Making a dining table work when it is also the desk

Most dining tables are 29 to 31 inches high; most desks are the same. The problem is not the table, it is everything around it. The chair is what fails first. A dining chair is designed for ninety minutes, not eight hours — if the table is doing double duty, buy one proper task chair and keep the dining chairs for dinner. Light from the side, not behind. A window at your back puts a reflection on the screen; a window to the side does not, and it is the single cheapest change you can make. A sideboard within arm's reach lets the table clear in ninety seconds, which is what makes the arrangement survivable at six o'clock.