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i'm seeing markup tags for time in compact timing mode

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Joel Glovacki

06 Dec, 2016 04:01 PM

thanks for adding the individual times to the compact view, but i'm seeing markup tags instead of whatever formatting these were supposed to have

• Picture_2016-12-06_at_09.58.09.png 17.5 KB

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Niko on 06 Dec, 2016 04:17 PM

   

   Hi Joel,

   Thank you very much for letting me know. This is definitely a bug.
   If you click on the round color indicator above the note, you’ll see in the popover how it is supposed to look like.

   I’ll fix this in the next bugfix update.

   Niko

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2. 2 Posted by Joel Glovacki on 06 Dec, 2016 06:36 PM

   

   you should also check out the new rounding feature.
   3h 55m rounded to the nearest 15min is showing as 3h 45m. i would expect 4h.

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3. 3 Posted by Joel Glovacki on 06 Dec, 2016 06:42 PM

   

   i’m expecting the compact view to base the rounding on the combined time of each project.
   it looks like the issue is that all time entries are first rounded, and then later combined.

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4. Support Staff 4 Posted by Niko on 06 Dec, 2016 08:37 PM

   

   Yes, in compact view the timings are first rounded and then combined.
   So If you have a timing with a duration of 3:50 and another timing with a duration of 0:05. Then you turn on rounding to the nearest 15 mins and also compact view. This results in one "timing" with a duration of 3:45.

   For me, the idea of the 'compact view' is that it doesn't change the durations, just adds them up. So the user has a better overview if there are a lot of timings of the same task for a day.

   Could you explain why you would expect the duration to be rounded after adding up the single timing's durations. Maybe it will make sense to me.

   Thanks again!

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5. 5 Posted by Joel Glovacki on 06 Dec, 2016 09:16 PM

   

   I use top-level “tasks” as clients. when i get tasked with something new, i start a timer for my client and the note i fill out becomes my task:
   something like “fixed menu nav issue on mobile"

   i like to group all of the tasks i did for a client together at the end of the day because we bill in 15-min increments.
   if i make 3 tweaks that take 5 minutes each, i want to bill the client 15 minutes and not 0 minutes (or 45 minutes if you round up).

   here’s what i see when i need to transfer from timelime to my time sheet. (compacted, showing notes)

   Apple - (actual: 15m / rounded: 0m / rounded up: 45m)
       (5m) fixing home button issue
       (5m) fixing volume button issue
       (5m) fixing power button issue

   Adobe - (actual: 3h 55m / rounded: 3h 45m)
       (2h 49m) testing pen tool
       (1h 7m) updating icon

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6. Support Staff 6 Posted by Niko on 07 Dec, 2016 11:26 PM

   

   Ok, I understand and it makes sense to me
   However, I still think some people might be surprised that the added up times change after clicking the 'compact' button.

   So I guess, I'll have to add another option in the titlebar. (Usually I don't like making the UI more complicated, but in this case i think it will be very helpful.)

   I will release a bugfix update soon. If you have any more suggestions on how to improve the app, please let me know.

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7. Support Staff 7 Posted by Niko on 08 Dec, 2016 01:33 AM

   

   Hi Joel,

   I have thought more about the rounding per task/day vs rounding per timing:

   - The setting would probably have to be per task. So the properly rounded times show up everywhere, also in the charts and in the total times of the menu bar panel.

   - The top-level "tasks" are your clients and you probably have set the rounding there. Do you want the times of the clients subtasks add up all together and the be rounded per day. Or do you want each subtask to individually round the timings per day.

   I hope you know what I mean:)

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8. 8 Posted by Joel Glovacki on 08 Dec, 2016 02:53 AM

   

   ideally rounding could be set in the main preferences window and apply to new and existing tasks.
   the rounding options that exist per task currently would just override the defaults.

   i think the toggle you have now to turn rounding on / off is perfect. most people would probably like to see their actual time in places like the menu bar and see their rounded time in reports.

   to me, it makes sense to round each time entry when you’re *not* in compact mode and round the sum of grouped time while compact.

   not compact: (round per entry)
   Apple
     time entry 1 (5m -> 0m)
   Apple
     time entry 2 (12m -> 15m)
   Apple
     time entry 3 (20m -> 15m)

   compact: (round sum of all entries)
   Apple (37m -> 45m)
     time entry 1 (5m)
     time entry 2 (12m)
     time entry 3 (20m)

   in this scenario, there’s a difference of 15 minutes between the two views but i don’t think it would confuse anyone.

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9. Support Staff 9 Posted by Niko on 08 Dec, 2016 06:11 PM

   

   Thanks for the suggestions!

   I will probably add a "Rounding" tab in main preferences, that allows users to choose if they want to see rounded times in the status bar item and the menu bar panel. Also if they want rounding to be applied per timing or per day.

   When I was adding the rounding feature in my code, I started out with a general setting in the main app preferences, that was applied to all tasks unless overwritten in an individual task (like you are mentioning). But later on I removed this general setting again, because I ran into some problems with it. I'll see what I can do about this.

   I'll submit an update to Apple tomorrow, which will fix some bugs that users have reported (including the "tag issue" you mentioned above). The improved rounding will have to wait until after Christmas as I need some more time for it...

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