Ergonomics for Typing - Environment Setup

Your equipment and environment setup, along with your body position and type of movement, play an important role in your productivity and health. This article provides some tips to ensure your work environment is set up properly.

Monitor

Place your monitor arm's length away from your eyes. This is the optimal distance to avoid eye strain.

Don't have windows or light sources directly behind the monitor. Doing so will cause unwanted glare. The ideal light source is directly above your work area.

The monitor should be slightly below your line of vision. The top border of the screen should be just below the height of your eyes.

Increase the text size if necessary. This will reduce eye strain. Windows lets you adjust this using the Display control panel. Most web browser's also have a zoom control.

Keyboard

Use a wrist rest. Most laptops already have this, but you may need it for an external keyboard. A wrist rest will reduce hand and arm movement, increase the reach of your fingers, and reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury.

Position this so your forearms are parallel to the floor. If needed, adjust the height of your chair or table.

Mouse

Keep it close to the keyboard.

Adjust the pointer speed if necessary. If your mouse pointer moves too quickly or too slowly, you can adjust the speed using the Mouse control panel on your computer.