Hourglass Icon

A well-crafted desktop hourglass

In our digital lives, time is usually displayed in a very sterile, matter-of-fact way. This icon aims to return us to one of our very first methods of time keeping, the hourglass. By simply using sand falling through a small opening between two glass bulbs, we were able to measure various amounts of time consistently, inexpensively, and in a repeatable manner.

To begin, right-click the hourglass with the mouse, and notice the menu options that are available to you. At the very top, the most common option “Flip!” will turn the virtual hourglass over and begin marking time. Since this is a digital timepiece, however, this icon can do what no physical hourglass can do, namely “expire” the remaining sand instantly. Normally, of course, once an hourglass is turned over, we need to wait until all of the sand reaches the bottom bulb. The menu options “Expire Now and Flip” and “Expire Now” will immediately return any remaining sand to the bottom bulb and, optionally, flip the hourglass afterward.

The next menu option is the “Hourglass Size” sub-menu. Hourglasses were hand-crafted and although they marked time well, only a single interval of time could be measured for each timepiece. They were, and still are, constructed in various sizes and with differing amounts of sand so different time intervals can be counted.

Again, digital houglasses have a distinct advantage over physical ones, since we can change the amount of time to complete one passage of sand through the device. The “Hourglass Size” sub-menu lets you change the amount of virtual “sand” in the icon to one of many different amounts.

Our next menu option, which is present is most of our ambient icon applications, is the “Settings” option. This option displays a screen with several checkboxes and drop-down lists where you can actively change the look and behavior of the icon, and also change and format the tooltip text that appears over it. Specifically, the “Icon Text” tab has several checkboxes and a “Live Preview” window that mirrors the tooltip text of the icon. As you check and uncheck various options, the Live Preview window updates accordingly, providing an exact representation of the tooltip text over the icon. Click the [OK] button to save and dismiss the “Settings” screen when you are ready.

Finally, the remaining menu options are considered the “common” options that all of our ambient icons provide. These may be self-explanatory to some users, and they are explained in depth on the -Common Application Options- page.