How does it work?
The primary task of the timer is to count down from a user configurable time and inform you, in a manner of your choosing, that it is has finished. That's it. From here, I assume you've got the program running. If you don't, start the program and click on the OK button you see – you don't need to bother with any of that yet.
Start The Timer
To initiate the timer, simply click on the program icon located in the task-bar. It looks like a stop-watch.
Yes indeed ... it's that simple.
The program will increment the timer to the value found on the Timer settings tab and start the count-down. If you would like to increment the timer again, simply click on the icon again. The remaining time on the timer, will be incremented with the value found on the Timer settings tab and it will continue with the count-down. This is pretty handy when using your skips!
FYI: The task-bar is where the system clock is located, usually at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.
Audible Notifications
Count-Down Completion
This is one of the primary reasons that this program was written, to provide audible notification that the timer had expired and it was time to Go FISH!!!
Upon count-down completion the program will play any sound, selected by the user, found on the users system.
It is an optional setting and configurable by the user, as will be explained later in this document.
Visual Notifications
Start Notification
When you click on the icon to start or increment the timer, the program will [optionally] show a small message window indicating what has taken place. The default message setting are shown in the image to the right ...
- The time was incremented by 15 Minutes,
- The current timer setting [it was stopped when you clicked] is 15 Minutes,
- The timer was started and is running.
If you were to click it again, the message would reflect the actions taken – basically the only change would be to the “Current timer setting is:” line as 15 Minutes would be added to whatever time was remaining when the icon was clicked. Give it a try.
Count-Down Completion
When the count-down has completed, depending on your settings, a message window will open telling you it has finished and, again depending on your settings, a sound will play.
This it totally customizable.
You can turn the sound off, which is the default setting.
You can select any sound [currently restricted to wav files] stored on your machine.
You can turn the message off, which is not the default setting and finally, you can customize the pop-up message to say anything your heart desires.
The Message Window
The message windows will all close automatically but you can click anywhere on an open message to close it.
Remaining Time
One thing that's always nice to get a quick peek at, without having to switch to the browser and check, is the time remaining. If you “hover” the mouse pointer over the program icon in the task-bar a “hint” window will appear letting you know exactly how much time there is left on the timer.
If you haven't been diligent in starting the timer, you'll get a bit of a different message ... “Timer not running”.
Now, you can play catch-up, and get the timer running for the correct time remaining, but I'll explain that later.
