remove some of that weight would
be better... something your doctor could best advise on.