Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

I have just finished my first application for Fremantle - Countdown Home Widget! Nokia has made many of my popular applets unnecessary in Fremantle, but I will try to come up with some other good ones too.

You can probably tell this is a desktop widget that allows users to keep track of upcoming events. It differs from the agenda widget by allowing you to easily tell at a glance how much time is left until each event.

It is easy to configure (although more options will be available in future releases) and tries to fit in with the other desktop widgets.

Version 0.5-1 is being built in extras-devel as I type, and I will push it to extras-testing when it is ready. Version 0.4-x are also in extras-devel, but don't look nearly so nice ;)

Please let me know any improvement ideas or feedback. The glitches visible in the first screenshot are caused by running in the SDK in scratchbox.

Edit Version 0.5-2 is now in extras-devel. Changes include: Better titles for add and edit, ability to reorder events, slightly smaller text for date compared to title, emphasize button area. Screenshots have been updated.

Edit I just uploaded 0.5-3 to the autobuilder. Changes include: Add some default text when there are no events, use "SecondaryTextColor" to further distinguish date, ellipsize long labels, small fix to position changing. Screenshots updated.

Edit Versions 0.5-4 and 0.5-5 have been build. These respectively add full customization and a reorganized settings dialog. Customizations include font colour and style for the titles and value, background colour and opacity for the content area and button area, and corner radius.

Edit Version 0.5-6 is out with a couple fixes. The default background is now more opaque, which helps on light backgrounds. Also, a position selector is no longer shown if there is only one entry. Thanks to Andre for pointing out both issues.

Edit Version 0.5-7 adds quite a few things. First, better default colours based on the theme. Each event can be marked for deletion once the event has passed. At a global level, you can rename "years", 'weeks", "days", "hours", "minutes", "left", and "ago". This can be a different language, short forms, whatever you want.

Edit Version 0.5-8, hopefully on its way to extras (needs more testing karma). This version has finger-friendly color and font selectors, GUI design more fitting to Hildon HIG, sort by date, bug fixes and more. Please try it out.

Edit After a good long run in extras-testing, countdown-home has been updated to 0.5-9. This fixes an issue with editing events when sorted by date, and makes the name in the app manager prettier.

Edit Version 0.5-9 is now in extras! Thanks to everyone for testing and commenting.

Edit Version 0.7-2 is now in extras-devel. This adds the custom background settings back into the options dialog. As of version 0.7 the "system" background uses the RSS applet graphics for close system integration.

Edit Version 0.7-3 is in extras-devel. When using a custom background you can now select the widget size. Between 1 and 5 items can be displayed at a time. An excellent space saver.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Awesome!

Great idea

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Looks cool. I can't quite put my finger on why, but the dialog box titles "Add Countdown" and "Edit Countdown" don't sound quite right. Maybe "Add Countdown Event" and "Edit Countdown Event" would flow better (or whatever the correct capitalisation should be).

Can the events be re-ordered in the list?

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Thanks for the feedback. I will make the title change in the next version. Events cannot be re-ordered right now, but that is in my planned list of things to do. I'll try to fit it in with the minimal interface.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

I've updated to 0.5-2. See first post for details

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Very nice. Will be rather useful. Good work!

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

That's an excellent idea, thanks. It will help the eye flow better over the list of countdowns, to more easily see where one stops and the next starts, and is one of those little things that makes nice polished apps.

Will we be able to have multiple countdown applets on the desktop, each containing a different list of countdown events? I'm thinking of a situation where you might have one of the desktops dedicated to work events and one to personal, and want different things counting down on each screen.

Of course if you implemented this, the next thing I would be asking for would be to be able to merge and split the different windows, and to move events between them!

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Would there be a word limit on the name of the event, or would the letters automatically flow to the next line? :) cool idea... one of the first of its kind!

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

pelago: Unfortunately, I don't think that is possible at this time. Desktop widgets can be added one time only (unless I am missing something - please let me know if I am!) There are certain restrictions to desktop widgets - at least in the beta 2 SDK.

I can see the appeal of multiple instances, especially with the panaramic desktop area making it possible to group things how the user desires. If I find out that this can currently be done, or if it becomes possible to do it in the future, you can be sure I will implement it.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

crustie: Currently there is a "soft" limitation on the word length. The title can be as long as you want, but the widget will only display the first x characters (where x is the number of characters that will fit on one line).

I plan to either ellipsize text that is too long, have it scroll (not sure if this is possible yet), or have it break lines. The first two options would work better with the way desktop widgets work in fremantle, having a fixed size for each element seems to be the way to work.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Would it be possible to not add the widget automatically to the home screen after installation?

In my case it went over calendar widget and as it was empty semi-transparent rectangle, I barely was able to find it. I assumed that at least it is not added by default to the home screen but instead I would add it manually through home screen editor.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

abbra: That seems to be something hildon-desktop does by itself - once a desktop widget is installed add it to the desktop.

I plan on adding some default text for "empty" countdown-home widgets to make it more visible when the user has not set up any events. I hope that will alleviate your concern to some degree.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

I'm only a user, but I do hope that it will be possible to have multiple instances of the same widget, in general. I can definitely imagine wanting to have multiple Post-It note style widgets, for example, or one important widget in the same location on all four desktop screens.

Maybe it's something that has to be coded in the widget itself? That is, rather than the user choosing to add the same widget twice from the Hildon menu, the user has to do some operation in one of the existing widget windows to spawn a new window?

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

pelago: I will look into having a single instance of the widget handle multiple windows throughout the desktop, but I expect the obstacle to overcome are pretty immense. After I have the single instance version where I want it, I will investigate multiple instances.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

I have updated the first post again with the latest changes. Probably the last changes for today, but don't bet the farm on it :p

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Thanks for updating the first post (good for people coming to the thread for the first time), but it would also be excellent if you could in addition paste the changelogs or new screenshots or whatever into the thread itself as a new reply. It's not so bad while the thread is shortish, as current, but after a while it's gets a little tedious to scroll up or click on the first page to see what's new :)

Just to be clear, I'm assuming nothing actually happens (like an alarm) when an event counts down to zero, does it? I don't think it should, as there's the calendar/alarm apps for that, and it would seem messy to duplicate such functionality. Unless, that is, there is an easy way to hook into the alarm/calendar frameworks...

Thanks for adding the position setting, which on the screenshots is a number which I assume can be edited (presumably coping with clashes intelligently!). I'm wondering if there's a more graphical way to reorder items?

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Updated first post.

I have built 0.5-4 and 0.5-5 (obviously the latter is better). These updates add (respectively) full customization and reorganized settings dialog.

You can now customize the font colour and style of the title and values, change the background colour and opacity of the content area and button area, and the corner radius.

You can still leave everything as the defaults if you desire.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Keeping up with my "release early, release really often" development scheme... 0.5-6 is building.

Two changes for this version, both pointed out by Andre at the package page. I guess I should provide a link there in case anyone wants to comment: http://maemo.org/packages/view/countdown-home/

The application is now more opaque when you first install it, which helps on light backgrounds. Also, a position selector is no longer shown if you only have one entry.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Last update for this week. 0.5-7 adds a couple features.

First, it fixes some colours when using the system style for backgrounds and fonts.

Next, you can now set each event to delete after it has passed.

Finally, you can change the way the terms for "years", "weeks", "days", "hours", "minutes", "left", and "ago" are displayed. You can translate them to another language, or show shorter labels if you want.

If there are any comments, please let me know!

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Hmm how about integration with the calendar if possible. So you could add a calendar entry and say checkoff "show in countdown home widget". Or vice versa, if you add something in there, it is also added to your calendar.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Thanks!

A couple thoughts (with the obvious caveat that I don't own the phone yet to test this :D )

I like the earlier comments about having multiple instances, so that you can have one countdown for your work desktop, one for your personal, etc. Failing (or in addition to) that, I think that the default ordering of countdowns should be from ending first to last, with an option to "sticky" some at the top.

You also might want to include the option to pause countdowns and adjust time remaining. I'm geeking out here thinking about syncing a countdown with a spaceshuttle launch they're watching, but I'm sure other users can also come up with more practical uses.

Looks like it will be a great app.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

if multiple instances are hard to do, why not when adding new countdown theres few default options like WORK, PERSONAL, etc,
each option could have a default colour. so a quick glance at widget makes it easy to see what kind of events are coming up.
I'm just brainstorming throwing ideas around is always good

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Re: this screenshot:
http://talk.maemo.org/attachment.php...1&d=1253324559
I'm just wondering if there's a way to combine date and time into one button, to take up less vertical space? You might have to abbreviate the month to make it fit.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Version 0.5-8 is out, and hopefully good enough for fremantle extras.

Changes include:
* Disable up button click when the image shows disabled
* Use hildon_gtk_toggle_button_new for display toggles
* Add new font selection dialog
* Add new color selection dialog
* Change opacity selection to sliders
* Added a default title for events if one is not provided
* Don't display a time unit if the value is 0 (except minutes)
* Add an option to sort by date (otherwise user specifies order)

Hopefully the font and color selectors are completely finger-friendly now. If you have a chance to try it out, please rate it at the package page: http://maemo.org/packages/package_in...own-home/0.5-8

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

New version 0.5-9 fixes a bug when editing events sorted by date. Also fixes up the name in app manager.

Please test and rate in maemo.org/packages!

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Good job! Keep it up :D

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Calendar integration would be really cool. Also, if I may, a suggestion for a variation on the theme: counting down how long has passed and how long s left to go of a period, showing percentages and, if the user wants to get graphical, bar or pie charts of completed vs uncompleted. Use cases for this chuff chart feature: students/instructors tracking the progress of a term, servicemen a tour of duty, expecting parents a pregnancy etc.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Need an icon? :D?

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Why ask? Just make one and send it to him. ;)

Tim

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Ah, I'm not one to intrude on other folks though. Okay, so any ideas for this icon?

I'm thinking an "lcd" stop watch looking face?

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

An hourglass? Are animated icons possible? If so it could have the sand flowing. Of course, the hourglass has bad connotations for WIndows users...

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

I'll do one stop watch version, and if the concensus is "no dice" then I'll do an hour glass one, I should have the icon for tomorrow.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Joshua: An icon would be very welcome! Any idea you have would be great.

Thanks

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

There is a field in the .desktop file called "X-Multiple-Instances=[true/false]" -- I've never actually looked into it, but that may be a good starting point.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Version 0.5-9 has made it to extras! Thanks everyone for your testing and comments.

I am now starting a new development version to fix some issues and to fit with the "Personal Dataplan Monitor" and "Personal IP Address" look and feel. Keep a lookout for 0.6-1, coming soon.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

icon draft, thoughts?

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Thank you for this nice app!

This is still the best place to propose new features, right? I think that it would be nice if it could be used like a timer, with an alarm which is played when the countdown ends, and the possibility to set a time lapse (e.g. 20 minutes) instead of a specific time (e.g. 5:47pm).

What do you think?
I believe that currently there is no such app in the repositories.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Hey fifer, I've just upgraded to the latest Personal Countdown widget...I really miss the theme customisation bit, I used to have this widget transparent over a photo of my gf with countdowns until I next see her :P (long distance relationship) but now it's just a big black box covering her face, definitely not what I want ;)

Any chance you could put this feature back in?

Wichall

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Wichall, I will look to add an option to switch between the theme settings and custom settings. You can try switching to a theme that has more transparency for the time being.

Re: Countdown Home Widget for Fremantle
 

Ok I'll give that a go, but as far as I remember the old version included that option as a checkbox "use system style" didn't it? It's just now this version only allows that for fonts