Blog
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A desk somebody else set up
Hot desks, shared desks and borrowed chairs. The two-minute order to reset one in, and which settings are worth touching when the desk isn't yours.
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Your glasses set the screen height, not the rule book
If you wear varifocals or reading glasses, the lens decides where the screen goes. How to tell, and why the right answer will look far too low.
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The keyboard tray, and what it costs
A tray is the answer to a desk that's too high and can't be lowered. It also takes knee room, depth and your mouse. How to tell if it's worth it.
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Setting up on a sofa or an armchair
A sofa is too deep, too soft and too low for any surface in the room. How to make an hour on one cost less, and why it stays an hour.
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Where the paper goes
Paper flat on the desk drops your head lower than any screen does. Where documents belong, and how to make a holder out of what's already there.
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Standard desk height suits one body, and it might not be yours
Desks are built to one height for everyone. What that costs if you're shorter or taller than the average, and the different fix each case needs.
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The phone, the headset and the camera
Calls rearrange your whole setup: a cradled handset, a headset cable, a camera at the wrong height. Where each object goes so it doesn't move your head.
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What a standing desk actually fixes
A sit-stand desk doesn't fix your setup — it gives you a second one to get wrong. What it genuinely solves, and how to set the standing half.
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The laptop is the problem
A laptop puts the screen and the keyboard on the same object, so one of them is always wrong. The fix is separating them, and the cheap version works.
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Where the keyboard and mouse go
Reach is the thing to fix, not wrist angle. Why the number pad pushes your mouse away, and how to find the position that lets your shoulders stay down.
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Monitor height and distance
Your head goes wherever the screen makes it go. How to find the right height and distance by checking your own eyes rather than measuring anything.
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Chair height starts at the floor
Your chair height isn't set by your legs — it's set by your desk. Why that's backwards, what it does to your shoulders, and the fix that costs nothing.
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Setting up on a kitchen table
Dining tables are built taller than desks and dining chairs lower than task chairs. What to do about both when the table is the only surface you have.
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Two monitors, and which one is the main one
Two screens side by side means neither is in front of you. How to decide on a primary, arrange the second, and stop turning your head all day.
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A desk lamp has one job
A desk lamp lights paper, not screens. Where to put it, which side it goes on, and why the wrong position makes you tilt your head all afternoon.
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Glare, the window, and where light should come from
Turn your screen off and look at it — whatever you can see is glare. How window position, room brightness and reflections change how you sit.
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What your chair is standing on
A chair that drifts, sticks or sinks makes every other setting provisional. How to check the base, the casters and the floor before you adjust anything.
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Armrests are usually set too high
Armrests either meet your relaxed arms or lift your shoulders all day. How to check yours, why fixed ones cause two problems, and when to remove them.
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Lumbar support, and the rolled towel that outperforms most of it
Lumbar support is just something filling the gap behind your lower back. How to find where yours should sit, and why a rolled towel beats most cushions.
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Sitting upright is oversold
The bolt-upright right angle is a drawing, not a target. What a backrest is for, why reclining is fine, and how to set the tilt on the chair you have.
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The space under the desk is part of the setup
A crossbar, a drawer unit or a box of cables stops you pulling the chair in — which pushes the keyboard away. How to check the clearance and clear it.
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Desk depth is the constraint nobody checks
How deep your desk is decides how far away the screen can go, and a shallow desk forces a compromise. How to spot it and how to buy depth back for free.
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Desk height, when the desk doesn't adjust
Most desks are one height forever, and that height wasn't chosen for you. How to tell if yours is wrong, and the four ways to change it or work around it.
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Diagnosing a bad setup from how you feel at five o'clock
Where you feel tired at the end of the day tells you which object is set wrong. A map from the common complaints back to the setting that caused them.
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The order to set a desk up in
Setting a desk up has an order: floor, chair, hands, screen, light. Do it in any other order and you'll undo your own work. Here's the sequence and why.