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Jason C. McDonald edited this page Jan 9, 2020 · 2 revisions

Once Alerts and Multiple Timers have been implemented, features for the Pomodoro Technique can be added.

Limitations

Enabling Pomodoro in Settings will also disable the ability to have multiple Activities at once. This is partly to prevent confusion for which activity is being worked on, and partly because Pomodoro will take total control of the multi-timer features to handle Break Enforcement.

Track Pomodoros

When Pomodoro is active, the current activity will track how many Pomodoros have been completed on itself. When the Activity is displayed, little red tomatoes will appear towards the top of the interface to show how many Pomodoros have been completed.

However, for purposes of sanity in file storage, this data will not be stored in the log files.

Pomodoro View

The Pomodoro View shows status and prompts the appropriate actions for using the technique. This will be the default view while a Timer is running, although the Log View will still be accessible as a secondary.

While running, the time left on the current Pomodoro will be displayed.

Pomodoro Reminder

A 25-minute Reminder will be built in. This reminder automatically pauses the timer on the current Activity, shows a popup alert (with looping sound), and auto-focuses the window.

After each 25-minute interval, the Pomodoro pane will prompt the user to take the appropriate next step. To continue after an automatic pause, the user may do any of the following:

  • Answer the focus prompt.

  • Complete the prompted or mandatory break.

  • Clear the dismissal view by turning a knob on the interface. This should probably make a sound like winding a kitchen timer. Upon turning the knob, the dismissal view automatically goes away, and the active timer resumes.

  • At any time, the user can Stop the current Activity. (Mandatory Break may temporarily block this, however.)

  • The Pomodoro feature can be turned off in Settings at any time; any active Pomodoro pauses will be cleared at that time.

Focus Confirmation

If less than four Pomodoros are complete, it will ask the user if they're still focusing. A "Yes" toggle button must be selected before winding the timer.

Breaks

On the Pomodoro view, the user is prompted to take a break between Pomodoros. If Break Enforcement is enabled, this will be mandatory, and using the regular timer will be disabled until the break has been completed.

The user may set an Activity on the dismissal view, and then click "Start Break". When they return, they can click "End Break". If Break Enforcement is enabled, then "End Break" won't be active until the minimum break time is reached.

Once the minimum break time is reached, an alert sound will be played to remind the user that their break is over.

Mandatory Breaks can be toggled and minimum break times can be adjusted, in Settings.

Pause Prevention

When Pomodoro is enabled, it is not possible to pause a timer. Instead, the current activity must be stopped altogether.

To prevent abuse of the Confirm Stop feature to "pause", the timer will not be paused in this state while Pomodoro is enabled.

Sounds

Because sound is so important to the Pomodoro Technique, several sounds should be (optionally) integrated:

  • Timer ticking while a Pomodoro is running.
  • Ringing bell when a Pomodoro is complete.
  • Winding sound effect on Pomodoro pane knob.
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