December 18, 2024, 9:40 am | Read time: 5 minutes
Set up the monitor, plug in the cable, switch it on and off you go! It can be that simple, but the result is often blindingly bright, too contrasty, or unpleasantly bluish. The secret to comfortable working lies in the monitor settings. TECHBOOK reveals how to achieve the best result in just a few steps.
Anyone who spends hours looking at a screen should make sure that the display settings are as easy on the eyes as possible. The most important factors include brightness and contrast, color temperature and gamma value, and the position of the monitor at the workstation. To change the various settings, each monitor has its own menu, accessed via function buttons or wheels on the housing.
The Correct Height of a Monitor
For the basic settings, the monitor should be positioned to support a comfortable posture. The distance depends on the size of the screen. The rule of thumb is a distance of at least 60 centimeters, which is roughly the length of an arm. An even greater distance is recommended if the monitor has a screen diagonal larger than 17 inches.
Working on a laptop that is not raised often results in a slouched posture and back pain or tension. The height of the monitor should, therefore, be adjusted so that the viewer’s head is only slightly tilted downwards. The top line of the screen should not be above eye level. Ideally, the viewing angle should be 10 to 20 degrees below eye level. As far as the tilt of the monitor is concerned, the viewer should ideally look at the screen at 90 degrees.
Use Preset Modes
First of all, it may be worth resetting the settings on the monitor in order to have a clean starting point. This is usually possible by using the device’s navigation directly. The buttons or wheels for the screen settings are usually located at the bottom right-hand corner of the monitor, sometimes also at the back. You can reset the individual settings via the menu item ‘Reset,’ ‘Factory Reset,’ ‘System,’ or a similar option.
With these preparations complete, you’re ready to begin. There are almost always several modes to choose from on a monitor for different applications – for work (standard) and for watching movies, for games, or for image editing. Especially for novices, it’s often best to stick with one of these preset modes, adjusting individual settings like brightness only as needed. Windows users can use the built-in calibration aid, which guides inexperienced users step by step through the correct settings. To do this, open the Windows Start menu and search for the terms “Calibrate screen color.”
When it comes to brightness, the screen should correspond to the ambient brightness so as not to strain the eyes excessively. This means that the brightness setting should usually be between 50 and 75 percent. However, if you are editing images or video material, you may need higher brightness levels. The same applies to the contrast level.
Color Temperature and Gamma Value
It is also advisable to check the settings for the color temperature and gamma value. The color temperature indicates whether the image is warm and reddish or cold and bluish. If you activate the “Night Shift” function on your PC or smartphone, for example, the display switches to a warmer color spectrum at a certain time of day.
A color temperature of 6500 Kelvin is recommended for standard work on the monitor. Daylight is around 5500 Kelvin at midday, so it is in a similar white range. The higher the value, the bluer the light. If you read a lot on the monitor, you may find a warmer setting of 5000 Kelvin more pleasant.
The gamma value, also known as gamma correction on some monitors, allows users to adjust the display when shadows or colors appear too dark or too bright. The gamma value corrects the contrast between the gray levels. Usually, the gamma value is 2.2. However, if you are watching a series in a dark room, you can increase it.
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Monitor Settings Influence Health
Which colors the monitor displays can have an impact on sleep in particular, as studies by Christian Cajochen, Head of the Center for Chronobiology at the University of Basel, have shown. As a rule of thumb, the more blue light a display emits, the more awake the user remains and the worse their sleep is if they have been sitting at the PC for a short time beforehand. The Night Shift function can help counteract this, especially if you’re using the screen until just before bedtime. It can be activated in the “Displays” or “Display” section of the system settings for Mac and Windows.
Nevertheless, a monitor that’s properly adjusted won’t negatively affect your health, particularly your eyesight. For example, a high contrast value is important. Fortunately, computer users do not have to worry about eye-unfriendly flickering these days. “This is no longer a problem with modern monitors with their high refresh rates,” says Georg Eckert from the Professional Association of Ophthalmologists (BVA).
However, it can still happen that your eyes get tired after working on a PC for a long time. However, this is not necessarily due to an incorrectly adjusted monitor. “The reason is often that we work too intently at the computer and forget to blink,” explains Eckert. Conscious blinking, the use of moisturizing eye drops, and taking regular breaks from the screen can prevent this issue.