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Last post Author Topic: [Freeware] FadeTop - a visual break reminder that fades the desktop  (Read 45088 times)

musetips

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FadeTop is a free, portable and extremely simple break reminder software that fades your desktop into a bluish color at regular intervals.

At minute 0, 15, 30 and 45 of each hour, the fader gets activated. (Fader won't become active unless the program has been running for at least 15 minutes.)

If you want to know what the fading looks like, just start FadeTop and click the program icon in system tray.

To quit, right click the icon and choose Exit from the shortcut menu.

--
Updates (May 21, 2011 UTC):

FadeTop v2.5 or later supports below options (configurable via the Options dialog):

1) auto fade interval: interval between alarms (1..60 in minutes)
2) fade duration: interval between alarms (1..300 in seconds)
3) max opacity: the maximum opacity for the overlay color (1..100 in percentage)
3) overlay color: color for fading the desktop
4) text color: color for time digits
5) text size: font size for the time digits (10..900 in pixels)
6) block fader when a full-screen program is running
--

Website:
http://www.fadetop.com


FadeTop in Action: (animated GIF)
[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

FadeTop in System Tray:
[attachimg=#2][/attachimg]
MuseTips.com - free, simple and handy desktop softwares
« Last Edit: May 21, 2011, 06:58 AM by musetips »

musetips

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TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Alerts are raised at fixed time, as otherwise that habit will never stick, according to my own experience.

All that experience boils down to this: reminder software is useless for eye-resting unless it helps you nurture a good habit.
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ewemoa

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Giving it a try.  Thanks for sharing :)

doctorfrog

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Nice idea. I'd love to see this with some configurable options:
  • adjustable color/saturation/
  • adjustable max opaqueness
  • audible chime
  • duration of fade
  • choose your own time periods
  • bonus: configurable settings for specific events/times

Configurable in a textfile or a dialog, it'd be all the same to me.

Deozaan

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TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment. :P

musetips

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Nice idea. I'd love to see this with some configurable options:
  • adjustable color/saturation/
  • adjustable max opaqueness
  • audible chime
  • duration of fade
  • choose your own time periods
  • bonus: configurable settings for specific events/times

Configurable in a textfile or a dialog, it'd be all the same to me.

I'm considering to add more customizable options.

Currently, colors can be set in the settings.xml file (in the same folder as the exe file).

To change these colors, quit TimeClue, open settings.xml with any text editor, then make below changes:

1) set fg_color for time numbers (white as default);
2) set bg_color for the overlaying color (blue as default).

MuseTips.com - free, simple and handy desktop softwares

musetips

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TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment. :P

Eye-resting for computer users normally includes:

1) Close your eyes;
2) Move eyeballs up and down;
3) Move eyeballs from side to side;
4) Move eyeballs in clockwise and counter-clockwise direction.

So the movement is: UP->DOWN->LEFT->RIGHT->CW->CCW. Try this for about 10 times and your eyes become relaxed, more or less.

Resting the neck (by tilting the head) follows similar steps.

MuseTips.com - free, simple and handy desktop softwares

ewemoa

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Thanks for the concrete steps!

Any chance this info could be made readily available via the application?  Or perhaps it is already and I haven't found it  :-[

Shades

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TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment. :P

But not when you are a tester in a mattress factory  :P

Stoic Joker

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TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment. :P

But not when you are a tester in a mattress factory  :P

Ah! Not so my friend ... It's a 5 minute nap at 2 minute intervals. QC has got to make rate too Ya know... ;)

musetips

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Thanks for the concrete steps!

Any chance this info could be made readily available via the application?  Or perhaps it is already and I haven't found it  :-[

That's not included in the app for now.
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PhilB66

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Warning, this is a thread hijack but I just could not resist  :D

@musetips

What's the deal with the incremental updates of your Text Filter application? The only things that changed every 3-4 days since November last year are the version number and date. Also, you seem to hide the portable version...  hope it has got nothing to do with the crap that is included in the installer.

musetips

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Warning, this is a thread hijack but I just could not resist  :D

@musetips

What's the deal with the incremental updates of your Text Filter application? The only things that changed every 3-4 days since November last year are the version number and date. Also, you seem to hide the portable version...  hope it has got nothing to do with the crap that is included in the installer.

Thank you for the interest.

That's not an "incremental updates". All the applications on that site (musetips.com) share a common library with some other software products (in scores). There's a dedicated server that rebuilds the library nightly.

So if you see the version number changes from 1.0.0.X to 1.0.0.Y, that's a rebuild. See below:

[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

If you see the version number changes from 1.A.0.X to 1.B.0.Y, that's a feature update.

When you see the sponsor's program appears in the installer, just reject it or uninstall it if a mis-click occurs. Admittedly the email support for TF has been overwhelming, too much for a freeware I work with on my spare time only.


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Renegade

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One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

I've not had any eye strain problems since working like that.
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

musetips

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One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

I've not had any eye strain problems since working like that.

I tried and gave it up. Not that comfortable to me.   :o
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Stoic Joker

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One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

You sure about that? It's been awhile since I worked in optical so I can't put number to it of the top of my head. But a 10deg tip of a typical monitor isn't going to impact the focal distance enough to matter. Nor will sitting forward and/or backward in your chair (a considerably longer distance). The problem is the intense fixed gaze that is being maintained for hours at a time. That's what needs to be broken by letting you eyes unfocus and relax for a bit now and then.

Renegade

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One thing that I find works very well is to have your monitor slightly angled -- just a few degrees (say 10 or so). It forces your eyes to change focus.

You sure about that? It's been awhile since I worked in optical so I can't put number to it of the top of my head. But a 10deg tip of a typical monitor isn't going to impact the focal distance enough to matter. Nor will sitting forward and/or backward in your chair (a considerably longer distance). The problem is the intense fixed gaze that is being maintained for hours at a time. That's what needs to be broken by letting you eyes unfocus and relax for a bit now and then.
-Stoic Joker (May 09, 2011, 10:56 PM)

It could be entirely coincidence. (Maybe 15 degrees -- haven't measured.)
Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

musetips

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TimeClue can be configured via a dialog now. Just right click the app icon in system tray and choose "Options..." from the shortcut menu.

[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

MuseTips.com - free, simple and handy desktop softwares
« Last Edit: May 10, 2011, 06:32 AM by musetips »

ewemoa

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Thanks for adding this  :Thmbsup:

I really appreciate being able to adjust the auto fade interval.

doctorfrog

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TimeClue can be configured via a dialog now. Just right click the app icon in system tray and choose "Options..." from the shortcut menu.
 (see attachment in previous post)


You've got my attention.  :D :up:

I know it ain't much, but *clink*
« Last Edit: May 12, 2011, 03:35 AM by doctorfrog »

Ampa

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Trying your program out today to see how it works for me.

I have dual screen setup, and only my primary monitor fades... is this something you could rectify in the next version?

Thanks for sharing your work :)

musetips

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TimeClue can be configured via a dialog now. Just right click the app icon in system tray and choose "Options..." from the shortcut menu.
 (see attachment in previous post)


You've got my attention.  :D :up:

I know it ain't much, but *clink*

Thank you!  :D
MuseTips.com - free, simple and handy desktop softwares

musetips

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Trying your program out today to see how it works for me.

I have dual screen setup, and only my primary monitor fades... is this something you could rectify in the next version?

Thanks for sharing your work :)

Working  on the problem now.
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rxantos

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TimeClue is designed to help you develop a habit of resting your eyes every 15 minutes (recommended for heavy computer users).

Rest them how? Whenever my dad said he was resting his eyes that meant he was taking a nap.

A nap every 15 minutes seems like a good way to live a stress-free life of unemployment. :P
I thing he means:
- Focusing on objects in the distance. Otherwise the tiny mucle in the Ciliary muscle in the eye will become atrophic over time.
- Taking your focus from an emisive screen (harmful to your eyes btw) to a something non emisive (like paper).
- Blinking your eyes. Dry eyes are common on people that do not blink enough (which is usually the ones that spend a long time looking at an emmitive screen).

All overall a good idea, but difficult to remember when you are concentrated on something.

ewemoa

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Any chance of a x mins before fade warning (e.g. play a custom sound or some other notification) feature?