.. Timer / Stopwatch Help

Here's help on our virtual timer / stopwatch.  Our timer / stopwatch lets users count from any Start time to any Stop time, counting up or down, with or without an alarm, in a loop or not, and in various display sizes and colors.   We have tested our timer / stopwatch with Internet Explorer, FireFox, Netscape, Mozilla and Safari browsers, on PC's with Win98 to Vista operating systems.

We've found our online timer / stopwatch to be accurate within 1 second for every 10 minutes or so.   Even so, we can not guarantee its accuracy.  Instead, please determine if its' accuracy meets your needs, and then use our timer / stopwatch at your own risk.  See our terms of use. 

Start Time / Stop Time Values

The Start and Stop time values can be from -23:59:59 to 23:59:59.  You can enter time values in two formats: [+|-]n[h|m|s] or [+|-][[h:]m:]s.  We know that's greeky[sp], so here are examples using these two time formats . . .

[+|-]n[h|m|s]

[+|-][[h:]m:]s

Text Entered

  Time Value

Text Entered

  Time Value

25

 00:00:25

02:02:10

 02:02:10

-10s

-00:00:10

2:2:10

 02:02:10

3m

 00:03:00

1:15

 00:01:15

90

 00:01:30

-1:90

-00:02:30

1h

 01:00:00

+2:10

 00:02:10

When you change a Start or Stop time value, the change has no effect until you click the Set or Reset buttons.

Automatic Counting Direction

You can have the timer / stopwatch count up by setting the Stop time greater than the Start time, for example from 0 to 1:00.  You can count down by making the Stop time less than the Start time, for example from 1:00 to 0.  The Start and Stop time values can be any time value from -23:59:59 to 23:59:59.

Negative Time

You can count from a positive time value to a negative time value, or vice versa.  For example, from 30:00 down to -5:00.  This is handy for meetings or lectures, where you want the speaker to see how much time they have used up over their allotted time.  You can also time from a negative time value to a positive one, for example from -15:00 up to 30:00.

Timer / Stopwatch Buttons

The online timer / stopwatch is design to count from a Start time to a Stop time, for a maximum of 24 hours.  There are two timer controls: a Start / Stop button, and a Reset button . . . 

 

The Start / Stop button appears as a Start button then the timer / stopwatch is stopped, and as a Stop button when the timer is running.  The timer / stopwatch counts from the time value shown on the large timer display, unless you click the Reset button to start from the Start time.

You can stop and start the timer / stopwatch multiple times, and the timer / stopwatch will continue counting each time from its current count on the display.

If the timer / stopwatch is at the Stop time and you click the Start button, nothing will happen.

If you have the Auto Start setting checked, then when you open the timer / stopwatch page in your browser, the timer / stopwatch will automatically start counting up or down.

If the Loop setting is checked, then the timer / stopwatch will start counting again from the Start time, once the Stop time is reached.
 

The Reset button resets the timer / stopwatch to the Start and Stop times specified in the time fields below the timer / stopwatch controls.

The Set button next to the Start and Stop time fields, does the same thing as this Reset button.

Additional Timer / Stopwatch Settings

Additional settings for the virtual timer / stopwatch can be changed by clicking on the Timer / Stopwatch Settings link under the Timer / Stopwatch buttons, or above the timer / stopwatch display.  The settings are saved via cookies on your PC, so you must have cookies enabled in your browser.

Alarm

Lets you turn off or specify the alarm that sounds when the timer / stopwatch reaches the Stop time.

Note: For the alarm sound, no browser plug-in is needed if you are using Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.  If you are using a FireFox / Mozilla / Netscape / Safari browser, you will need to install Apple's QuickTime Player to hear the alarm sounds . . .

QuickTime XP/Vista   |   QuickTime Win98/ME/2000

Once the Apple QuickTime plug-in is installed, you need to close and restart your browser to activate the alarm sounds.
 

Auto Start

To have the timer / stopwatch automatically start running when the page is first brought up by the browser, or when the Reset button is clicked.
 

Loop

To have the timer / stopwatch start back at the Start time when the Stop time is reached.  Creates a time loop affect.
 

Display Width

Sets the minimum of number digits that the timer / stopwatch will always display.  Valid settings are 0, 00, 0:00, 00:00, 0:00:00 and 00:00:00.
 

Display Color

Timer / stopwatch display colors: red, green and blue.
 

Display Size

Timer / stopwatch display text size: small (121pt), medium (242pt) and large (363pt).

These settings are saved using a browser cookie on your PC each time you click on the Save button to save the settings.

Other Items

The timer / stopwatch will continue to count, even when the timer / stopwatch browser window is minimized.

Accuracy

We designed our online timer / stopwatch to be accurate, and in our testing found it to be accurate within 1 second for every 10 minutes or so.  The error is likely from the accuracy of the wristwatch we used in our tests.  But with that said, the following items can affect the timer / stopwatch accuracy for you . . .

1)   The timer / stopwatch is dependant on the accuracy of each PC's internal clock.   

2)  If your PC is overloaded with many applications all running at the same time, this can affect the accuracy if your PC can not handle all the running jobs. 

3)   If your browser's temporary image file memory is full, this can affect the accuracy since your browser will request each new number image file over the Internet each second, rather than locally from your browsers temporary image file memory.  Delete your browser's temporary Internet files if you experience sporadic ticking.