[HN Gopher] Show HN: ADHD-friendly Pomodoro web app
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Show HN: ADHD-friendly Pomodoro web app
Author : grzracz
Score : 169 points
Date : 2023-04-06 16:55 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (brainpls.work)
(TXT) w3m dump (brainpls.work)
| warrendlee1 wrote:
| Haha love the URL. Great concept - will use. Just an idea, I get
| anxious looking at the time ticking like that. Maybe run the
| clock in the background but for the UI, show a color gradient
| slowing shifting as time winds down or something less harsh?
| Great job!
| dotBen wrote:
| What makes this ADHD friendly?
|
| Also, as you prob know, there are multiple free/FOSS native
| taskbar based pomodoro apps that really get out the way, what is
| the advantage of using a browser based on?
| grzracz wrote:
| It's designed to be somewhere in view of the person using it.
| People with ADHD (myself included) struggle with time blindness
| and just starting tasks in general, so this helps with that (I
| hope) by:
|
| a) making the start of your tasks just a simple press of a
| button
|
| b) keeping your progress of time and your deadline right in
| front of you.
|
| It's just another one of pomodoro apps that I made specifically
| for myself and wanted to share in case someone wants to use it
| as well :)
| rmdes wrote:
| I would package this as a local nativefier app and have it
| running as a dedicated app/window for it to make sense for
| me.. This as a browser tab would just get lost. Is there
| source code for this?
| grzracz wrote:
| Yep! https://github.com/grzracz/BrainPlsWork Enjoy :)
| lelanthran wrote:
| > It's designed to be somewhere in view of the person using
| it.
|
| Then it really shouldn't be a browser app, it needs to be a
| local app that runs in the taskbar.
|
| I've made two of these in the past:
|
| V1, browser based: the browser simply wasn't viable because
| there's no taskbar timer.
|
| V2, Bash+zenity script to run locally, pops up a uncloseable,
| uncoverable and omnipresent (across all workspaces) window,
| with a progress bar showing the time as it elapses[1], and
| properly sends desktop notifications. A much more functional
| experience than V1 which was invisible while I was working,
| stuck on a single workspace (I have nine in a 3x3 grid) and
| frequently didn't send notifications.
|
| V3, Next iteration, local application without a window but
| with taskbar integration for timer display. Might just decide
| to hack zenity to provide a 'taskbar' widget.
|
| [1] If you're interested my V2 app (run locally), see https:/
| /gist.github.com/lelanthran/bbbcf5c8b6b26c9bc0263384a...
| k__ wrote:
| Hu?
|
| As far as I know, web apps can run in the background, when
| the browser is closed and use native notifications.
| hinkley wrote:
| Arguably a case for ambient electronics. We need to start
| making physical devices with smarts.
|
| And for easily distracted people, you might want a physical
| timer that also synchronizes with your devices. Set a timer
| for the stove, then forget you're baking and try to leave
| the house, your watch or phone needs to get the alert.
| cj wrote:
| > the browser simply wasn't viable because there's no
| taskbar timer.
|
| Chrome supports badges on chrome extensions. E.g. I've
| built a chrome extension that shows an "On" badge when it's
| activated in the current tab. Via the same mechanism you
| could display the number of minutes remaining.
|
| Edit: Random article showing this in action:
| https://dev.to/paulasantamaria/chrome-extensions-adding-a-
| ba... -- also, no idea if it's supported in v3
| z3t4 wrote:
| I think most popular browsers support badges in standard
| mode (no extension or webapp mode needed). A fallback
| would be to change the favicon and/or the window title
| and tab color.
| lelanthran wrote:
| > Chrome supports badges on chrome extensions.
|
| Then it's not a browser app anymore, it's a chrome app.
| Maybe not even that, it's a chrome app that needs a
| specific extension as well?
|
| I'm using Firefox. Having to install Chome+extensions
| just for a pomodoro app is extremely unappealing to me.
| refulgentis wrote:
| Nah, you're reaching too far to neg your interlocutor,
| been available for mobile for years and even Safari
| finally shipped it
| echelon wrote:
| > Then it really shouldn't be a browser app, it needs to be
| a local app that runs in the taskbar.
|
| Counter use case - browser apps are superior unless you can
| invest in building strong cross-platform capabilities (like
| Obsidian.md)
|
| I'm constantly jumping between machines and operating
| systems. I've often been on Linux, Windows, and Mac in a
| single day. Or moved from desktops to laptops.
| lelanthran wrote:
| > I'm constantly jumping between machines and operating
| systems. I've often been on Linux, Windows, and Mac in a
| single day. Or moved from desktops to laptops.
|
| Hence why I want to make a V3 that is a local app (some
| sort of hacked up zenity won't work, though).
|
| For this particular use-case, functionality beats
| portability.
| ParetoOptimal wrote:
| > browser apps are superior unless you can invest in
| building strong cross-platform capabilities
|
| Or only use one platform... c'mon linux phones... get
| better!
| smcleod wrote:
| For me it would make more sense as a (native) desktop app,
| personally I like the idea of attention / flow timers but not
| if they're another browser tab (or electron app.
| vineyardmike wrote:
| A suggestion I have (as a time-blind ADHD person): try to
| hijack the browsers' Picture in Picture mode, or display a
| timer icon in the window bar or tab favicon.
|
| Unless you keep your browser tab open, you can't see it. A
| "gauge" icon in the browser bar would be enough to _actually_
| be in view without being distracting. Repackaging as a plug-
| in would give you a tab-free icon.
| rpastuszak wrote:
| Screen-level overlays work nicely if you can take the
| native route (or use sth like Tauri). I have a goat showing
| up on the screen at random intervals and telling the to
| slow the fuck down when I speak:
|
| https://twitter.com/rafalpast/status/1272945933228167169
|
| For time management I'm using Be Focused (always visible +
| sound cues)
| myhf wrote:
| Yes, time display in the window title can be nice. I made a
| simple web app for a similar purpose, that demonstrates the
| technique:
|
| http://pclock.github.io/
|
| based on an old flash app:
| https://davidseah.com/2007/01/a-chindogu-clock-for-
| procrasti...
| peebeebee wrote:
| Indeed. Here is a very lightweight demo I did with this:
| https://pipodoro.vercel.app
|
| Code can be found on https://github.com/peebeebee/pipodoro
| IndigoIncognito wrote:
| Maybe a "livestream-esq" video would work
| kawfey wrote:
| My company's IT bans installing anything outside of their
| software application management/installation application. All
| software goes through a laborious approval process.
|
| Webapps like this are very useful to me.
| ParetoOptimal wrote:
| > My company's IT bans installing anything outside of their
| software application management/installation application.
|
| I abhor these setups. Luckly every time I've been in them
| it's been realtively easy to get an exception.
|
| I can't think of many situations I'd stay at a company like
| this unless it was very easy to get necessary software added
| within 3-5 business days.
| mrinterweb wrote:
| In my experience, the IT friction is usually higher the
| larger the company. Since plenty of people work at large
| companies, restrictive IT departments is a frequent
| concern.
| sshine wrote:
| My employer's IT policy is to require asking for permission
| to access a laptop's administrator account, and have the
| sysadmin audit the log.
|
| Unfortunately, as part of my special duties, I need to run an
| operating system that is not compatible with this framework.
| lhoff wrote:
| > Unfortunately, as part of my special duties, I need to
| run an operating system that is not compatible with this
| framework.
|
| Sadly the answer my employer has in that case: buy a VMWare
| Workstation License in the store and use you special
| snowflake OS in there. Still better than nothing but also a
| bit annoying.
| rileymat2 wrote:
| Is this a problem?
|
| I am sure it is not a common workflow, but I have done
| most of my work inside VMS pretty much exclusively for
| years.
|
| It makes it so easy to freeze the state of a project, do
| backups, quick snapshots. Archive finished projects.
| Removes any fear of upgrading. Keeps work clean, I need
| to know project dependencies when starting a new one on a
| fresh VM.
|
| It keeps my base system very barebones with respect to
| software installed. I can also get up and running with a
| new host machine upgrade by simply copying the vms to the
| new host.
| z3t4 wrote:
| What do you use for virtualization? And what do you use
| for graphics? (example Libvirt/VNC)
| diimdeep wrote:
| It allows to set 0 minutes work, and just doing breaks all day.
| tester457 wrote:
| That's a feature not a bug. Let me enjoy my day of only
| breaks.
| cglong wrote:
| I love the domain name :D
| adr1an wrote:
| maybe tracking time is overrated
| mzs wrote:
| Nice, I wish it subtly audibly ticked at 5s intervals and then
| sounded an alarm.
| doorhammer wrote:
| app looks clean. I dig it.
|
| Kind of unrelated to the app, but wanted to share a related
| thought that's been useful to me over the years in case it's
| useful for anyone else.
|
| I have pretty strong ADHD. Pomodoro and other time tracking
| techniques never really worked well for me long-term because they
| end up being associated with a lot of anxiety and self-shame as I
| used them, so I tend to stop using them as negative feelings
| build up.
|
| Now I use them differently. I'll set the timer for 30 - 45
| minutes and when it goes off I ask myself if I'm using my time in
| the way I intended. I try to ask it in a non-judgmental way and
| the answer is mostly unrelated to the process. Sometimes it's
| fine that I got off on a tangent; sometimes it's not. The goal is
| really just to be aware that time is passing and have built in
| moments where I'm conscious of how it's being used.
|
| When I'm consistent about it (which isn't always), I find that
| I'm much more aware of how I'm actually using my time, which
| tends to lead toward naturally using it better but again, I try
| to separate the awareness from the tracking and planning.
|
| I personally use a physical clock like this one but I think using
| a website or clock is really personal preference:
| https://www.amazon.com/Hexagon-Rotating-Minute-Preset-Countd...
|
| I like that one because I enjoy the physical feeling of rotating
| it. I also like that the alarm is the light blue backlight
| flashing, which feels less aggressive and psychologically
| traumatic than my phone alarm.
|
| That's also not to say pomodoro is bad for someone with adhd. I
| still use similar methods and I think there are techniques for
| being more successful with it that I wasn't employing. I just
| like to separate the time/task management from time awareness now
| and feel that it's useful for me.
| dangwhy wrote:
| Love this comment. I suffer from some of the same problems and
| feelings.
|
| One weird thing that works me is playing reality TV in the
| background (love and hip hop, vanderpump ect). Seems to have
| really calming effect on my brain which lets me focus on work.
| I've realized over the years that my adhd is just suppressed
| anxiety in disguise and reality TV masks it.
| courseofaction wrote:
| A cognitive psych professor of mine couldn't work without
| music playing to 'occupy a certain part of his brain', almost
| always prog rock. Didn't seem to be holding him back -
| sometimes a mask is a workable solution. :)
| bee_rider wrote:
| John Von Neumann famously preferred chaotic background
| noise while working. I think most of us would be happy to
| trade brains with him.
| xanathar wrote:
| I am the same.
|
| Some things (code, writing docs) I can only do them with
| music in the background, usually music that is either
| downtempo, instrumental or both (for the most part Pink
| Floyd, Sting, Mogwai, Morcheeba or several jazz/fusion
| artists).
|
| Without music it 10x harder for me to get those activities
| going.
| nativeit wrote:
| I do the same thing, although I typically put on something
| lightweight that I've seen before, like a season of Parks &
| Rec. It's interesting to see someone else with this specific
| experience, I always used the analogy of "picking up the
| slack".
|
| If I am engaging in rote work that doesn't require much
| creativity or doesn't fully engage my mind, then part of my
| attention tends to wander. It might not lead to total
| distraction, but it does produce an uneasy feeling I describe
| as anxiety.
|
| I always imagined that music can serve a similar function in
| others, but I believe that my having been a musician (and a
| serious one when I was younger) causes me to engage a little
| too deeply into whatever music is playing, so it's a little
| too active for me.
| traviswt wrote:
| TV shows I've already seen are my go to as well. Parks and
| Rec is a staple. Office, Scrubs, That 70s Show, Big Bang
| Theory are all great as well.
|
| Sometimes I get into phases that need a little extra. The
| Marvel movies phase 1-3 are solid, as is Breaking Bad.
|
| I swap to prog rock music (again stuff I've heard multiple
| times before) if I have something particularly creative and
| demanding to work on.
| doorhammer wrote:
| thanks for the positive feedback! I'm not as quick to engage
| as I once was and I appreciate it
|
| I usually can't do any background noise with a pattern but
| there are a handful of albums I've listened to hundreds of
| times while working over the years in the same way I think
| you're talking about. I ended up finally ripping them from
| old cd's because every year Spotify would tell me that I
| basically no other music mattered to me in comparison
| -\\_(tsu)_/-
|
| I also listen to mynoise.net (a gem of the internet) pretty
| often. Over the years a few of their tracks have become
| mentally associated with a sort of calm productivity for me
| sogen wrote:
| Sir, can you share your list of top 3-5 albums?
| fblp wrote:
| I got the same clock! but I find it hard to read the screen
| without the backlight. going to try it again given your
| comment.
| disiplus wrote:
| To be honest, nothing really works for me except medications.
| like i have a spare smartphone that's running my pomodoro
| timer, but if it's a task that interests me i will blow past
| every 5min pause and anything else because im focused on the
| task that interests me on hours end, like i would program in my
| head while drive home, but if the task is boring that i don't
| want to do i can have 100 timers it would not help. like for
| example i have to fill a form and send it that would return me
| 17k in overpaid taxes i did not do it for last 4 months. there
| is X amount of those task that no amount of timers would help
| me do it. i fucking hate my adhd in that without medications im
| a zombie. the only thing that i can hope without medications is
| find interesting problems. that's also shit when you have a
| family because you cannot turn of, because you are dealing with
| the interesting problem all the time and it consumes you. my
| brain is great in resolving big challenges, but the worst at
| doing daily tasks.
| poisonarena wrote:
| aren't pom's 20-25 min, not 60 min by default? the two green and
| blue choices are confusing, i didn't realize one was break and
| the other was work until i started a test session. Also the the
| time remaining should be displayed in the page title, so i can be
| in another tab and see it. The dark mode is nice
| ryanklee wrote:
| Longer Poms are (often) receommended for people with ADHD
| because starting tasks is a massive, dangerous hurdle. Stopping
| more frequently means starting more frequently. Longer Poms
| help.
| arco1991 wrote:
| Nice and clean! Does it allow for notifications?
| kseistrup wrote:
| Does this thing run in UTC? I'm in the Europe/Copenhagen timezone
| (currently UTC+2) and the web app shows a time two hours behind
| localtime (and my pc is having the correct time from NTP).
| danstewart_ wrote:
| Do you use firefox? I think by default it uses UTC to prevent
| fingerprinting.
|
| The site is showing the correct timezone for me on safari.
| kseistrup wrote:
| Correct, I'm using firefox.
|
| I didn't know about the UTC thing in firefox, usually it will
| show the correct local time. But now that you mention it, the
| online booking system for the local vaccination centre shows
| the time in UTC, too. Recently I actually filed a bug report
| to their administration because of that.
|
| All other sites I can think of -- including https://time.is/
| -- are showing the correct localtime.
| bentt wrote:
| I like it at a glance!
|
| Could you make a mode that is not 24hr but is 12hr am/pm? I find
| seeing 13:32 does not compute for my American brain.
| balaji1 wrote:
| does it need a title for the task? useful to see after the task
| is done.
| [deleted]
| joemazerino wrote:
| I love the domain name. Take my vote.
| nico wrote:
| Thank you!
| TurkishPoptart wrote:
| This is cool. I've been using https://mytomatoes.com/ for a long
| time.
| jstx1 wrote:
| https://pomofocus.io/app is similar (but with satisfying sounds!)
| Yizahi wrote:
| No offense author, but what is specifically ADHD related in this
| timer? Actually I'd argue that it is ADHD unfriendly because it
| is in the web browser. So now I need to open a browser and hunt
| down one tab among hundreds, because as a ADHD person I tend to
| hoard them to process later and of course never do it.
|
| There are also no notifications or sounds in your website (I may
| have nuked all browser notifications at some point, to combat
| asshole webdesign, and now I have no idea if that's a default
| setting).
|
| The 100% expected scenario of how ADHD person would use your
| timer is open it, set up a timer, check it periodically if it has
| finished or not, happily get to first break, then setup second
| work period, forget about timer until 3 days later, and find it
| when cleaning up open tab. Close it forever. Source - this would
| be a fifth or so exact same pomodoro "app"-website I've tried and
| abandoned.
| sizzle wrote:
| Absolutely, the ADHD version would be a physical egg timer you
| manually turn the dial on and can't lose sight of on your desk.
| A digital representation would have to float on top of all
| other apps somehow.
| shaunsingh0207 wrote:
| now I'd spend all my time turning the dial and
| overengineering its replacement :(
| 23B1 wrote:
| If you struggle with distraction or discipline, you must get
| http://freedom.to on your devices.
|
| It is simple, easy, effective, and the single best ROI of any app
| I have ever paid for.
|
| Not affiliated with these guys, but this sh*t just /works/ for
| me.
| courseofaction wrote:
| Great project, but even better for other users - if you need
| something simple and bespoke, build it!
|
| I love how the age of AI development is making whipping up an app
| like this for personal use more viable. I created a CLI study
| flashcard with progress tracking app in <30 minutes for my own
| purposes the other day.
| tra3 wrote:
| Nicely done.
|
| Does anyone else get anxiety from watching the timer get close to
| 0 and not being nearly done with you've set out to do in the
| pomo?
| varispeed wrote:
| Same, I can't use pomodoro technique because it creates anxiety
| without actually helping in anything.
|
| What I learned to do is just work when I feel like it and so
| take the break - trust my instinct.
| jabroni_salad wrote:
| This is one of the reasons I'm using skedpal. I just make the
| task longer and it reshuffles all my other tasks to make room.
| Not just good for adhd, I also have trouble with my boss being
| way too chatty and blowing up my time boxing.
|
| Also since my tasks are on the calendar the 'what am I going to
| do next' decision paralysis is taken care of, and since they
| all occupy some amount of linear time they are real objects
| instead of just a virtual infinity list.
| philsnow wrote:
| _Thank you_ for mentioning skedpal. I had never heard of it,
| and in the last week I 've been thinking through the design
| of a _very_ similar thing... the shininess of which is
| distracting me from working on the thing I actually want to
| be working on. Maybe I don 't have to build the thing I was
| thinking about building.
| Zetice wrote:
| Are you supposed to try and complete things in the pomodoro? I
| don't even try.
| tra3 wrote:
| I don't think so. However I do have a list of things I want
| to do, so I break them into pomodoros and I'm always
| surprised when I don't get close to finishing my stuff.
| crimsontech wrote:
| Is this because you think it won't take as long as it does
| or because you get distracted during the pomodoro?
| tra3 wrote:
| Because things always take longer. "Finish this feature"
| is scheduled at 2 pomos but in hindsight really needs 20.
| So then I have a choice to blow through my carefully
| arranged schedule and finish things, or leave work
| hanging. Haven't solved this one yet.
| z3t4 wrote:
| I just have one priority and keep working on it until its
| finished or something else become the priority.
| ParetoOptimal wrote:
| You might like third time:
|
| https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FDCJ2BfAT9qJGrpFa/what-s-wro...
| philsnow wrote:
| > you can't expect others to obey your tomato
|
| This gave me a good chuckle
| nvarsj wrote:
| Yes... in my experience, flowtime is a much better approach for
| creative work. [1]
|
| It's like an inverted pomodoro. Set a timer and track how long
| you work. When your work has a natural break (you pushed some
| code, etc.), pause the timer and take a break based on how long
| you worked.
|
| 1: https://medium.com/@UrgentPigeon/the-flowtime-
| technique-7685...
| angryhd wrote:
| [flagged]
| grzracz wrote:
| Unjustified. How is this a grift if there's no monetization
| scheme? If you don't like it then don't use it
| tailspin2019 wrote:
| To balance out the parent... I have ADHD and can totally see
| myself using it.
| ParetoOptimal wrote:
| It's quite possible the creator made this for themselves since
| there's no monetization angle and also has ADHD.
| fallat wrote:
| Gonna say, seeing the "worked time" is actually really helpful to
| put me back on task. "What, I've only done 14 minutes?"
| duck wrote:
| Nice job with this! I love the clean/minimum interface. It
| doesn't seem to chime or notify when done? How do you use it to
| know when time has run out?
|
| One thing I've wanted from a pomo timer is a simple way to mark
| the number of distractions I've had.
| flir wrote:
| Best. URL. Ever.
| make3 wrote:
| probably the best feature
| tailspin2019 wrote:
| Simple and easy to use. Nice execution!
|
| I also appreciate the dark mode.
| robswc wrote:
| Really cool, love the simple interface.
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(page generated 2023-04-06 23:00 UTC)