Nearly every guide to setting up a desk, including ours, gives the same rule: put the top third of the screen at or just below your eye level. It is good advice and it is right for most people.
It is wrong for you if you wear progressive or bifocal lenses.
Not slightly wrong — wrong in a way that quietly undoes the rest of a good setup, because the rule assumes you are looking at the screen through the middle of your lens. If you wear progressives, you are not. This guide explains what changes, what number to use instead, and which monitor arms can actually reach it.
Why the standard rule does not fit a progressive lens
A single-vision lens has one prescription across the whole lens. Wherever you look through it, you get the same correction, so the screen can sit wherever your eyes are most comfortable pointing — which is very slightly below horizontal. Hence the standard rule.
A progressive lens is built differently. The distance correction sits at the top, the intermediate zone through the middle, and the near-vision zone in the lower part of the lens. A bifocal is the same idea with a visible line instead of a gradual change. That is how the lens is made; it is not a preference or a fitting error.
So when a screen is set to the standard height, you are looking at it through the upper part of the lens, which is ground for distance. To bring the intermediate or near zone onto the screen, you have to raise your chin and look down your nose at it. People do this without noticing, and then hold the position for hours.
That is a head position you did not choose, and — this is the part that matters — it is not something the chair can fix. You can set the seat height, the seat depth and the back support perfectly and still spend the day with your chin up, because the problem is not where you are sitting. It is where the screen is.
The number to use instead
The fix is geometric and it is simple: lower the screen until you can read it through the part of the lens that is ground for that distance, with your head level.
In practice that usually means the top of the screen sits noticeably below eye level rather than at it, and the screen is tilted back a little so its face stays square to your line of sight. How far below depends on your prescription, your lens design and how far back you sit, which is why we are not going to publish a single figure and pretend it fits everyone.
What we can tell you is how to find it in about a minute:
- Sit the way you actually sit, in the chair you actually use, at your normal viewing distance.
- Look straight ahead with your head level. Do not aim at the screen — aim at the wall behind it.
- Without moving your head, drop your eyes until the text on screen is sharp. Note where on the screen that lands.
- Lower the screen until that sharp zone sits over the middle of the screen, and tilt the top back slightly.
If you get to the bottom of the arm's travel and the screen still is not low enough, the arm is the limitation, not your eyes. Which brings us to the specification nobody quotes.
The spec nobody quotes: how low does the arm go?
Monitor arms are sold on lift. Every spec sheet, ours included, leads with how much vertical travel the arm has and how heavy a screen it will hold. Both are useful numbers and neither answers this question, because travel tells you the size of the range without telling you where the bottom of it sits.
For a progressive-lens wearer the bottom of the range is the whole decision. Here is what the four arms we stock publish.
| Arm | Published height figures | Screen | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thinking Works C.ME | VESA centre 130–465 mm above the desk (calculated with a 15-inch screen); 330 mm of travel single, 260 mm dual | 8 kg per arm, 17–32 in, flat only | $174 |
| CBS Ollin | 367 mm vertical adjustment; CBS describes the design as low-to-desk geometry, with a deep backwards tilt | 0–9 kg, no minimum weight | $314 |
| CBS Flo | 483 mm of vertical travel, held anywhere in the range by the Dual Rate Spring | 2–7 kg, up to 34 in, flat or curved to 1000R | $279 |
| Thinking Works Vader | 285 mm of height adjustment (calculated with a 17-inch screen); maximum arm lift 480 mm single, 400 mm dual | 1–9 kg, 17–32 in, flat or curved | $156 |
The C.ME publishes the figure outright, and it is the one to look at first if you know you need the screen low: a VESA centre that starts 130 mm above the desk, on a post you set by push button rather than by fighting a spring. Because the height is set on the post rather than by arm geometry, it also stays where you put it — which matters when the right height is a narrow band rather than roughly-anywhere-comfortable.
The Ollin is the other one to know about, for a different reason. CBS balances it with a technical cord rather than a spring, so it carries anything from 0 to 9 kg with no minimum weight, and CBS's own description of the design is low-to-desk geometry with a deep backwards tilt. A light screen on a spring arm can float upward; a cord-balanced arm has no bottom-end weight threshold to fight.
The Flo has the most travel in the range at 483 mm and takes the largest screens — up to 34 inches, flat or curved to 1000R — so it is the one for a big screen that also needs to come down. The Vader is the value option and the one most people end up with on a two-screen desk.
If you want the height above your desk worked out rather than a travel figure, ring us on 02 9640 0642 with your desk height, your screen size and whether you wear progressives. It takes a minute and it is the difference between an arm that reaches and one that does not.
The sit-stand problem, which is worse
If you work at a sit-stand desk, the problem doubles, and this is the argument for an articulating arm over any fixed riser.
When you raise the desk, the screen goes up with it. Your eyes go up too, so for a single-vision wearer the relationship holds and nothing needs changing. For a progressive wearer it does not hold, because standing changes your head and neck posture slightly while the lens geometry stays exactly where it was. The height that worked seated is rarely the right height standing.
A riser cannot help with this — it holds one relationship to the desktop and travels with it. An arm can, because you can drop the screen relative to the desk when you stand and raise it again when you sit. That is a one-handed adjustment on any of the four arms above, and it is the single strongest reason for a lens wearer to put a screen on an arm rather than a stand.
Our standing desk setup guide covers the rest of the sit-stand geometry, and how to choose a sit-stand desk covers the desks themselves.
Two screens, and one pair of glasses
A second screen makes this sharper rather than harder. If you run two monitors and you wear progressives, the side screen is the one that causes trouble, because reaching it means turning your head and finding the right part of the lens at the same time.
Two practical things help. Set both screens to the same lowered height rather than stepping the second one up, so your lens does not have to change zone when your eyes cross the gap. And angle the second screen in toward you so its face stays square to your line of sight rather than presenting at a slant — a dual arm does this by design, where two separate stands generally cannot.
If your screens are large, curved or ultrawide, weight and mounting become the limiting factors rather than height, and that is covered in monitor arms for heavy, curved and ultrawide screens. For the general question of which arm suits which desk, start with how to choose the right monitor arm and the 4-step compatibility checklist. If you work in CAD or design, our ergonomic workstation setup for architects and CAD designers covers the viewing geometry for that work in more detail.
Where the chair still matters
Lowering the screen solves the lens problem. It does not solve seat height, and the two interact: raise the chair to get your forearms level at the keyboard and you have just raised your eyes relative to the screen as well, which means the screen needs to come down again.
The order that works is keyboard first, then screen. Set the chair so your forearms are level at the desk, set the desk or the chair so your feet are supported, and only then set the screen height to your lens. Do it the other way round and you will chase it all afternoon.
If the chair is the part that will not sit right, our guides to office chairs for short people and office chairs for tall people deal with the fit questions, and the whole range is in task chairs.
What we would actually tell you
If you wear progressives or bifocals and your screen is on the stand it came with, the stand is almost certainly holding it too high and it very likely does not go low enough to fix. That is the problem, and an arm is the answer — not because we sell arms, but because height above the desk is the only variable that matters here and a factory stand does not have one.
If you know you need the screen low, start with the C.ME at $174, because it publishes a VESA centre from 130 mm above the desk and sets by push button. If your screen is light, or you want the best-built arm in the range, the Ollin at $314 is cord-balanced from zero kilograms with low-to-desk geometry and a 12-year CBS warranty. For a large or curved screen that also needs to come down, the Flo at $279 has the most travel.
And if you are not sure which of those reaches your desk, that is exactly the sort of thing to ring us about rather than guess. Bring us the desk height and the screen size. The whole range is in monitor arms.
Frequently asked questions
How high should my monitor be if I wear progressive lenses?
Lower than the standard advice. The usual rule puts the top third of the screen at or just below eye level, which assumes you are looking through the middle of a single-vision lens. With progressives the near and intermediate zones sit in the lower part of the lens, so the screen needs to come down until you can read it with your head level rather than your chin raised.
Why does the standard monitor height advice not work for bifocals?
Because the rule assumes one prescription across the whole lens. A progressive or bifocal lens puts the distance correction at the top and the near-vision zone in the lower part, so a screen at the standard height is read through the part of the lens ground for distance.
Can I fix this by adjusting my chair instead?
No. You can set the seat height, the seat depth and the back support perfectly and still spend the day with your chin up, because the problem is not where you are sitting. It is where the screen is.
Which monitor arm goes lowest?
The Thinking Works C.ME publishes a VESA centre of 130 to 465 mm above the desk, calculated with a 15-inch screen, and sets by push button on the post. The CBS Ollin is described by CBS as having low-to-desk geometry and balances from zero kilograms with no minimum weight.
Do I need a different screen height standing than sitting?
Usually yes, if you wear progressives. Standing changes your head and neck posture slightly while the lens geometry stays exactly where it was, so the height that worked seated is rarely the right height standing. A riser cannot help with this because it holds one relationship to the desktop and travels with it.
How do I set up two screens with progressive lenses?
Set both screens to the same lowered height rather than stepping the second one up, so your lens does not have to change zone when your eyes cross the gap. And angle the second screen in toward you so its face stays square to your line of sight rather than presenting at a slant.
What order should I set up my desk in?
Keyboard first, then screen. Set the chair so your forearms are level at the desk, set the desk or the chair so your feet are supported, and only then set the screen height to your lens. Do it the other way round and you will chase it all afternoon.
Will a monitor riser work instead of an arm?
A riser raises a screen; it does not lower one. If the stand your screen came with is already holding it too high, a riser makes the problem worse. An arm is the answer because height above the desk is the only variable that matters here.
References
- Thinking Works C.ME technical specification sheet (January 2025) and monitor-arm comparison sheet (September 2026)
- Thinking Works Vader technical specification sheet and monitor-arm comparison sheet (September 2026)
- Colebrook Bosson Saunders Flo product page and its April and November 2025 press releases
- Colebrook Bosson Saunders Ollin product page
- Prices and stock checked against chairdinkum.com.au on 18 September 2026.
