People use Time Out for lots of reasons; to avoid RSI, to get regular exercise, to avoid sore eyes, to remember to eat regularly, to stop work at the end of the day, and more. But one use case that I've seen several people mentioning recently is to help with dry eyes.

A nice comment from one example:

"...my eyes are freakishly dry, way over-the-top compared to the average dry eye patient, and your app has allowed me to use my computer longer without killing my eyes. I can't thank you enough for making it!!"

People who experience dry eyes can sometimes find that blinking more frequently can help keep the eyes lubricated. That can be hard to remember when focused on work, though. Time Out's default Micro break can help with that, but some people prefer even more frequent reminders.

Time Out breaks can currently be configured to occur as much as once per minute, which is a lot for a typical break, but by making the break only last one second, and configuring the other Schedule settings to avoid skipping or delaying it, the break can be a very brief reminder without being too disruptive:

In the next version of Time Out, I am considering enabling using frequency units of seconds, instead of minutes (and hours, etc). It is currently limited to a minimum of 1 minute, as that seemed like a reasonable minimum, but a very quick break like this every few seconds does have merit. But read on for a way this can be achieved even now.

The Appearance options can be set to avoid fading the screen via the None theme, with zero fade-in and fade-out times (set the fade times before changing the theme):

A great way to very quickly remind yourself to blink is to flash the screen. This can be done via the Flash Screen action. The color and duration of the flash can be tweaked as desired.

And if once per minute isn't enough, you can add as many as you want on the Actions page, spaced out by setting the offset After Start, like this to have it flash every 10 seconds:

I hope this is helpful to people suffering from dry eye, or anyone wanting more frequent reminders.

DejalNews 2019-01, issue #74

Welcome

This is DejalNews, an occasional newsletter from Dejal.

If you want to receive these newsletters in your email inbox, head over to the DejalNews subscribe page to sign up.

DejalNews is back!

The previous issue of DejalNews was a bit over a year ago. I didn't intend to take a year off publishing these newsletters, but sometimes things just happen. I want to get back on that horse, so hopefully will resume publishing a newsletter each month. Usually they will cover recent releases and news, but I've got a bit of catching up to do this time.

Simon 4.3.1, Time Out 2.5

Since it's been a while since the previous newsletter, I should mention the updates to my main two apps, Dejal Simon version 4.3.1, and Time Out version 2.5. If you missed them, take a look at the release notes or blog for what changed.

Introducing SheetPlanner

An exciting new Mac app was introduced recently: SheetPlanner. This app was written by me as a consulting project. It is a pro-level outliner, planner, todo, calendar, and more.

Version 1.0 of this app was well-received, and we're working on some great enhancements for version 1.1 and beyond. Check it out!

Summary blog posts

A great resource to catch up with or review what happened in the past year are my traditional end-of-year blog posts:

• Featured blog posts of 2018: highlighting a few interesting posts from 2018.
• Dejal year in review: 2018: summarizing updates to Dejal and consulting apps in 2018.
• Looking ahead: 2019: trying to predict what's coming up this year.

Personal blogs

But wait, there's more! Blogs, that is. Perhaps one reason for the hiatus of newsletters is that I've been publishing a lot more on my personal blogs, fulfilling that creative outlet. If you want to learn a bit more about the man behind the apps, my non-Dejal projects and interests, check out my other blogs:

• Dejus is my personal blog, where I post a photo every day, and other short tweet-like comments. If you follow one blog, this the the one; everything gets linked from here.
• Yellow Cottage Homestead is a blog that has longer posts about goings on around the homestead of my wife and I, featuring a weekly #Caturday post with pictures of the feral cats we care for, plus our chickens, bees, building projects, and other homestead topics. If you want to see what I build when not building apps, this is the place.

- David

There's a recent meme going around called #10YearChallenge, where people post pictures (often of themselves) from 2009 and 2019.

While I usually don't bother with memes, I thought it'd be fun to look at Time Out from 2009 vs 2019.

Here's what a Time Out break looked like back in 2009, plus you can see the old app icon during the break (no other themes!):

Vs 2019:

The Timer preferences in 2009:

Vs the Schedule prefs in 2019:

The Appearance prefs in 2009:

Vs 2019:

Things can certainly change quite a bit in a decade!

Last week I published my annual Dejal year in review post for 2018. This week, let's look ahead for what's in store for 2019.

I am currently working on a complete rewrite of Pack, my simple packing list app. It was originally written in Objective-C, using some legacy techniques and technologies, but I decided to rewrite it from scratch using Swift and modern approaches. It's usually not a good idea to rewrite working code, but this app is small enough, and the code crusty enough, that I deemed it worthwhile. I use this app every time I travel, so I'm keen to keep it fresh and current, and add some great new features... hopefully including iCloud syncing, though we'll see how that goes.

Next up I will start on Time Out version 2.6, with a number of enhancements planned, and several more queued up for future versions. If you have any requests for 2.6 or later, now would be a great time to get in touch.

Fun fact: this week Time Out is the top featured app in the Mac App Store, with a great feature story. (That link will take you to the story in the App Store on a Mac or iOS device.)

I also have a couple of new apps in various states of planning or prototyping; one for macOS, another for iOS. Handy tools to scratch my own itch, which can sometime be a great way to work on an app, though not necessarily a key to commercial success. I hope to get to one or both of those later in the year.

And let's not forget Simon; I have some big enhancements planned for its next release, too.

On the consulting side, I'm continuing to work on SheetPlanner, NewsBlur, and other client projects this year, with some great new releases coming up.

I've noticed that the Dejal blog was a bit neglected last year, with relatively few posts, and I haven't done a DejalNews newsletter for a while, so I want to get back into those; I've set a goal to do one post per week, and one newsletter per month, so please hold me to that! I also want to do some improvements to the website this year. (I guess I satisfied my blogging needs with my personal and homestead blogs, but I don't want to ignore the Dejal one too.)

In terms of conferences, last year I attended AltConf in San Jose and Swift by Northwest in Portland. This year I'm considering entering the lottery for WWDC, since it'll likely have a strong Mac focus, but plan to attend AltConf again if I don't get in. I'd also like to attend other conferences, to be determined.

It's going to be another busy year!

Happy New Year!

As we start a new year, let's review what happened with the Dejal apps in 2018:

	My pro app to monitor websites and servers for changes and failures, Simon, had a couple of updates in 2018, to version 4.3.1, including Mojave dark mode, meta refresh options, pause improvements, refinements to services and filters, and more. It continues to be sold both directly and as one of the foundation apps in the popular Setapp subscription service.
	My popular break reminder tool, Time Out, had two significant updates in 2018, including version 2.4, adding a useful statistics chart, options to disable buttons for a few seconds, scheduling enhancements, and other improvements, and version 2.5, which included Mojave dark mode, day-of-week availability options, and other improvements. It continues to be available both directly and via the Mac App Store, where it was recently picked as an app they love, and regularly ranked #1 in the Health & Fitness category.
	Pack, a simple iPhone app to make it easy to pack for trips, didn't have any updates in 2018, but I am working on a big update (more below). I use it for every trip, and have a number of improvements planned. Try it for your next trip!
	Date Stamp, an iMessage app to provide customizable date stamp stickers, was updated to version 1.0.1. It may or may not be updated again, but works really well as-is. The iMessage store didn't have a very good start, but is more visible in recent iOS releases. Tell your friends if you like this.
	Chicken GIFs is a sticker pack featuring many fun animated GIFs of my chickens, which can be used as reactions in messages. It may or may not get any future updates, but is fun as-is.

Consulting

Dejal also produces macOS and iOS apps for other companies, under the banner of Dejal Consulting. (I do wonder if I should split it into a separate company... but it's been fine for nearly 30 years.)

	The big news in 2018 was the release of SheetPlanner, a pro-level outliner, planner, todo, calendar, and more. I'm really proud of how this app turned out, and it has been fairly popular on the Mac App Store already. I'm continuing to work on this app, so stay tuned for some great enhancements throughout the year.
	I have also resumed working on the iOS client for NewsBlur, a popular RSS reader, with many great enhancements in version 8, and more to come.
	I'm also currently working on a macOS project for another client, that I can't mention yet. More about that in the future.

I am currently fully booked up for the next several months at least, but am always interested in talking with potential new clients. If you have a macOS or iOS project you'd like help with (or a custom Simon enhancement), check out my consulting page for more information.

Thank you

Thank you and welcome to my new customers, and many thanks to the long-term customers who are still enjoying my apps. I really appreciate your support.

My blog posts often just cover new releases, but sometimes I post general-interest or developer-interest topics. Some highlights from 2018 included:

• The previous list of featured blog posts.
• A peek behind the curtain, about the author, with links to my personal and homestead blogs and social media accounts. Check out my daily photos!
• A report on Time Out 2, two years on, with numbers and a chart evaluating the supporter durations and purchases.
• Following the trend to support secure connections to the site via https:// TLS/SSL.
• Announcing that I'd be in San Jose for WWDC week, and a followup afterwards.
• And attending another conference, Swift by Northwest in Portland.
• A useful tip for Time Out: lunchtime and night breaks.
• Finally, introduction of a new app, SheetPlanner (written by me as consulting work).

I hope you enjoyed these posts.

I'm pleased to announce the release of a new macOS app: SheetPlanner. This is a powerful new app that combines an outliner, todo, spreadsheet, timeline, calendar, and more, enabling you to easily plan projects, manage tasks, organize information, and many other uses.

It includes support for multiple types of columns, inline notes and links, sorting, an option to focus on a subset of rows, flexible smart filter options, styles, dark mode, and many more features, yet is very simple to get started.

SheetPlanner was written by me over the past 18 months or so, as a Dejal consulting project for SheetPlanner Software LLC.

Start by picking one of the pre-made templates, or an empty document:

Configure columns, the theme, and other options in the Inspector:

You can show any combination of the Outline, Timeline, Month, Year, and Inspector views, in horizontal or vertical orientation:

Show a month view to see dates on a calendar:

And/or a year view for a heat map of tasks:

Include inline notes and/or attachments:

Customize powerful filters to show only matching rows:

Or edit the preferences:

Try it now!

SheetPlanner is available as a free download, and includes a free three-week full-featured trial. The app can be purchased for just $49.99, or continue with a free read-only mode if you're not ready to buy.

Visit the SheetPlanner website to learn more, or download from the Mac App Store to try it for yourself!

On Twitter, Abbey Jackson asked:

@dejal Love TimeOut! Just noticed on the appstore screenshots an example that shows "Lunch". Could you share the set up for a daily lunch break at lunch time (rather than a rolling time frame)

— Abbey Jackson (@earthabbey) November 15, 2018

Sure! Here's the Schedule page for my Time Out preferences, showing my Lunchtime break configuration:

There are two important steps to do this: firstly, set the frequency to Every 1 day, and secondly, use the Available options to set a fixed start time of noon. In my example, I have this break only occur on weekdays. I also have the natural break option set to Continue Countdown, since I want the break to start immediately, not get pushed back due to idle time.

Didn't realize that you can set daily breaks? Yep! Click, arrow, or tab to the units of the duration ("Break for") and frequency ("Every") fields to change between various units: seconds, minutes, hours for the duration, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years for the frequency.

As a bonus, here's my Night break, that tells me to go to bed:

This is similar, but a longer duration. And yes, I go to bed rather early, as I usually get up at 05:30 (but don't get to my Mac till after breakfast).

Hope this helps!

I'm pleased to announce the general release of version 2.5 of Time Out, my popular break reminder tool.

The most obvious change in version 2.5 is dark mode support on Mojave (macOS 10.14):

Isn't that pretty?

In addition to Mojave compatibility, this update also includes a new option on the Break Schedule page of the preferences to choose which days of the week a break is available. Eagle-eyed people may have noticed it in the above screenshot:

Using this option, you could indicate that breaks should only occur on weekdays, as above, or only Fridays, or any other combination. The days of the week can combine with a time range, or apply all day on the indicated days. This new feature is available as a reward for current supporters, or you can try it as often as you like, for an hour at a time.

(Don't worry, the first day of the week will respect your System Preferences; if you consider that the week starts on Sunday, for example, that'll be first in the control.)

Another new supporter option is on the Advanced preferences page: the ability to disable the app switcher, force quit, and shut down panels during a break:

Most people probably don't need this, but if you need a little extra encouragement to avoid skipping breaks, this might be helpful, when combined with existing options to disable the postpone and skip buttons.

There are of course a number of other enhancements and fixes. I recommend everyone update to this version.

Here are the full release notes:

Mojave dark mode and compatibility

• All of the app content has been updated to support dark mode on macOS 10.14.
• Built for Mojave (macOS 10.14), but still compatible back to Yosemite (10.10).

New option to choose which days of the week a break is available

• Renamed the Break Schedule Available options to "Every Day" and "Between", and added a new "All Day" option.
• The latter two now include buttons for the days of the week, enabling days to be toggled off or on, to indicate on which days to use the break.
• The difference between them is that "All Day" doesn't have the time fields, and "Between" does.
• This new feature could be useful to have breaks that are only used on weekends, or working days, or Wednesdays and Fridays, or any other combination.
• This new option is available as a reward for current supporters. If you were a supporter in the past, but it has expired, you can extend your supporter status to use this feature, or try for an hour at a time.

New option to disable the app switcher, force quit, and shut down panels during a break

• Added a checkbox on the Advanced page to disable the panels that appear when switching apps via Cmd-Tab, force quit via Cmd-Option-Escape, and sleep, restart, or shut down via Ctrl-Eject (or Ctrl-Power). Defaults off.
• This new option is also available as a reward for current supporters.

Other changes

• Can now manually postpone a break for longer than the frequency interval.
• Fixed playing a sound for the Display Notification break action.
• Fixed a scheduler issue where a lower priority break may be skipped if a higher priority break has never been done.
• Removed the Fabric crash reporter, to avoid sending unnecessary data to a third party.

Want to try it?

If you are using the Mac App Store edition, you can update via the App Store app.

If you are using the direct edition, you can use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download Time Out 2.5 now!

What's this? Another Time Out beta already? Yep!

This second beta of version 2.5 includes a couple much-requested new features for supporters, improvements for Mojave, and a fix for prior OS versions, among other changes.

Read on for details:

New option to choose which days of the week a break is available

• Renamed the Break Schedule Available options to "Every Day" and "Between", and added a new "All Day" option.
• The latter two now include buttons for the days of the week, enabling days to be toggled off or on, to indicate on which days to use the break.
• The difference between them is that "All Day" doesn't have the time fields, and "Between" does.
• This new feature could be useful to have breaks that are only used on weekends, or working days, or Wednesdays and Fridays, or any other combination.
• This new option is available as a reward for current supporters. If you were a supporter in the past, but it has expired, you can extend your supporter status to use this feature, or try for an hour at a time.

New option to disable the app switcher, force quit, and shut down panels during a break

• Added a checkbox on the Advanced page to disable the panels that appear when switching apps via Cmd-Tab, force quit via Cmd-Option-Escape, and sleep, restart, or shut down via Ctrl-Eject (or Ctrl-Power). Defaults off.
• This new option is also available as a reward for current supporters.

Mojave dark mode and compatibility

• Fixed a crash of the previous beta on macOS versions before Mojave, when displaying the status popover. Sorry about that!
• Fixed some cosmetic visual issues from the previous beta.

Other changes

• Can now manually postpone a break for longer than the frequency interval.
• Fixed playing a sound for the Display Notification break action.

Want to try it?

If you are using the direct edition, you can change your Updates preferences to include beta releases, then use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download 2.5b2 now!

I will be attending the Swift by Northwest conference in Portland on October 18-20. This is a sold-out conference for macOS and iOS developers, with a focus on the Swift programming language, and related topics.

I've written a blog post on my personal blog to introduce myself to attendees. Others may also be interested.

Check it out!

Simon version 4.3.1 is now available. This bug-fix update just has a couple of tweaks:

• Fixed a crash when generating a remote report.
• Further tweaks for dark mode on Mojave.

Remember, Simon's price has been temporarily reduced (for the full license and upgrade license), to celebrate version 4.3 (and 4.3.1). Get it while it lasts!

Changes in 4.3 included:

• Mojave dark mode and compatibility
• Added the ability to follow or not follow a meta refresh for each test
• Several improvements to the pause and auto-pause functions
• A number of refinements of services and filters
• Updated the default data
• Plus many other improvements

Get it now!

If you are using the direct edition, you can use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

If you are using the Setapp edition, the app will automatically update shortly.

Otherwise, download Simon 4.3.1 now.

Hey Time Out fans! Been wondering where Mojave dark mode support is? Wonder no more; it's here!

Version 2.5 is still very much a work-in-progress, but I wanted to get out a beta especially for anyone using it on Mojave (macOS 10.14) and wanting to use dark mode. I plan to make a number of additional changes before the general release, but everyone is welcome to use the beta; it should be safe.

Only a few changes in this first beta:

Mojave dark mode and compatibility

• All of the app content has been updated to support dark mode on macOS 10.14.
• Built for Mojave (macOS 10.14), but still compatible back to Yosemite (10.10).

Other changes

• Fixed a scheduler issue where a lower priority break may be skipped if a higher priority break has never been done.
• Removed the Fabric crash reporter, to avoid sending unnecessary data to a third party.

Want to try it?

If you are using the direct edition, you can change your Updates preferences to include beta releases, then use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download 2.5b1 now!

I'm pleased to announce that Simon version 4.3 is now available. An important update to my pro utility app to monitor websites and servers for changes or failures.

If you will be installing Mojave (macOS 10.14) on Monday, or any time soon, this update is essential, to address some compatibility issues. But it is still compatible back to Yosemite (10.10), and has some nice improvements even if you won't be updating yet.

I've also temporarily reduced the price (for the full license and upgrade license), to celebrate this update. Get it while it lasts!

Changes in this release include:

Mojave dark mode and compatibility

• All of the app content has been updated to support dark mode on macOS 10.14.
• Updated the Script Preferences to use separate foreground and background colors when in light or dark mode on Mojave.
• Fixed the mode buttons briefly appearing when not editing, and other appearance issues on Mojave.
• Built for Mojave (macOS 10.14), but still compatible back to Yosemite (10.10).

Added the ability to follow or not follow a meta refresh for each test

• Added a Follow any meta refresh header to another page option in the Other section of the Web (HTTP) Service editor.
• Meta refreshes are sometimes used to redirect to another page, e.g. <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://www.dejal.com/">. Meta refreshes to reload the same page are ignored.
• This option is on by default. It replaces a hidden preference, and makes it test-specific.

Several improvements to the pause and auto-pause functions

• Improved the Auto-Pause logic so it'll work for a full day (e.g. to pause all weekend, choose Weekends from 00:00 to 00:00).
• When a test should be auto-paused when the app is launched, it is now.
• When editing the Auto-Pause settings, the next due label is updated live (and says "now" if the days and time encompasses the current time).
• If a test is paused when the Preview is shown, then the app quit, it now remains paused on launch (instead of the Preview forcing it to resume).
• After pausing or resuming a test with the Preview shown, it is now updated to reflect the new state.

A number of refinements of services and filters

• Changed the Script feature to support a script only outputting as an error, but still succeeding, e.g. curl.
• Fixed a crasher when editing a test on the Filters page, for data upgraded from version 2 or earlier.
• Fixed the Password field remembering its value in Port-based tests.
• Prevented adding multiple Service sections to the Port-based Preview.
• Fixed the Exclude Block filter, that timed out when trying to extract the output after the end text.
• Improved the layout of the Context filter.

Updated the default data

• Replaced the default "Apple hot news" test with "Apple newsroom", using their current news URL, and updated filters.
• Updated the default data to use https for Dejal links.
• Removed the default "FTP Directory Listing" service, since macOS no longer includes the ftp command-line tool.

Plus many other improvements

• Fixed the Preview item in the View menu not having a checkmark when selected.
• There was hardcoded logic to ignore a failure if more than 3 minutes from starting, to cope with the Mac sleeping during a check. Now uses a minute past the timeout interval, so it works better with long test timeouts.
• Removed the Fabric crash reporter, to avoid sending unnecessary data to a third party.
• Updated support for Setapp. (Prefer a subscription to Simon and lots of other apps? Check out Setapp.)
• Removed the help book within the app, since it didn't work reliably. The help is still available online.
• To celebrate version 4.3, the prices have been temporarily reduced!

Get it now!

If you are using the direct edition, you can use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

If you are using the Setapp edition, the app will automatically update shortly.

Otherwise, download Simon 4.3 now.

It's been a while, but I'm pleased to announce the first beta of an update to Simon, my pro utility app to monitor websites and servers for changes or failures.

Version 4.3 is still a work-in-progress, but I wanted to get out a beta especially for anyone using it on Mojave (macOS 10.14), and also to address some issues that have been reported.

I've also temporarily reduced the price (for the full license and upgrade license), to celebrate this update. Get it while it lasts!

Changes in this first beta include:

• Mojave dark mode support: all of the app content has been updated to support dark mode on macOS 10.14. (If you find anything that doesn't look right, please let me know!)
• Updated the Script Preferences to use separate foreground and background colors when in light or dark mode on Mojave.
• Changed the Script feature to support a script only outputting as an error, but still succeeding, e.g. curl.
• Fixed a crasher when editing a test on the Filters page, for data upgraded from version 2 or earlier.
• Fixed the mode buttons briefly appearing when not editing.
• Fixed the Preview item in the View menu not having a checkmark when selected.
• Added a Follow any meta refresh header to another page option in the Other section of the Web (HTTP) Service editor. Meta refreshes are sometimes used to redirect to another page, e.g. <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=https://www.dejal.com/">. Meta refreshes to reload the same page are ignored. This option is on by default. It replaces a hidden preference, and makes it test-specific.
• Fixed the Password field remembering its value in Port-based tests.
• Prevented adding multiple Service sections to the Port-based Preview.
• Fixed the Exclude Block filter, that timed out when trying to extract the output after the end text.
• Improved the layout of the Context filter.
• Improved the Auto-Pause logic so it'll work for a full day (e.g. to pause all weekend, choose Weekends from 00:00 to 00:00).
• When a test should be auto-paused when the app is launched, it is now.
• When editing the Auto-Pause settings, the next due label is updated live (and says "now" if the days and time encompasses the current time).
• If a test is paused when the Preview is shown, then the app quit, it now remains paused on launch (instead of the Preview forcing it to resume).
• After pausing or resuming a test with the Preview shown, it is now updated to reflect the new state.
• There was hardcoded logic to ignore a failure if more than 3 minutes from starting, to cope with the Mac sleeping during a check. Now uses a minute past the timeout interval, so it works better with long test timeouts.
• Replaced the default "Apple hot news" test with "Apple newsroom", using their current news URL, and updated filters.
• Updated the default data to use https for Dejal links.
• Removed the default "FTP Directory Listing" service, since macOS no longer includes the ftp command-line tool.
• Built for Mojave (macOS 10.14), but still compatible back to Yosemite (10.10).
• To celebrate version 4.3, the prices have been temporarily reduced!

Want to try it?

If you are using the direct edition, you can change your Updates preferences to include beta releases, then use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download 4.3b1 now!

On my personal blog, I just posted about my adventures in San Jose for WWDC week, with lots of photos.

Check it out!

I will be in San Jose next week, during WWDC. I won't actually be attending WWDC itself, but will be at AltConf and other events that week:

• Sunday evening: sjMacIndie
• Monday to Thursday daytime: AltConf
• Monday evening: ATP Live and (if not exhausted) the Loop Bash
• Tuesday lunchtime: Micro.blog meetup
• Tuesday evening: The Talk Show Live (if I can get a ticket; still not available?!) [Update: got my ticket, thanks to Simon watching the ticketing page]
• Wednesday evening: Relay FM Live and James Dempsey and the Breakpoints concert

If you see me around San Jose, please feel most welcome to say hi. I am an introvert, so other people coming up to me to introduce themselves makes it easier for me! But one of the main reasons for being there is to network with other macOS and iOS developers, and others in our industry.

I will be wearing one of several Dejal shirt designs, plus may be wearing a Dejal cap. And my long beard is fairly distinctive:

I will give out business cards with my contact details and apps, Dejal stickers, Time Out stickers, and even stickers for a secret new project I've spent the last year working on (which I'd be happy to show you if interested):

I hope to see you there!

There has been a trend in recent years for websites to adopt TLS/SSL for security — where you see a lock icon in the web browser location field. This is definitely a good idea, even when the site doesn't have forms, but even more so when it does.

The Dejal site has supported TLS for a few years via the dejal.net site, which uses the Cloudflare content delivery network (CDN) to provide reliable sites. This is used by the apps to provide secure purchases and updates.

But until today, the main dejal.com site didn't support TLS... mainly through inertia. Now it does.

I'm considering this experimental at present, in case there are any issues, but you are welcome to use https:// with the dejal.com site now. If you get any errors, just remove the "s" to go back to the non-secure edition.

On a related topic, I've been suffering a lot of attempted forum spam recently. Pretty much all of it is caught before appearing, but the evildoers keep trying. So creating accounts now requires manual approval, to try to dry up that flood. Sorry for any inconvenience. As always, if you have an urgent question, you can use the contact form to email me.

Take me to the secure Dejal site!

I'm pleased to announce the general release of version 2.4 of Time Out, my popular break reminder tool.

Version 2.4 further extends the enhancements to the postpone and skip options introduced in version 2.3, including a new option to disable those buttons for a few seconds at the start of each break. You may find this helpful if you are habitually clicking the Postpone or Skip buttons, without taking a moment to decide if you really need to defer the break. It's common to see the start of the break as an unwelcome interruption — but you installed the app in the first place because you recognized that you need to take regular breaks for your health and wellbeing. You can activate this option to give you a few seconds to make a more mindful decision.

Another much-requested change in this release is the ability to customize the time to detect natural breaks, i.e. how long the computer is idle.

Something that might help in deciding how you're doing in taking breaks is a new Statistics feature. This is within the Activity section, and includes the number of times you've postponed, skipped, or done breaks, and the total time spent in breaks. These amounts will start being calculated in version 2.4, so take a look after a few days. It also includes a fascinating line chart, for a graphical representation (see below).

There are of course a number of other enhancements and fixes. I recommend everyone update to this version.

Read on for details.

Added a Statistics page under Activity

• Added page buttons to the Activity page of the preferences, with Activity and Statistics pages.
• The Activity page is the same as before.
• The new Statistics page includes a summary of breaks, pop-up menus to choose the kind of counter and break(s) to display, and a line chart of count values.
• The count options include the number of times a break was postponed, skipped, or done in a day, or the total duration of that break.
• The menus also enable displaying those counts for all breaks, or just a specific one.
• When showing All Breaks, the values for each break are stacked.
• The chart will not be shown initially; come back after a couple of days to see it, once some history has been gathered.
• Also includes a Share button to the right of the page buttons, to make it easy to tweet etc the stats.

Here's what the Statistics page looks like (obviously, your numbers will be different):

Option to disable buttons for a few seconds

• Added an option to the Break Appearance page to disable the Postpone and Skip buttons for a few seconds.
• The number of seconds can be changed; it includes the fade-in time.
• This feature helps break a habitual clicking of the buttons; to encourage you to consider if you really need to skip a break.
• This is available as a reward for current supporters. If you were a supporter in the past, but it has expired, you can extend your supporter status to use this feature, or try for an hour at a time.

This new option is grouped with the option to show the number of times postponed/skipped/done:

Advanced option to change the idle detection threshold

• Added an option to the Advanced preferences to change the amount of time the computer isn't being used to count as a natural break.
• By default, it counts a natural break after 1 minute, pausing the countdown for the Pause Countdown and Count Backwards scheduler options, then if still idle after twice as long, it starts giving you credit for the time if Count Backwards is chosen (which is the default).
• This is a change from before; it used to default to 30 seconds, but 1 minute seems better.
• If this isn't long enough (e.g. you spend a lot of time reading rather than actively using your Mac), you can increase the threshold.

Take a look:

Refined the break scheduler

• The break frequency now can't be less than the duration; it doesn't make sense to work for negative time.
• The break should no longer be due further away than the frequency, unless you manually skip it multiple times.
• If a break would be due in the past after rescheduling it, it is now reset. This should fix the issue where a break could sometimes start soon after waking from sleep.
• Fixed an issue where manually starting a break soon after another one could leave the actions in an unexpected state.

Enhanced postpone and skip limits

• When a postpone/skip limit is set and has been reached, postponing or skipping via the File menu, action menu, or global keyboard shortcut is now disabled, so the limit can't be bypassed.
• Fixed the postpone/skip left display when a limit is turned on when already postponed/skipped more than that today.

Preferences window tweaks

• The Time Out item is now always in the Window menu, to make it easier to re-display the preferences window if closed.
• When the Dock icon is hidden, and the status item is shown, the status popover will now appear on clicking the mouse, instead of releasing it; a subtle improvement.
• Can now use the up and down arrow keys and type selection to navigate in the sidebar, e.g. show the preferences window or status popover and press "G" to go to the General options.

Other changes

• Updated the Start Screensaver and Stop Screensaver script actions, to work more reliably on recent macOS versions. Thanks to Johan Kaving.
• Removed the help book, since it didn't work properly in recent OS versions. The help is still available on the web, and has been updated for version 2.4.
• Some tweaks to the supporter stuff, to fix an issue with previous supporter features incorrectly showing as unavailable.
• Fixed typos in some Break Appearance tooltips.

Get it now!

If you are using the Mac App Store edition, you can update via the App Store app.

If you are using the direct edition, you can use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download Time Out 2.4 now.

Here's another beta of Time Out version 2.4.

Unless any problems turn up, this will be the last beta release for this version. I'd appreciate it if you could try it and let me know of any issues.

This update just has a couple of changes:

• Some tweaks to the supporter stuff, to fix an issue with previous supporter features incorrectly showing as unavailable.
• Updated the help book.

Want to try it?

If you are using the direct edition, you can change your Updates preferences to include beta releases (if not already), then use the Check for Updates feature in the app to update.

Otherwise, download 2.4b4 now!