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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Fri Mar 09, 2018 11:31 pm 
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i like the lcd style weather icons
but the glare line seems to intense to me, and too distracting since it goes right across the digits themselves


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 11:59 am 
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RE Curved Corners, I don't think you understood Winstep, with the last images I was showing you that the windows were completely square - no curved corners at all, but you can achieve a curved corner look inside the window with simple alpha/trans png overlayed.

Anyway, I'll but out now lol I'm probably dragging you away from your mission. My bad.

Attachment:
idea7.png
idea7.png [ 152.89 KiB | Viewed 19860 times ]


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 7:06 pm 
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I think we're talking about different things? I'm talking about glass *blur* regions, not alpha transparency.

The example you showed above has rounded corners. Now imagine a solid *rectangle* behind the alarm window, exactly the same size as the window. That is how Windows 10 applies blur. Everything that can be seen-through *behind* the window within that rectangle gets blurred.

In Windows 7, this blur region can already have any size and shape (within the window area, of course), but under Windows 10 the blur region is ALWAYS rectangular and ALWAYS the same size as the window.

So, imagining in the example below that the solid red color represents a blurred background (sorry, I quickly hand painted it in Photoshop so it looks like crap, but it's just for you to get the idea), this is what your window with rounded corners would look like in Windows 10:
Attachment:
idea7.png
idea7.png [ 148.27 KiB | Viewed 19854 times ]

Wherever you moved that alarm window to, under Windows 10 the area with red corners in the picture above would blur whatever was behind them in the desktop/background.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 10:09 pm 
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Ah OK I see, can you not put a layer over the top of the blurred transp window, like a hole in the wall?

I wonder if blurring is totally necessary if Windows 7 and 10 handle it differently - sounds like a right nightmare development/continuity wise. On second thoughts it does give depth of focus.

Anyway. Awesome-sauce, keep up the good work.


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 10, 2018 10:34 pm 
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ChrisW wrote:
Ah OK I see, can you not put a layer over the top of the blurred transp window, like a hole in the wall?


I could, but that's where it starts getting complicated, because then the top layer would be an independent window, and then you must make sure mouse and keyboard events, etc, go to the proper window and also that when you move one window the other (below or above) is moved seamlessly at the same time as well.

Not worth the trouble, IMO.

ChrisW wrote:
I wonder if blurring is totally necessary if Windows 7 and 10 handle it differently - sounds like a right nightmare development/continuity wise. On second thoughts it does give depth of focus.


The real question is: is blurring really necessary for the alarm window? I could just make the display background fully opaque - because the background is already really dark, you wouldn't notice much difference. In that case, we are then free to use any shape we want, included bezels with rounded corners.

Sent you an email, by the way.

And on further developments, obviously still work in progress, but here it is: when the mouse pointer is not above the alarm window (or has stayed still for more than 4 seconds) the control buttons smoothly fade out and the window looks like this:
Attachment:
Alarm4.jpg
Alarm4.jpg [ 86.4 KiB | Viewed 19850 times ]

When you move the mouse over the window, the buttons smoothly fade in into view and the window looks like this:
Attachment:
Alarm5.jpg
Alarm5.jpg [ 89.76 KiB | Viewed 19850 times ]


As you can see, I'm already using your suggestion for the battery symbol at the bottom, but I left the central display on as well so we can decide what looks better/makes more sense. If we opt to go for the battery symbol at the left lower corner, then perhaps the date should be centered to restore balance to the image?

Also, either the weather + media control buttons at the top need to be moved down, or the alarm title needs to be moved up (or perhaps just move down the media control buttons to place it at the same level as the title and leave the weather info as is).

Decision, decisions...! lol

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 3:03 am 
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seeker wrote:
but the glare line seems to intense to me, and too distracting since it goes right across the digits themselves


winstep wrote:
Attachment:
Alarm4.jpg

Attachment:
Alarm5.jpg



the glare line/divide is def to intense, it looks realistic but in a way when sun glares on the display uncomfortably making you want to cover your window with planks

Attachment:
idea7.png

here the line is more subtle and not centered over the digits therefore being much less intrusive


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 3:57 am 
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seeker wrote:
here the line is more subtle and not centered over the digits therefore being much less intrusive


Yeah, but it also looks more artificial, IMO. Also, when the digits are changing I really don't think of the glare as distracting - and I did try several variations before settling on this one.

Anyway, I asked Chris by email if he would be ok with me using his bezels. If he is ok with it, then I can add some built-in pre-set variations/different skins (which would include different glass reflection overlays). In this case I would also add the option to change the LCD's background color so you can have something similar to the orange alarm above.

I'm adding so many new options to the Alarms that the Alarm Settings panel is going to be divided into tabs. A General tab for options like default Snooze duration, Kill Audio timer, etc, a 'Wake Up Mode' tab to define volume and brightness variations (e.g.; volume gets louder and brightness increases over time) for wake-up alarms, and a 'Sleep Mode' tab with the same type settings as the latter but used only when you click on the new 'Sleep Clock' internal command (e.g.; so you can fall asleep while listening to music).

If Chris is up for it, I'll also add a 'Theme' tab, where you can select different bezels and different foreground/background colors (with a preview window so you can immediately see how it's going to look, of course).

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 11, 2018 7:42 pm 
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Chris has kindly agreed to let me use his LCD bezels. Yay! :)

Since the Alarm Settings are now going to have multiple tabs, and this makes it very similar to main Preferences window, I've decided to integrate the main Alarm Manager window with the settings themselves, instead of having separate windows for both. I extend the Alarm Manager window vertically to make room for tab headers at the top (but below the clock header), and use the same techniques in Preferences for the actual tab contents (slide tabs in/out etc).

So, the tab header would have the following options:

Alarms * Audio * Wake-Up * Sleep * LCD

The Alarms (default) tab holds the alarms, i.e.; what you now see when you open the Alarm Manager window. Also going to add some filters (e.g.; Sort by activation date, show only active alarms, etc...)

The Audio tab holds the Playlists plus 'Kill Audio After...' and default 'Snooze Duration' settings.

The Wake-Up tab holds settings for alarms you would use to wake up, e.g.; initial volume, final volume, time from initial to final volume, initial brightness, final brightness, time from initial to final brightness.

I'm also going to extend the settings for reminder alarms in the Alarm Editor window (a small arrow will slide the new panel in and out) so you can use the Wake-up settings for that alarm OR individual settings instead. Likewise, you will be able to define individual per-alarm LCD colors or use the default LCD color. This will allow you to color code alarms, for instance.

Anyway, the Sleep tab will hold the same settings as the Wake-up tab PLUS an entry to select an existing playlist, from those defined in the Audio tab. These are the settings that will be used when you click on the new 'Sleep Clock' internal command that I will also add. The idea, for those who like to fall asleep with music, is to have this IC on a dock somewhere and click on it when you go to bed. The IC will then open a full screen LCD alarm clock which will play music according to the settings defined in the Sleep tab. Once the volume reaches zero, the alarm window can either close automatically or stay open until another alarm plays (presumably a wake-up alarm).
Attachment:
SleepMode-min.png
SleepMode-min.png [ 23.08 KiB | Viewed 19831 times ]


The LCD tab is where we have fun selecting the looks of the LCD display. We can select a handful of different bezels, LCD text color, and LCD background color. This tab will also feature a preview window so you can see what the alarm will look like.

Further along, but not on this release, I'm considering adding support for streaming Internet radio stations. Of course, I still don't know exactly how that works, so I will have to do some research on it, but it's a future possibility. I would also like to add 'countdown timers' (for when you have stuff in the oven, for instance), perhaps as a new IC.
Attachment:
StopWatch-min.png
StopWatch-min.png [ 21.19 KiB | Viewed 19831 times ]

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Thu Mar 15, 2018 5:35 pm 
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New and improved Alarm Manager:


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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Fri Mar 16, 2018 9:04 pm 
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Nearly all the new options are working now... it's actually been a lot of work, but the alarms just got a hell of a lot better, and they're pretty customizable. Soon I'll be able to tie everything nicely and then... final beta before the public release.


Attachments:
Alarms.jpg
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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 6:23 am 
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Waiiiiit . . . . . those look like curved bezels.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2018 9:12 am 
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vectornut wrote:
Waiiiiit . . . . . those look like curved bezels.


You're dreaming... go back to sleep. ;)

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sat Mar 24, 2018 3:04 pm 
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Third and final beta (v18.3) released.

Just open the Alarm Manager - 'nuff said.

Many other non-alarm related additions and fixes, but I'm too tired now to list them all - just check the Change Log (About tab in Preferences -> click the version number on the top right corner -> click 'Change Log' button).

Please play with the alarms and let me know what you think (also, which alarm LCD skin you like better). There are new options related to Power Saving too, and you can now fine tune the transparency of icon reflections.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 10:50 am 
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Ok, all rested now, apologies for the very terse beta release announcement above.

For the final release I was thinking of maybe adding a 'scaling' slider for the windowed LCD Alarm, so you can make it a bit smaller if you want (the alarm windows already scales itself when going from window to full screen mode, so adding this would be a cinch). Worth it?

Also, it just occurred to me that we could use the already available playlist functionality in the alarms to implement a small 'Media Player' icon/internal command. It would have its own settings, so you could select a playlist for it to use from those defined in the Alarm Manager. Click on the IC, it starts playing the pre-selected music (and the icon plays the attention effect while music is being played), click on it again, it stops. Perhaps I could even add some media controls (Play/Pause, Prev Track, Next Track, Settings) that would pop up below the icon when mousing over it.


Since it would be an icon, it would be a simple, quick and non-intrusive way to listen to some music while working, without having to open a full blown media player.

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 Post subject: Re: So, what's next after v18.1?
PostPosted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 7:03 pm 
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winstep wrote:

Quote:
Since it would be an icon, it would be a simple, quick and non-intrusive way to listen to some music while working, without having to open a full blown media player.


Thumbs up for this idea. I for one would use that.


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