GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 529097
Create option to stop tracking on idle
Last modified: 2009-10-09 00:54:28 UTC
Reported by toms.baugis, Mar 26, 2008 Depending on use case, user might want that hamster stops tracking tasks when computer goes idle. Should create and enable configuration option for that Comment 1 by frandavid100, Apr 13, 2008 I agree, but I think it should be a per-activity option. Some activities might require you to use your computer, so this option would mean a more accurate tracking. Obviously some others might not.
ok, this is now in gconf settings (apps/hamster-applet/general/timeout) and has default of 30 minutes, but we need to create UI for user.
I don't think 30 minutes is a good default for activities that require computer interaction... I mean, if you ARE working with the computer, what could take you more than a couple minutes away from it AND still be working on the same thing? Anyway, I think making it depend on gnome-screensaver would be a simpler solution - if the activity is computer related and the screensaver starts, then stop tracking. Otherwise don't.
Ideally, it should behave like KArm does: after N minutes of inactivity (more sensible default is ~10mins), it pops up a message box asking the user if it should stop tracking time, continue and count the idle time as spent on the task (e.g. when you're doing something related away from the keyboard) or revert the counter and continue tracking (if you went away to do something unrelated and are back to work now).
Thanks Vaclav for the pointer - didn't know about KArm before. Pop-ups are a quick answer for every hard question - i think we can do better :) Anyway, right now i'm adding preferences to hamster, so it will be possible to tweak some aspects of behaviour from UI
fixed in 0.5. 30 minutes is a default that works quite well for me, since i tend to also work with paper or just blindly stare into screen for some 15 minutes or so. Regarding popups - they are kind of getting in the way of user's actions, but the situation is certainly worth thinking about. Anyway, closing this bug. File another one if you think i'm missing something :)
(In reply to comment #5) > Regarding popups - they are kind of getting in the way of user's actions, That's the whole *point*. When you're tracking your time, you do it because you need it, not out of curiosity (well, I do), e.g. for invoicing needs. So when the tracking app is unsure how to track, it has to tell you loudly enough so that you notice and can fix it immediately. On the other hand, the absolute worst thing that the app could do would be to *silently* stop tracking time -- that's extremely easy to overlook and so it renders the tracker unreliable. (I'm not sure what exactly you implemented.) Besides, this popup would show up only when the user is inactive, so it cannot get in the way of user's actions -- the user isn't *doing* any actions at the time, the user is idle and would deal with the popup before resuming work. BTW, gnotime does the same thing (FWIW, gnotime isn't exactly poster child for good UI design). I don't particularly like popups either, but I strongly dislike the alternatives I can think of (libnotify popup or blinking icon - neither is noticeable enough).
i'll think about it. closing this one anyway.
I strongly agree with Vaclav Slavik here