Thread: [Announce] cooktimer for N900
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rasmarc is offline rasmarc
2013-11-23 , 18:56
Posts: 136 | Thanked: 263 times | Joined on Nov 2012 @ Germany
#162
But could be i should have given some more thanks and praises before getting your idea of how to implement counting up.

How about using just one button and let cooktimer automatically switch to the desired mode depending if a countdown is set or not.

i only hope my thought pattern makes sense at the moment.

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edit:

Originally Posted by rasmarc View Post
"OK, I've got three timers. Now I want to use one of them as a stopwatch. So using the stopwatch feature of cooktimer comes to my mind - i'll add a stopwatch to one of those timers. But what the hell, there's a countdown already set! It will count down before starting the stopwatch! So I'll reset that thing first to make it count from zero."
In contrast having a stopwatch as an extra function as it is now, i'd like to suggest the following:

1. Switching to "Stopwatch mode" does not reset the timer anymore, ok. But as it is now (still an extra function), the stopwatch should still start at zero which it doesn't. It uses the countdown timer's value to start as if being in "Continue mode" but counting up.

2. In "Stopwatch mode" the stop button currently has a "pause/unpause" function instead of aborting the counter to zero.

3. Disabling "Stopwatch mode" should restore "Continue mode" status as well. It currently resets it to off. And it should reset the remaining time to maximum value instead of keeping the stopwatch's value.

4. Buttons for "Stopwatch mode" operation and "Continue mode" operation should change places.

Here's why.

The stopwatch is now uncoupled from the timer which makes sense and it appears as an extra function in the time remaining bar. So why not press that bar to activate it.

"Continue mode" is a countdown related feature. So why not press that time picker button which picks the remaining time for the stopwatch to start.

5. Switching to "Stopwatch mode" should be disabled when a countdown is running, especially when #4 is implemented.

(But I still prefer the single mode solution, it fits better in my view)

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edit2: i found out, there can be reasons to have a logical/visual distiction between continuing a countdown timer and starting at zero. And getting a stopwatch with one tap can make sense as well. ... it just can feel different depending on the spontaneous purpose.

But that has to be implemented as consistent as possible, otherwise it introduces a confusing factor together with the other buttons. I'll keep reporting my impressions.
Last edited by rasmarc; 2013-11-28 at 01:30.