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Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 10:07 am
by brokensymmetry
Hi all,

I've written a little website with a virtual Go board that tells the time, and thought I'd share it with a wider audience:

http://brokensymmetry.co.uk/go-clock

It's rather silly and meant to be purely decorative.

The source code is freely available (https://code.google.com/p/go-clock/) and there will doubtless be updates as I'm mainly using it to hone my HTML5 skills.

You can also download it as a web-app on iOS devices - I haven't tested on Android or other mobile platforms but it should all be fine.

Enjoy!
A screenshot of the Go Clock
A screenshot of the Go Clock
go-clock.jpg (191.5 KiB) Viewed 9749 times

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 11:08 am
by oca
Great :clap: , very funny !

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:25 am
by Nyanjilla
Love it!

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 1:51 am
by oca
please... add a "second hand" and a digital version ;)
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X . |
$$ | . X X O X O O O X X X O X O X O X X . |
$$ | . X X O X O X O X O X O . O X O X X . |
$$ | . X . O X O X O X . X O O O X O . X . |
$$ | . X X O X O . O X O X X X O X O X X . |
$$ | . X X O X O O O X X X X X O X O X X . |
$$ | . X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |[/go]

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:11 am
by brokensymmetry
I did experiment with having a second hand but it looked confusing - there just aren't enough spaces on the board to have three distinguishable hands.

There are two digital versions already there - just click on the board to switch between them. The one below is showing 10:02:40 and changes every second. Any other designs or feature requests are welcome though.

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:16 am
by oca
:bow:

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 2:30 am
by Nyanjilla
brokensymmetry wrote:I did experiment with having a second hand but it looked confusing - there just aren't enough spaces on the board to have three distinguishable hands.

There are two digital versions already there - just click on the board to switch between them. The one below is showing 10:02:40 and changes every second.
It's fun just clicking between the different clocks and watching the stones move around or appear and disappear. Good thing I don't have any work to do at the moment....
brokensymmetry wrote:Any other designs or feature requests are welcome though.
Byoyomi counter?

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:01 am
by quantumf
Love it!

The "4" looks a bit peculiar though - can you address that?

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 3:02 pm
by brokensymmetry
Hmmm, I quite liked the '4', but an informal survey suggests I'm the only one who does, so I've tweaked it a bit.

I've also just added another clock type - just click on the board to switch.

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:39 am
by oca
Is it possible to have a kind of "counter" till a next event
[edit] I mean a countdown, not a counter [/edit]

I will be more then happy to put that clock in our club web site in a form of a counter of the minutes to next tournement for instance...

That would also be nice if we can easily include it in a "div" as we do for Eidigo

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 8:58 am
by brokensymmetry
It would be awkward to include on your own site at the moment, but it's a good idea. I would have to do some work separating out the implementation from the interface and documenting an API, but that sounds fun (or at least worthwhile).

For a count-down to an event it would need to be able to display 'days' too, which is fine.

So I probably will try to make it easy to use elsewhere, but don't hold your breath - might take a couple of days or a couple of months to get round to it.

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2014 11:43 am
by oca
ok thanks, just tell me if I can help...

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2014 12:13 pm
by LocoRon
brokensymmetry wrote:I did experiment with having a second hand but it looked confusing - there just aren't enough spaces on the board to have three distinguishable hands.
I'm not a fan of analog clocks, but, I'll throw an idea out there anyway.

If the "base" of each hand is the same color, and only the tip is the other color, when two or more hands align, you'll be able to tell which hands are aligned by the pattern of the colors.
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Three separate hands, a is the hour hand, b is the minute hand, and c is the second hand.
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , c O X X X X X X X X X O a . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . b . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B Here the hour hand and minute hand overlap.
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . O X X X X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . O . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B The hour hand and second hand are aligned.
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O X O X X X X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . X . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . O . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]
Click Here To Show Diagram Code
[go]$$B All three hands are aligned.
$$ +---------------------------------------+
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . O O O X X X X . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ +---------------------------------------+[/go]
I'm not sure how it would look when the hands aren't at exact 90 degree angles... perhaps it would still be too messy.

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 2:57 am
by brokensymmetry
If the "base" of each hand is the same color, and only the tip is the other color, when two or more hands align, you'll be able to tell which hands are aligned by the pattern of the colors.
Interesting idea, thanks. Your diagrams had the hour hand the longest which wouldn't work. It really needs the minute hand longer than the hour - just convention I know, but otherwise almost everyone would get very confused. Convention also tends to make the second hand as long as the minute hand but thinner. I can't do thinner, and my experiments show it just looks a bit of a mess with all three hands no matter how you colour them.

It does now have a mode with the hour and minute shown digitally at the top and a second hand underneath, which is perhaps the best I can do.

I will try out the different coloured stones for the ends of the minute and hour hands though as that might look nice.

Re: Replace your clock with a Go board!

Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 6:08 am
by LocoRon
brokensymmetry wrote:Your diagrams had the hour hand the longest which wouldn't work. It really needs the minute hand longer than the hour - just convention I know, but otherwise almost everyone would get very confused. Convention also tends to make the second hand as long as the minute hand but thinner.
Oops, you're right, of course. Just goes to show how much I use analog clocks or watches. ^_^;;