1 (edited by wayn3w 2007-12-26 06:32:18)

Topic: Alarm Recommendations

There's a lot of what I like about the way alarms are handled in the Chumby, but I can't help but feel it can be simplified.  Here are some recommendations based on my usage and reading other people's issues in the forums:

*  I believe most people will set more than one alarm, so might as well give them the list of alarms when selecting "Alarm" from the Control Panel.

*  I think that most of our needs are met by the 'quick' alarm editor panel, so make it be the default, and add a button to it which brings up the extended editor for changing alarm durations, night mode, and so on.   All alarms should be the same; but there may be more than one way given to the user to edit them.

*  It seems to me the most of our reasons for using the extended mode is to specify which days of the week the alarms should run.  I recommend adding that to the quick alarm editor.  The default would be daily.

* If an alarm was modified using the extended editor, then when the user selects the alarm from the list for examining or editing, the extended editor should be presented.  Otherwise, the quick editor should be presented.

With these changes, the act of setting multiple simple alarms will be simpler.  I hope you consider this for a future release.

wayn3w

PS.  It would be really nice to have an 'all alarms off' button for vacations and holidays.

Re: Alarm Recommendations

Personally, I like having Quick Alarm (single) / Custom Alarm (multiple) as separate options.  But I agree that on the Custom Alarm side, the default screen should look like the Quick Alarm screen except with a "More Options" button for the rest of the customizations.

A few more thoughts:
* In Custom Alarms, the audio length of "0:00" should probably be renamed "audio off" for clarity
* If "Don't show alarm screen" is checked for an alarm, it shouldn't show as an upcoming alarm on the Night Mode screen.  If you're using the custom alarm to switch to a certain channel or night mode automatically, this isn't really an "alarm."
* I personally would prefer the Night Mode alarm display to only show alarms that will happen within the next 24 hours or so.  Basically so Tuesday's alarm wouldn't show on Sunday night.  This could be an option, as I'm sure some people like the current behavior.
* After hitting snooze, there should be a way of turning off the alarm without disabling it.  For example, if I get out of bed after hitting snooze, but before the alarm goes off again, I'd like to be able to turn it off before it sounds again without disabling it entirely.
* It looks like "Don't show alarm screen" disables any audio but that isn't reflected in the interface. That section should be grayed out when this option is selected.
* I'd like to see the "When" listbox (for Daily, Weekdays, Sundays, etc) use checkboxes for days of the week (to select Tuesdays AND Thursdays, etc).  In fact, the whole listbox could be replaced with a series of checkboxes for days of the week.  If that's a problem, I can easily deal with adding multiple alarm entries.

That's all I can think of for now.  I just got the Chumby a few days ago and I love it... Being able to choose days of the week for an alarm is great for college students big_smile

Re: Alarm Recommendations

I would like to request what I "think" would be a simple addition. In the list of available actions for the advanced alarms, could you add brightness controll? I have my chumby wake up from night mode a few minutes before the alarm goes off. If I forget to set the brightness to dim, the light from the chumby is pretty blinding so robbing me of a few precious moments of sleep.

I also have a request that is probably much more difficult. I wish there was an easier way to trigger a series of events. For example in the morning I have my chumby do the following...

1) Change to "default" channel @ 5:59AM
2) Wake up from night mode @ 6:00AM
3) Turn on music @ 6:01AM
4) Sound alarm @ 6:15AM

So if I need to change my ultimate wakeup time, I have a total of 4 alarms to change. If there was a way to setup a script or something similiar so I could just adjust the start time that would be much easier. I understand that with the limitation on screen size, it makes some things like this difficult achieve. Now maybe if you could setup the script via the webpage and only adjust the start time on the chumby itself that would be easier.

Just my thoughts.

-HuckFinn

Re: Alarm Recommendations

First- the custom alarm controls in the beta are just what the Chumby needed, and were exactly what's needed for it to realize its potential!  Great work, great work. Now, a few notes:

Brightness action. I second the brightness control (in custom alarm action) request whole-heartedly!

Multiple actions per alarm.  Notice how some of the above posters are creating two alarms (a minute apart each) just to do multiple actions?  I do the same thing.  If possible, consider allowing chains of actions within a single alarm (eg, at 7 am -->  turn off night mode, switch to "news and weather" channel, and turn brightness to high).

display clock over/under all widgets option.

Actually, forget it.  Its too bad that these posts inevitably dissolve into a list of feature requests.  It's a compliment really.  The beta control panel really does implement 90% of my wish list, and it's excellent progress!

Re: Alarm Recommendations

I want to second bitpicnic's sentiment, I am really enjoying the functionality of the beta control panel. My chumby is a welcome addition to my nightstand and I may purchase an additional one for the office.  These are just a few suggestions that would make it even better.

Thanks

-HuckFinn

Re: Alarm Recommendations

bitpicnic wrote:

Multiple actions per alarm.  Notice how some of the above posters are creating two alarms (a minute apart each) just to do multiple actions?  I do the same thing.  If possible, consider allowing chains of actions within a single alarm (eg, at 7 am -->  turn off night mode, switch to "news and weather" channel, and turn brightness to high)

not a total fix, but IIRC, I'm setting my Chumby to a channel in the AM and this serves to also wake it from night mode.

Re: Alarm Recommendations

I would like to see the simple alarm time added in night mode as a reminder that it has been set. I only see the custom alarm time that shows an earlier alarm time that I am not concerned with.

Re: Alarm Recommendations

I guess I'll third bitpicnic's suggestions! The custom alarm options are a great addition.