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To: chris who wrote (1172)	11/10/1998 3:22:00 PM
From: Kevin Hamlin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4467

Chris: A few ideas for you. :)) Not sure if these may be the case! 1) They do make monitors with better than .60 dpi. 2) Running your monitor at 5000x3000 to fit more on your screen is not necessarily a good idea. 3) Make sure the monitor is turned on. I hate straining to see and then realize I haven't powered up yet! Okokokok, seriously, a few things to consider, cuz I do know what you mean. 1) I turn the brightness and contrast way down...more than you would think. It looks a little funny at first...but your eyes quickly adapt to these lower levels. 2) Have other lighting on in the room. 3) Make sure you have a monitor with a GOOD refresh rate. They make them up in the 90-100mhz range now. ANY flicker will drive your eyes crazy and give you a wicked headache. (For those running two or more monitors, flicker is a greater issue as the monitors can cause flicker to each other depending on what rate they're running at) 4) Decent monitors run at .26-28 dpi. 5) Make sure you have the monitor physically placed in such a way that does not make your neck/eyes move to where they would not naturally be. That's all I can thing of....there may be more. All the best Kevin

To: chris who wrote (1172)	11/10/1998 5:36:00 PM
From: keith massey	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4467

Chris You asked the right person. My M.Sc is in Biomedical/Human Factors Engineering. I often get called in on contract positions to deal with lighting problems. I'll give you a few tips on proper set-up to help reduce eye strain and neck pain. The reason I am not sending this as a private message is that we all use computers on a regular basis and these tips might also help you. Step 1 - the top edge of your monitor should be at eye level. Your eyes are better adjusted to view at a downwards angle. Most people make the mistake of having the monitors way to high or low. If your monitors to low - throw a book under it. Your monitor should be directly in front of you. If you have several monitors (Chief), the one you use the most should be in front of you. Constantly twisting you neck to view a monitor to the side of you will lead to neck pain eventually. Step 2 - the monitor screen should be approximately 1 arms length away from you eyes (18 inches). Research has shown this to be the optimal viewing distances for video screens. Step 3 - when people sit in front of a computer monitor they tend to blink far less. This results in less moisture on the eyes which leads to eye irritation. Several studies have shown that you blink your eyes about twice as much when your reading a book compared to reading from a computer screen. Remind yourself to blink once in a while. When your eyes are feeling irritated blink a little - it helps. Step 4 - most new monitors refresh at 65Hz or faster. Unless you have an older monitor or a garbage video card the refresh rate should not be an issue. A monitor refreshing at lower than 60-65Hz can be detected by the eye and lead to eye strain and headaches. In other words - if you have an old monitor go buy a new one. Step 6 - the more contrast the better. It is far easier reading a newspaper with black writing on a white background compared to dark gray writing on a light gray background. Bring up a word document and adjust the contrast until the letters look like they are standing out on the page. Step 5 - one of the leading causes of eye strain is glare on the screen. Although you wouldn't natural think that a small glare on your screen would cause headaches and sore eyes - trust me, it does. So how do you reduce glare??? Turn off your monitor. Look at the screen. Anything you can do to make your screen blacker when the monitor is off will reduce glare. Two of the major mistakes people make is having a light source directly behind your computer (e.g. lamp) or having your computer screen facing a window. Move your computer monitor or desk around so you don't get any reflection. If you have a shiny white desk put a dark colour mat on it. Light from the ceiling, lamps, etc. will reflect off the desk into your eyes and onto the computer monitor. Reduce the overall lighting levels in the room. To give you the numbers - when working at a computer you want lighting levels to be 200-300lux (dimly lit room), when reading a paper document you want lighting levels to be 700-1000lux (brightly lit room). Sorry that I can't come and do any measurement myself but you probably wouldn't want to see my bill anyways. During the day I turn off all the lights in my room when working at the computer. At night I normally have a small lamp with a shade on the side of my computer. If you are also reading paper documents at your computer get a task light (lamp) to light up the documents. But make sure the lamp is aimed away from your eyes and the monitor. The last resort - go buy a glare filter. If you adjust the lighting and position of your monitor you shouldn't need a filter. However in the case that you can't get ride of a light source or can't move your monitor a glare screen will help. The problem with glare screens is that they reduce the lighting levels of your monitor (especially the cheap ones). If your going to buy one spend a little bit of money a buy a good one since in my experience the cheap ones are useless. This should help get you on the road to recovery. If anyone has any ergonomic questions send me a P.P and I would be happy to help out. Best Regards KEITH

To: chris who wrote (1172)	11/10/1998 11:44:00 PM
From: Chad Barrett	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4467

To reduce eye fatigue you have to look away from the screen at least every 15 minutes... preferably focusing on something far off in the distance (out a window perhaps). You have to give a range of stimuli to your eyes or they will scream at you! The headaches are also often caused by a poor refresh rate on your monitor (or a generally poor monitor)... although any monitor will give you a headache if you stare at it too long. I hope this helps... Chad