Add clock to 24 hour preview?
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Dear f.lux team,
Thank you for all the work you've done over these years, in making a great tool. With the recent V4 release, is it possible to show a clock/what hour it is in the simulated 24 hour preview? As it stands, I'm having trouble visualizing what time it is at different colors (again, just within a 24 hour preview).Thanks again!
Thanks again
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Yes that would be pretty cool. We have tried a lot to put times in the graph but they look too cluttered.
BTW: this graph starts at your wake time and goes through 24h.
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@herf Ok, so after some time I figured out, that it starts at wake time, which is not very obvious when you first look at the graph. Nothing indicates where on the graph the wake time is. It looks weird then, that the end of normal light does not move with wake time. I think just adding at least the two 6:00 and 12:00 times and wake time would help a lot on understanding the graph. And it is more important that people understand the graph than you think it looks nice, I'd say. ;-)
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The preview starts from where you are right now in time and ends where you are right now in time. So from there, it's very easy to figure out the rest, especially if you know when sunrise is, when sunset is, and when your wake time is.
If the preview were to start at your wake time, then the preview indicator would skip or jump to that time first and then begin the preview. It would also end at the wake time and then skip or jump back to your current time.
Edit: The 24-hour preview is more about showing you what your color temperature settings will do over the next 24 hours.
The graph represents your most likely level of sensitivity to light, and it's based on your wake time. The dark area represents how sensitive to light you are if your wake time is accurate. The larger the dark area, the more sensitive to light you should be if you actually woke up at the time you've set it for. If you didn't wake up at that time, then you can simply find out what your most likely level of sensitivity is to light by telling f.lux when you woke up that day (this isn't exactly how it's supposed to be used, but you can certainly use it this way).
For example: it is 4:37 am for me and I woke up at 9:30am today (yes, I've been awake for a long time now). The little ball is showing me that my sensitivity to light should be waning - but f.lux is assuming that I have been sleeping, which I haven't. ;) If I went to bed like say 4 hours ago, then yes my sensitivity to light should be beginning to wane now. However, since I'm still up, that's not the case. I can tell you with absolute certainty that I am definitely very sensitive to light right now.
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Well, it is too confusing. It would make sense that the time frame on the graph goes from 00:00 to 24:00 and then your wake time is indicated on the graph and so the color changes and graphs move with your settings and wake time. Right now it is so unclear that I bet 99,9% of the users don't understand the graph at all.
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@TwoCables yes actually your sensitivity in the middle of the night is maximal. We just don't know your phase angle exactly, so we have to draw it as gradual when it isn't at all.
Light you see in the beginning of the night makes your clock go later, and then it magically flips, and light you see makes you earlier after that.
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That's not what needs to be explained though.
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@TwoCables @herf The problem is the graph is hard / impossible to understand when you see it since there is nothing showing what time of the day things happen. So you should really ad 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 to the graph and your selected rise time.
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@hoegge said in Add clock to 24 hour preview?:
@TwoCables @herf The problem is the graph is hard / impossible to understand when you see it since there is nothing showing what time of the day things happen. So you should really ad 00:00, 06:00, 12:00 and 18:00 to the graph and your selected rise time.
But it's just showing how sensitive to light you most likely are at the point it says you are at (as represented by the little circle). The 24-hour preview just shows what your settings will do during the next 24 hours (it's just a quick demonstration). There really isn't a need to see time represented here. You know when the sun will set, when it will rise, and you also know when your bedtime mode is set for.
Besides, I would think he would have some fancy coding and programming to do in order to get this part of the window to always represent time accurately because it will have to depend on your current system time, your current time zone setting, your current set location and your wake-time. As you can see when you change your wake-time, your current position in the light sensitivity changes.
I know that what I'm about to say doesn't mean much because you're not me, but I have never felt a need to see time represented here. I know when sun will set, I know when the sun will rise and I know when my bedtime is. So, when I watch the 24-hour preview, I can see what color temperatures I will see during the day, during the evening, and during the bedtime mode. It's nice and simple. I don't see any need to have time represented on this thing. It would add to the confusion for many people, and then this forum would be seeing questions about how they are expected to use this part of the window.
Really, I think it's perfect the way it is. Sure, the light sensitivity representation needs to be explained very clearly (perhaps on mouseover - I really don't know), but that's about it. I think you're over-analyzing it so much that you are beginning to thin it's the most important aspect to f.lux when it's probably the least important. Just set f.lux up so that it does what you want, and then you can just forget about it.
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@TwoCables It would just be good to see when things happen, which would make it easier to understand, especially when changing the rise time. There is nothing more to it than that. If f.lux don't want to help the user understand that, then I rest my case.
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This is why I think @herf and or @lorna need to explain this or talk about this. I think I can really only come from the perspective of how I use f.lux, and really, I rarely use the 24-hour preview nor do I ever really look at that part of the window. If I ever want to change my settings, then I change them and I am done. I think the 24-hour preview is really just to check to see if you will like your settings because it gives you a quick overview of what your settings will do in each of the 3 modes. I really don't see a need to have the time represented there. All you need to know is what part is daytime, what part is night, and what part is bedtime mode. The exact time isn't needed.
The 24-hour preview is to just verify that you set up your color temperatures the way you want them to be for each of the modes. It's to verify that f.lux will behave the way you want it to behave in each mode. The exact time doesn't need to be shown there.
