How to set up a good workstation at home
Before choosing an appropriate location for your home computer, consider the following first: How are you intending to use the computer? For several hours at a time, or just for short periods? For your work, or for private use? Are you the only one who’ll have the pleasure of working on your computer, or will the whole family get to have a go? Have a think about the most practical location for it.
Room
Have a think about where in the room you want to put your computer. Don’t bother with a provisional solution. Once you’ve connected everything up, it’ll be harder to move it all.
Is there anywhere that’s an obvious choice of location for a workstation? If it’s your own personal computer, you should perhaps choose a room that can be locked or a separate place where you can get peace and quiet to work. If you put your computer in the same room as the family TV, there’s a major risk of you being disturbed. Measure up the space you’ve chosen and make sure you have room there for a desk that’s big enough. You also have to have room for any peripherals you might acquire later.
Lighting
Daylight and ordinary ceiling lights won’t suffice. You need desktop lighting that provides you with good light to work by, along with wall or ceiling lights to provide pleasant general lighting. Get yourself an adjustable, flicker-free desk lamp to provide you with just the right amount of light for your desk and the documents you’re working with. If you make a lot of manual notes, the light should come from the left for someone who’s righthanded, and vice versa if you’re lefthanded. Adjust your desktop lighting so that you’re not dazzled by it and so that it doesn’t reflect off your display. Try out your lighting at different times of day. If the daylight is strong, you can close a curtain. Choose a pale curtain that’s not too patterned. A sunny room may need Venetian blinds or an awning.
No matter how well planned your lighting for computer work, it can’t compensate for a daily dose of natural daylight. So take a break and go for a walk in the morning or at lunchtime, when daylight contains extra energy.
Equipment
Monitor
- Your monitor should be positioned directly in front of you at a distance of some 50–80 cm from your eyes.
- Make sure there are no disruptive reflections on screen from lamps, and that you’re not dazzled by sunlight.
- The top edge of the screen should be at eye height. Angle it so that you’re looking slightly down, towards the middle of the screen.
- Check that the display is correctly adjusted. Good monitors offer automatic sharpness, brightness and contrast settings. TCO-labelled monitors offer these qualities.
- Don’t sit too close to the screen. This is unnecessary as most software allows you to enlarge the text. If you need help to see, it may be the case that your usual glasses aren’t right for screen work. Instead, you may need special work glasses.
- Your eyes need variation. Remember to take a break occasionally. You’ll feel livelier and manage to do more if you get to look at something different for a while.
Document holder, keyboard, mouse and wrist guard
- A document holder is handy to have if you’re typing from another document. Place this between your keyboard and your monitor, or alongside the display. Ideally, your holder should be angle-adjustable.
- Your keyboard should be positioned directly in front of you, about 15 cm from the edge of the desk. You can then rest your lower arms on the des.
- Your mouse or other centred controller (e.g. Roller Mouse or Mouse Trapper) is positioned as close to the keyboard as possible, and at the same height. If your arm gets tired, this might be because you’re working for too long with just the mouse. In this instance, try to use the keyboard and shortcuts, or a centred controller. A wrist guard can help to relieve strain in the muscles in your arms and wrists.
Keep your cables tidy
- Collect together cables and wires, and hang them up under the desk using cable ties. They easily pick up dust. You can also get earthed cable ducting to put your cables in.
- Don’t put too many devices all in one place; this will help you to avoid messy tangles of cables.
- Free up space on your desk by putting your computer under the desk or in a desk stand. At the same time, check you have plenty of legroom when you sit down.
Find out more:
Working in an office
Working at home
Working on the road
How to set up a good workstation at home
