Advanced Anton Clock with seconds and ISO-8601 date

Hello everyone,

I really like the Anton watch as it has IMHO the clearest digit set. I also really like my watch to show seconds. I combined both together and created an extended version of the Anton Clock watch:

• Show seconds (also in Anton font), either always or only if the (Bangle 2) display is unlocked.

• Show date in ISO-8601 format, regardless of the locale.

• Make weekday presentation configurable

• Make upper-case conversion configurable

I already issued a pull request but in the meantime I'd like to invite you to test it and give me any kind of feedback.

I've created an independent version "Anton Clock with seconds" and uploaded it to my own App Loader copy on

https://dirkhillbrecht.github.io/BangleApps/#

Source code in

https://github.com/dirkhillbrecht/BangleApps/tree/dh/apps/antwsclk

Feel free to give it a try. I'd love to get any feedback. I developed it for the Bangle.js 2. I also tested it against the Bangle.js 1 using the emulator.

Best regards,
Dirk

I've got it on my watch and tried it out.

hmm - hate the colours :( sorry. The thing with colour is that everyone will have a different opinion.

The thing about the Bangle is that you can hack away and modify it it in endless ways to make it your smartwatch, so what does it matter if someone else does not like the way you like it.

What I like about the existing Anton clock is that it is black and white, and the existing layout is quite pleasing. To add seconds I would be tempted to do it the way the 7 segment clock does it. IE a smaller set of digits for the seconds. The Red date is horrible (personal taste mind).

The other thing with the Anton Clock is that it is the stock clock that gets shipped with the default Bangle 2 setup. It might be better to clone this one and do an "Anton with Seconds". The reason for only updating this clock every minute is that it is a battery saver, it uses proportionally less power to update once per minute. I know it reverts to updating every minute once the screen locks.

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Hi Dirk,

nice idea to extend the anton clock, but please create a new anton clock as HughB suggested.

Hello everyone,

It is always great to see that someone actually is interested in such work! I totally agree with some of the remarks and have adopted the following changes:

• Colorisation of seconds (and date) in seconds screen is configurable and disabled by default.
  
• Presentation of date in seconds screen is configurable, seconds are centered if no date is shown.
  
• Initlal settings are chosen in a way to pertain the original look (no seconds, long date format, uppercase)
  
• Formatting is also tweaked a bit to resemble v0.03.
  
• Added a README.md according to the "best practices" documentation.
  
  

I have not changed using the "Vector" font instead of the scaled "6x8" font for all non-"Anton" text. It just looks way better. Actually, this is what I really like about the Anton clock: It is really very well readable as it uses this large, clear font.

You might want to give it another try on

https://dirkhillbrecht.github.io/BangleApps/#

There, I do not only have it as an independent "Anton clock with seconds" (now in v0.08), but also as change to the "official" Anton clock in the way I issued it as pull request. Whether it should be such an extension or a new clock is still discussed in the github pull request. I would prefer it to be an update to the existing Anton clock as it really is exactly this: An update to the existing Anton clock.

Regards, Dirk

I agree with Dirk, I think it should be an enhancement of the standard one. He's true to the original vision, with just enhancements, especially that he made the defaults equal normal Anton.

Oh man, Dirk; this is seriously good. It feels just like a better version. I have a couple enhancement ideas:

1. The seconds to the right of the clock when on. If it doesn't have space, perhaps the colon could be removed. See attachments.
   
2. Seconds with a different size or font, it looks pretty jarring with it large. However, it's easy to see.
   

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Hi Andi,

thanks for your ideas. My extensions allow to have the seconds "always on", it can be configured just that way. My problem is that the Anton font is not scalable, so I'd need to add an additional "AntonSmall" font for your lowest example. I did not want to do that, so I decided to use the original large Anton font also for the seconds. Space is just sufficient for that on the Bangle.js 2.

I doubt that your second (and also third) proposal works as there must be enough space for four full-width digits ("22:22") for the time, and that would not be sufficient if the seconds are at the same line - even without the colon.

In the meantime, I have added another configuration option whether to use the Vector font for date and day of week (which I find far better to read) or the original scaled 6x8 font which uses Anton 0.03. My pull request for Anton 0.04 is updated accordingly, on my own App Loader, I have an "Anton clock with seconds" v0.09 which incorporates this enhancement.

Best regards, Dirk

Hey Again,
I added a different font, looks pretty sweet. Have you thought about having selectable fonts? Also, I couldn't find where to remove the colon between the hour and minute. I removed it from in front of the seconds and it looks a lot better. I don't believe the seconds need a colon.

It's this font: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Chakra+Petch

This one is way too big, however; if the colon was removed, and perhaps it was a little bit smaller, it would fit.

EDIT: I also tried https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Roboto+Slab and it looks good too.
And https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Inter which also look great.
And https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Josefin+Sans

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Josefin worked perfectly with the scaling too. What I did was change the font converter so that the Actual height section of the code shows a similar second number to yours and the scaling generally worked (example:Actual height 67 (68-2)
Other improvement ideas:

1. Selectable option to remove year from date and show it as 'TUES JAN 4' when seconds on.
   
2. Selectable seconds as vector or small font next to the normal screen off date instead of large font.
   
3. Selectable seconds colon on or off.
   
4. Selectable time separator (space or _ or , or . or : or empty)
   
5. Selectable fonts (Anton, Roboto Slab, Josefin, Chakra, Nunito,Babas Neue,IBM Plex Sans shown here)
   
   

Sorry for the spam. Once I learn how to use Github better, I'll make my own!

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Hi everyone,

thanks for all your ideas and suggestions. I read through them and integrated some of them into my Anton clock enhancement proposal. However:

• "Anton clock" is named Anton clock because it uses the Anton bold font for the clock digits. In my opinion, using another font is beyond this watch faces scope. It would need tweaking lots of tiny position adjustments, too.
  
• "Anton" and any other special fonts must be rendered explicitly for this app. This increases its size considerably. As not more than one font would be used at the same time, this would be rather a waste of space.
  
• The "Anton" fonts included in this watch face do only contain digits and a minimum amount of other characters. Therefore, they cannot be used for much more than presenting the time.
  
• Finally, the big advantage of the bold Anton font is ... well ... its boldness. The watch face can be read even if the screen is locked and unlit. The much lighter fonts suggested above do not have this advantage, neither btw. has the built-in Vector font. This bold font is key feature why I like Anton clock so much.
  
  

Having said this, I did make the following changes:

• Seconds use a smaller version of the Anton font now. This removes the biggest flaw of my former proposal: The lower widget area is now unobstructed.
  
• Colon in front of seconds can be disabled.
  
• In seconds mode, date can be shown with weekday instead of year.
  
• I use multi-selections in the settings now instead of only booleans. That makes configuration a bit smaller and much clearer as there are no implicit dependencies between options any more.
  
  

If you already use the extended version of Anton clock, some settings might be lost due to the settings changes. Just reconfigure them.

The new version is available in my app loader, either as Anton clock 0.04 or as a separate, independent "Anton clock with seconds 0.10". My pull request for the Anton clock 0.04 is still pending (and has been updated accordingly).

Best regards,
Dirk

Dirk - I'm confused are you doing a new Anton clock or enhancements to the existing one ?
Personally I rather like the fact that Anton clock is minimal as it enables it to be used a reference app.

Hey @HughB,
Dirk has enhanced the normal one, but has made advanced features that can be turned on to make it better. By default, it looks and operates the same. I really like his new version.

Hello @HughB,

I extended the original Anton clock and issued the pull request for this extended version. However, I also keep an independed "Anton clock with seconds" in parallel. It is exactly the same code, the only difference is the name of the settings file. I use that as long as the pull request has not gone through - and would continue from there if the request were torn down.

I don't think being "minimal" is a good design target for software (or, in fact, any system). "Functional" is a good one. Sometimes "functional" may mean "minimal" as good functionality comes from simplicity. In case of watches, personal preferences vary. I think, there is no reason to keep the watch face that basic in this case. I added a bunch of configuration options to make "Anton clock" versatile while keeping its best feature: Being very well readable even if the display is unlit.

If you don't do anything, "my" Anton clock 0.04 looks and behaves exactly like 0.03. But suddenly you have lots of configuration knobs to adjust it to your needs and preferences.

Best regards,
Dirk

Hi everyone,

as the Anton clock change has now been merged, "Anton clock with seconds" is gone. Everything is now in the official Anton clock. I leave it in my own app loader for some time so that anyone who has installed it from there has a chance to delete it from the Bangle.js.

Regards,
Dirk

Hey Dirk,
Thank you for your modifications, they're working great for me.

Hi @dirkhillbrecht

the Anton clock change has now been merged

Just done a pull from master and installed from my App Loader.
I think its good that you made the default behaviour the same as the previous version.

I don't think being "minimal" is a good design target for software (or, in fact, any system).

So my thinking behind my preference for a fork and a seperate app called 'Anton Improved' or similar was that Anton Clock is one of the stock Bangle Apps in that it is installed by default on every Bangle 2 that goes out the door. As such it represented to me (at least) a fixed reference point of stability (ie the code was minimal and would not change) and could be used when investigating issues or when needing a baseline measurement of something. I can always recreate a similar basline if I need it - so its no big deal.

Looking forward to your next App and will track changes on the 15 puzzle.

the code was minimal and would not change

... this is a good point, and it is what I've tended to do so far. I guess we'll see what happens - worst case we can split it off into an 'Anton Improved' later