Introduction


What is SmoothClock ?

SmoothClock is an application displaying continuously an analog clock which you can personalize by modifying its size, colors and background picture.
The clock remains in front of other applications, except with applications such as many games filling the screen and hiding the menu bar and the control strip and.


Installation

Copy the ³SmoothClockŸ² folder on your hard disk


Minimal configuration

A MacOS compatible computer with a 68020 (PowerPC recommended) and at least 4 Mb of free memory.
The minimal system should be MacOS 7.5.3, but since I didn¹t have the opportunity to test SmoothClock on these old configurations, I recommend MacOS 8.1 or later.


Using SmoothClock

You can move the clock around the screen by clicking and dragging it.

You can resize the clock by holding the ³Option² key while you¹re dragging it. Be aware that the bigger the clock is, the more processing speed it will use. If the animation appears to be jerky, you can inactivate the continuous movement of the second hand.

To change other settings, choose the ³SettingsŠ² item in the ³Edition² menu.

Edition/SettingsŠ



Each color box can be modified by clicking on it.

The width en length of each hand can be modified by clicking on corresponding small arrows.

The ³Continuous movement² checkbox, if checked, indicates the second hand is moving ³smoothly² at a refreshing rate of up to 25 frames/second. If unchecked, the second hand will move once a second.

To choose a background picture click on the ³choose a pictureŠ² button or drag a picture file from the Finder on the Settings window. SmoothClock can read files of type PICT, GIF, JPEG and PNG. Picture can be much larger as the actual clock as it will automatically fit in, but proportions can be only kept with pictures of the same size and width.

Click on the ³OK² button to save your settings.

The «Cancel» button cancels all modifications made in the Settings window, resetting the clock to the state it was before you display this window.


File/Save settingsŠ

This menu item allows you to save your custom clocks in small documents you can recall very easily by double-clicking on them.



File/Open settingsŠ

This menu item allows you to open a Settings document and recall every modifications saved with the ³File/Save settingsŠ² menu item.



Distribution

SmoothClock is freeware and can be freely distributed on all kind of media. Since I can¹t do anything against, you are allowed to modify everything you want. Nevertheless, it would be nice to always join a copy of the document you¹re reading to the SmoothClock application.

Latest version of SmoothClock is downloadable at :
http://perso.libertysurf.fr/frederic.auer/

Comments, suggestions and bug reports can be sent on my e-mail :
frederic.auer@libertysurf.fr