JULIA TIMER is a Macintosh application which keeps track of the time spent on multiple projects. It is System-7 friendly (including Balloon Help), but will work on system 6.0 or above (maybe earlier; haven't tried it). Multifinder is recommended.
JULIA TIMER is named after my wife, Julia, for whom I originally wrote this application.
JULIA TIMER is Charity-ware. You may use JULIA TIMER for ten days. If you keep it, please send a $10 donation (or more) to the address below. It's tax-deductible.
When you open the application, the "Projects" window is displayed. Only one project is shown, named "Sample." Choose "Add project..." from the File menu and name a project you wish to time. Repeat for each of your other projects. You may delete the sample project by clicking on it and choosing "Delete project" from the File menu.
To start timing a project:
Click on the name of the project in the list, and click the "Start timing" button. The status area of the project window will show the name of the project being timed and the elapsed time in the current session. The "Start timing" button changes its name to "Stop timing." You may close the project window if you wish. In Multifinder, go to any other application and do your work. Without Multifinder (Unifinder?), quit the program (see below) to do your work, and then start it again when it's time to stop timing.
To stop timing:
Return to the JULIA TIMER application, either by clicking in its window or using Multifinder utilities. The project window should open automatically; if it doesn't, choose "Project List" from the File menu. Click the "Stop timing" button. The status area of the project window will change to "not timing," and the button will change its name back to "Start timing."
To estimate a stop time:
If you left the timer running by mistake, hold the option key down as you click "Stop timing." A dialog box will appear allowing you to type in an estimated stop time. The start time initially appears in the dialog.
To display a timing summary for a project:
Click on the project's name in the list, and click the "Display" button. A window will appear showing a the start time, stop time, and elapsed time of each session you have timed on this project. The total time of all sessions is shown at the bottom of the window. You may display any project, whether you are timing or not. If the displayed project is currently being timed, the last line will show "running" as the stop time, and it will be updated periodically.
To print the timing summary:
First, display the timing summary as shown above. Click in the summary window, if necessary, to bring it to the front. Choose "Print..." from the File menu, and approve the printing dialog for your printer. The summary will be printed in Monaco, as it is in the window, but on the LaserWriter, Courier will be substituted if "Font substitution" is checked in Page Setup.
To quit the program:
Choose "Quit" from the File menu. If you are timing a project, you will be asked if you wish to stop timing now. You may wish to leave the timer running when you quit, because you are not in Multifinder, or because you need all your RAM, or for some other reason. JULIA TIMER does not really "time" the project by counting the minutes; it stores the start time. Therefore, when you start JULIA TIMER again, it knows the elapsed time by comparing the current time to the starting time.
To change the name of a project:
Click on the project's name in the list, and choose "Change Project Name" from the File menu. Type the new name and click OK (or press return).
To delete a project:
Click on the project's name in the list, and choose "Delete Project" from the File menu. You will be asked to confirm. Deleting a project is final; all its timing data is lost. You cannot delete a project which is currently being timed.
Moving the windows:
You can move the project and display windows, and JULIA TIMER will remember their locations.
Sometimes you may see something in the display window like
Start 8:02 Stop 8:05 Elapsed 0:02.
This is because you started at (say) 8:02:54 and ended at 8:05:12, so three
minutes had not yet elapsed.
Only one project may be displayed at a time. If you ask for a display when one is already displayed, it will replace the existing one.
Individual sessions cannot exceed 24 hours of elapsed time. However, there is no limit to the grand total of elapsed time on a project.
Projects may be timed overnight, but if they are over 6 hours, the project window will show the status "timer left running." You may see the actual elapsed time by opening a display window for the project, and if you click "Stop timing," the actual elapsed time will be entered (though not more than 24 hours). Or you can estimate a stop time (see above).
The Edit menu is not supported, although in System 7 the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands may be used in the "New Project" dialog.
The status area of the project window may not be updated consistently when JULIA TIMER is not the active application, if the active application is not Multifinder-aware. Multi-tasking on the Macintosh is a cooperative game, and everyone has to play for it to work. When JULIA TIMER is brought to the front, it will update correctly.
Important data is kept in the "Julia Prefs" file. This file is located in the System Folder (in System 7, the Preferences folder). If you move or delete this file, you will lose your data. This file is created for you automatically when you run JULIA TIMER the first time.
Allen Simon is a choral conductor in Palo Alto, CA. He wrote JULIA TIMER for his wife, Julia, who runs a home music typesetting business. His other works include "Explorations: A New Approach to Music Fundamentals," a textbook with software to teach music fundamentals. "Explorations" is available from Mayfield Publishing Co. of Mountain View, CA.
