3 ms·

Not related to HiDPI, but looking at the picture of his monitor setup: From an ergonomics standpoint (i.e. the health of your neck), the upper edge of your mon

by Tepix 6y ago

Not related to HiDPI, but looking at the picture of his monitor setup: From an ergonomics standpoint (i.e. the health of your neck), the upper edge of your monitor shouldn't be higher than your eye level. Looking straight or looking down is fine. Thus the monitor on the left is probably not very ergonomic.

woodruffw 6y ago
Author here: you’re absolutely right. My previous vertical monitor was a lot shorter; this one has definitely not been great for my neck. I’ll probably switch it back to horizontal at some point.
- Stratoscope 6y ago
  What size monitors are those? I use a pair of 24" 4K monitors in roughly the same configuration as yours. 27" would definitely be too tall. I find having a vertical 24" monitor to be super useful, especially for reading typical PDF files as an entire page fits nicely on the screen. My vertical monitor is a bit closer to the desk, and the horizontal monitor is much higher than yours, about 7.5" above the desk. The bottom edges are not aligned; the vertical monitor bottom edge is about 5" below the bottom of the horizontal monitor, and its top edge is about 3" above the top of the horizontal monitor. The top of horizontal monitor is just below my eye height. So the top of the vertical one is a couple of inches above that, but this is not a problem as I don't spend much time looking at the very top of that monitor. Each monitor is tilted separately. The horizontal one is tilted back only slightly; the vertical one tilted more. So the center of each monitor is perpendicular to my line of sight. At the moment I'm using the two monitors with a Linux desktop, but sometimes I connect them both to a ThinkPad for a three-monitor setup with the ThinkPad's display and keyboard. When I do this, I raise the horizontal monitor up another inch so the ThinkPad display tucks in underneath it. With your horizontal monitor sitting so close to the desk, I have to wonder if your seating position may be too low? Are your forearms horizontal when typing? (Forgive me if I'm being nosy or presumptuous, just curious.) One related tip for anyone reading this, regardless of your monitor arrangement: if you wear glasses, do not use progressive lenses at your computer. Instead, get a pair of single vision lenses with a fairly tall aspect ratio so they let you see the entire screen(s) without tilting your head back. Don't ask your optometrist for a "reading" prescription - that tends to be about a 16" distance, and your monitors are probably farther from your eyes than that. Measure the distance from your eyes to the monitors and get single vision lenses made for that distance.
  - woodruffw 6y ago
    > What size monitors are those? I use a pair of 24" 4K monitors in roughly the same configuration as yours. 27" would definitely be too tall. They're 24", like yours. It sounds like our setups are actually nearly identical: the top of my horizontal monitor is also just below my eye height, and I spend most of my time looking at the middle of the vertical one. I should probably move them around a bit so I can actually look at the vertical one without turning my head, though. > With your horizontal monitor sitting so close to the desk, I have to wonder if your seating position may be too low? Are your forearms horizontal when typing? (Forgive me if I'm being nosy or presumptuous, just curious.) I appreciate it! I think my seating is right, at least based on what I was taught about ergonomics -- my forearms are horizontal and I don't have to pivot my wrists up or down while typing or moving my mouse.
chao- 6y ago
This is the recommended default, and I assume it is for good reason, but I would caution against adopting this on faith. If you feel pain, try different positions out. I had the setup you recommend for many years. At first I started getting shoulder pain, and realized that I was stopping over to accommodate when looking down. I forced myself (at regular intervals, and modest cost to productivity) to have better posture, and to tilt my neck downward instead. It fixed the shoulder pain but my neck was uncomfortable. Not in pain, but constantly uncomfortable. I kept with it because I knew this was the "proper" ergonomics. Then I realized: I spend most of my time staring at the bottom half, to bottom edge, of the screen. Typing in a terminal, adding functions at the bottom of a file, etc. I moved my monitor such that my eyes are almost dead-center, vertically, and haven't had any issues since, neither neck nor shoulders. I kept the improved posture too, so I'm sure that ultimately helped too. I'm sure the recommended is recommended for a reason, and works for most, but hopefully my experience is useful to some.
- chao- 6y ago
  (slight followup correction: "stooping over" not "stopping over" but I cannot edit my post anymore)
arendtio 6y ago
Actually, I prefer looking up and down over looking left and right. So for me it is normal to have the upper monitor way above my eye level.

by Tepix 6y ago

woodruffw 6y ago

Author here: you’re absolutely right. My previous vertical monitor was a lot shorter; this one has definitely not been great for my neck. I’ll probably switch it back to horizontal at some point.

Stratoscope 6y ago
What size monitors are those? I use a pair of 24" 4K monitors in roughly the same configuration as yours. 27" would definitely be too tall. I find having a vertical 24" monitor to be super useful, especially for reading typical PDF files as an entire page fits nicely on the screen. My vertical monitor is a bit closer to the desk, and the horizontal monitor is much higher than yours, about 7.5" above the desk. The bottom edges are not aligned; the vertical monitor bottom edge is about 5" below the bottom of the horizontal monitor, and its top edge is about 3" above the top of the horizontal monitor. The top of horizontal monitor is just below my eye height. So the top of the vertical one is a couple of inches above that, but this is not a problem as I don't spend much time looking at the very top of that monitor. Each monitor is tilted separately. The horizontal one is tilted back only slightly; the vertical one tilted more. So the center of each monitor is perpendicular to my line of sight. At the moment I'm using the two monitors with a Linux desktop, but sometimes I connect them both to a ThinkPad for a three-monitor setup with the ThinkPad's display and keyboard. When I do this, I raise the horizontal monitor up another inch so the ThinkPad display tucks in underneath it. With your horizontal monitor sitting so close to the desk, I have to wonder if your seating position may be too low? Are your forearms horizontal when typing? (Forgive me if I'm being nosy or presumptuous, just curious.) One related tip for anyone reading this, regardless of your monitor arrangement: if you wear glasses, do not use progressive lenses at your computer. Instead, get a pair of single vision lenses with a fairly tall aspect ratio so they let you see the entire screen(s) without tilting your head back. Don't ask your optometrist for a "reading" prescription - that tends to be about a 16" distance, and your monitors are probably farther from your eyes than that. Measure the distance from your eyes to the monitors and get single vision lenses made for that distance.
- woodruffw 6y ago
  > What size monitors are those? I use a pair of 24" 4K monitors in roughly the same configuration as yours. 27" would definitely be too tall. They're 24", like yours. It sounds like our setups are actually nearly identical: the top of my horizontal monitor is also just below my eye height, and I spend most of my time looking at the middle of the vertical one. I should probably move them around a bit so I can actually look at the vertical one without turning my head, though. > With your horizontal monitor sitting so close to the desk, I have to wonder if your seating position may be too low? Are your forearms horizontal when typing? (Forgive me if I'm being nosy or presumptuous, just curious.) I appreciate it! I think my seating is right, at least based on what I was taught about ergonomics -- my forearms are horizontal and I don't have to pivot my wrists up or down while typing or moving my mouse.

chao- 6y ago

This is the recommended default, and I assume it is for good reason, but I would caution against adopting this on faith. If you feel pain, try different positions out. I had the setup you recommend for many years. At first I started getting shoulder pain, and realized that I was stopping over to accommodate when looking down. I forced myself (at regular intervals, and modest cost to productivity) to have better posture, and to tilt my neck downward instead. It fixed the shoulder pain but my neck was uncomfortable. Not in pain, but constantly uncomfortable. I kept with it because I knew this was the "proper" ergonomics. Then I realized: I spend most of my time staring at the bottom half, to bottom edge, of the screen. Typing in a terminal, adding functions at the bottom of a file, etc. I moved my monitor such that my eyes are almost dead-center, vertically, and haven't had any issues since, neither neck nor shoulders. I kept the improved posture too, so I'm sure that ultimately helped too. I'm sure the recommended is recommended for a reason, and works for most, but hopefully my experience is useful to some.

chao- 6y ago
(slight followup correction: "stooping over" not "stopping over" but I cannot edit my post anymore)

arendtio 6y ago

Actually, I prefer looking up and down over looking left and right. So for me it is normal to have the upper monitor way above my eye level.