Time Out: Breaking To Save Your Eyes
OSX Leopard is such a compelling and creative platform that many times I find myself sitting at my laptop for hours on end working on a project for a client without realizing the day has passed and I haven’t even had time to get some fresh air outside. Recently, I found an app that changed all of this. Time Out has one main objective - to get you to take timed breaks away from your Mac.
Time Out has two different kinds of breaks, a micro break and a normal break. A micro break is a very small break which allows your eyes to adjust to something other than your display for a few seconds, while a normal break is slightly longer and often a good time to grab a bottle of water or take a quick walk outside.
In the Time Out preferences you can easily customize the time of breaks. During both micro and normal breaks, Time Out fades over your screen with a selected color and indicates the time left in the break with a progress bar. If you have to finish a very important task and Time Out goes into break mode, you can postpone the break by either 1 or 5 minutes. Time Out also gives you the option to skip a break.
Time Out is very customizable. In the preferences you’re able to set many different properties for the timer and appearance of the application. A preference that is often under looked is the ability to run Apple Scripts or Automator workflows at the end or beginning of each break. For example, you could have Coda automatically save and upload a HTML document to your server each time you go on a break.
Time Out is a very useful app to anyone that needs a helpful little reminder to take a step away from their Mac every so often. I’ve found that after taking a break from my Mac, I can come back to a project with some fresh new ideas. I’ve also noticed that I enjoy the time I spend at my Mac even more, because I’m always taking short breaks away from it. Best of all, Time Out is absolutely free and you can download it from Dejal Software.
#1
Loren → r3fresh.com
I should have this, but I think I would just turn it off after a while. When I get into something I have to keep going.
#2
Adam F.Glenn,
Maybe you can do something about the advertisements saying I’m the lucky winner. :P
#3
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Adam, I’m not exactly sure what you mean by your comment? Care to explain?
#4
Adam F.Hmm, okay.
Right above the comments there is an ad, it says i have “1 unread message”
Before it said I was the “[random amount of numbers] person to visit this page, so you win a prize”
Anyways, just a heads up, on the ads running on the site ;)
#5
Glenn Wolsey → www.glennwolsey.com
Adam - this is a Chitika Ad unit, displays product listings if you’re in certain geographic areas, otherwise displays the ads you describe. Will be removed upon launch of the new design.
#6
CharlieI think these kind of applications are nice, but in my opinion they really turn out to be just another annoyance.
Sometimes you will engage in something that you cannot simply walk away from, and having to adjust the settings of such an application just turns out being an irritating task.
Having said that, I haven’t actually downloaded this program yet, but I will make sure I do so. Perhaps my perspective on apps of this nature will change after opening this program :P
#7
rmaspero → www.rmaspero.com
This app sound really useful, I always find myself carried away with a project and I just can’t stop.
#8
Henrik Christiansen → henrikchristiansen.com
Looks like a great application. However, I can’t remove the icon from the dock (Last.fm can do that, QuickSilver can do that, Twitterrific can, but Time Out can’t).
It would also be great to change the default picture when a time out starts.
Anyways, it’s a good application, and I’m going to use it daily.
#9
Elliott Cost → www.elliottcost.com
For some people Time Out may seem like an annoyance, but for others like myself it’s actually really helpful to be reminded every so often to take a break. I’d be very interested in what you think about it once you take it for a spin. Thanks for the comment!
#10
Elliott Cost → www.elliottcost.com
Glad you find Time Out useful! I also often get carried away with really interesting projects. Thanks for the comment!
#11
Henrik Christiansen → henrikchristiansen.com
Okay, I haven’t had the time to really use it, but so far it’s a great application. Every ten minutes I get a 15 second break, and during those seconds I can strecht my arms, breathe and relax a little, and then I can get back to work.
It’s really useful for me as a student, and since I use my computer in all my classes it’s good to be reminded to take a little break from the writing.
However, it would be awesome if you could change the default picture, or at least be able to hide it i the menu bar. I don’t want an extra icon in my dock!
#12
Jordan Green → www.jordangreendesign.com
Really quite a good article actually and good app.
#13
Calvin Chu → www.calvinchu.net
Interesting app. Will check it out. It’s always good to have a reminder to get away from the machine, it’s all too easy to stay put and keep at it.
#14
David Sinclair → www.dejal.com
Hi, I’m the author of Time Out. Thanks for the kind words about it!
I just wanted to add that Time Out 2, a major rewrite for Leopard that will be out later this year, will allow running without it being in the Dock, and will add the ability to customize the break text and graphics, along with a lot more. Subscribe to my blog feed for more information.
http://www.dejal.com/blog/
- David