Tilting the Display Screen

Though the need for a height adjustable screen surface can be critical, depending on the individual and job function, that adjustment by itself can cause another problem.

When the screen surface is lowered, the terminal operator is then viewing the display screen face at an angle. Due to the nature of the glass on the screen, this can cause some slight fuzziness or distortion of the characters.

This distortion can be as imperceptible as a slightly out of focus movie where one may not be conscious of the reason for the eyestrain experienced.

The same discomfort can result from reading a terminal screen at an angle. For the clearest interpretation of the data the most effective viewing angle is perpendicular to the screen centre. This becomes especially important when a glare-reducing mat or film has been placed over the screen face. Such a device increases the distortion factor when viewed at an angle.

This need has been recognized by an increasing number of terminal manufactureres, who have begun building tilt adjustments into their screens. However the benefit is largely diminished if the screen surface itself is not height adjustable.

Though lowering and tilting the screen unit can cause the ceiling lights to be reflected from the screen face, this problem should be solved in the ceiling fixture with the use of parabolic wedge louvres or other light control panels. These can often be installed for less cost than affixing the glare reducing filters to the terminal screen face.