Ergoblog

Save Your Eyes (Monitor Information)

Staring at your monitor hour after hour can cause headaches and eye fatigue. One of the easiest things you can do to help this problem is to raise the refresh rate. Monitors often come with refresh rates set too low, i.e. 60 Hz which causes flickering. A higher refresh rate helps reduce the flickering effect and lessen eye strain.

You can usually set your refresh rate under display properties/settings. Also, RefreshForce is a free tool that lets you quickly change the monitor's refresh rate.

Another cause of eye strain that many people tend to just live with is font size. Higher resolutions on monitors can cause quite small fonts. Also, many web sites use small fonts. If you catch yourself leaning toward the monitor, or squinting uncomfortably, right click on your desktop to bring up display properties, select appearance, and choose font size. You can further adjust the font you see when surfing by choosing text size from Internet Explorer's view menu and selecting your preference. This may cause some of your favorite web pages to display a little oddly, but at least you'll be able to read them!

Make sure you have proper lighting on your monitor (it's more effective to have a light shining from behind your shoulder or above the monitor than behind the desk).

Even using these measures, you should take frequent breaks from the computer. Look away from your monitor at least once every fifteen minutes; preferably, step away from the computer altogether.

Another solution is to use two monitors. This forces you to move your gaze around from applications open on one screen to applications open on the other. This can also help fight hand injuries as you'll save a few mouse clicks and keystrokes since you won't have to switch from application to application as often.

MouseTool Review

Does your mouse hand ever get sore from all that repetitive clicking? Maybe you've switched the mouse to the other hand, and now they're both prone to soreness? Maybe you're just smarter than I am, and you're taking preventative measures now to keep from suffering from RSI/Carpal Tunnel Syndrome later.

Out of all the ergonomic hardware and software I've tried out over the last year, MouseTool is definitely one of the most helpful. This software program is the right price, too. Free. (The author suggests you donate $20 to the charity of your choice if you like it).

Details:

MouseTool does the clicking for you. It works with your mouse or any pointing device. When you stop moving the mouse, the program automatically clicks for you. You can program it to left-click, right-click, or double-click by default (switching between them is simple). You can also program the delay time (how long the mouse must be stopped before the program sends a click signal) to your specifications. The default .5 seconds works well for me.

MouseTool took surprisingly little time to get used to. The key is to remember to move the mouse out of the way (to the top of the window or somewhere where a stray click won't affect your work) after it "clicks".

Pros: Soreness in the backs of your hands or in your wrists may be caused by clicking your mouse day in and day out. This program is easy to use and eliminates the need to click.

Cons: The SmartDrag feature may give you some trouble (used for clicking and dragging in editing).

Download MouseTool v3.1 Ergonomic Software.

SafeType™ Vertical Keyboard Review

It's obvious from the SafeType Vertical Keyboard that creating ergonomic keyboards is becoming quite an art form. Imagine taking your regular keyboard, breaking it in half, and standing both sides up vertically, keys facing out in opposite directions. The idea behind the design of the vertical keyboard is this puts the forearms in a more neutral position which is less destructive on the wrists than the typical wrists-facing-the-floor (pronated) position. In your normal typing position, the bones in the forearm twist and put extra pressure on the Carpal Tunnel.

At around $300, the SafeType Vertical Keyboard is surprisingly usable. As you might expect, the first few minutes were very awkward. The keys are in the same QWERTY position that most of us are accustomed to, however, so it didn't take long to get the knack of things. Within a couple days, the board felt fairly comfortable and accurate.

Be warned, this keyboard is for touch typists. If you have to look at the keys when you type, you'll find the vertical keyboard set up frustrating. There is a little bit of aid provided in the way of vertical mirrors that let you see the function and number keys, but it's not versatile enough to be extremely helpful.

The number pad, arrow keys, and multimedia keys lie in the canyon created by the two vertical boards. You'll probably need to get a vertical mouse to go with this set up (yes, somebody actually makes them), otherwise switching back and forth from the neutral to pronated position can be just as troublesome on the wrists as normal typing.

Pros: saves wear and tear on your wrists, especially the Carpal Tunnel area

Cons: the arrow keys and number pad is in the middle (between the keyboard halves) so you have to move your hands around the board to get those keys.

Sites about the Safetype Vertical Keyboard:

SafeType™ vertical keyboard

Pictures of the SafeType

My Ergonomics Blog: First Post

I figure a first introductory post is in order before I start ranting and raving on the various ergonomic toys, RSI books, and voice-recognition software I've experimented with over the last two years. The primary reason I'm starting this blog is because I've had a surprisingly difficult time finding solid information and reviews on some of the ergonomic furniture and peripherals I've considered buying. Now digging up information on Dragon NaturallySpeaking and some of the other voice-recognition software suites isn't too tough--you can actually find reviews on Amazon and whatnot. But reviews can be elusive for some of the more expensive toys (ergonomic workstations, chairs, the fancier keyboards). You can find 80,000 sites selling the thing with the exact same product description, but try to find somebody who's actually bought it, and it's another story.

So...

In the beginning, I expect this blog to be filled mostly with my experiences and reviews of products I've tried along with a smattering of industry news (whatever vaguely interesting tidbits I scrounge off the net), but eventually I hope people will start sending me reviews of ergonomic devices they've tried out, so that I can build an extensive collection of information on what's out there, and what's coming. My e-mail address is listed on the About page. Don't be afraid.. Tell me what you know.