Is swatchtime.online open source/open to contribution?

[cmbartschat]

I don't see a repository for it. I am interested in supporting the effort.

[kendawson-online]

Hi, thanks for your interest in the swatchtime.online Preact app. I previously did not have the visibility of this one set to public. But, I changed it. I do welcome contributions to the code. Just fork the code to a new branch, make any changes you'd like, and open a Pull Request and I'll check it out and then merge the changes. I appreciate your offer. The public repo is here:

https://github.com/swatchtime/swatch-preact

[kendawson-online]

I also released it under the MIT license to make the status more clear.

[cmbartschat]

Thank you! First I'd like to share a comparison between https://beats.wiki, this site, and a prototype I've started on.

Feature	beats.wiki	swatchtime	my prototype
Live time	✅	✅	✅
Explanation/links	✅	❌*	✅
Timestamp deeplinks	✅	❌	✅
Live time in title	✅	❌	✅
GCal Button	✅	❌	✅
Convert	❌	✅	✅
Reminders/timers	❌	✅	📋
Color/font options	❌	✅	📋
Tutorial	❌	❌	🚧
Gallery	❌	❌	🚧
OG Tags/Link preview	❌	❌	✅

✅ -supported, ❌ - not supported, 🚧 - needs more work, 📋 - todo

* Clicking the header shows an explanation, but it is almost impossible to discover

Questions for you:

1. Am I missing anything?
2. Are there any features I listed that you are opposed to adding?

[kendawson-online]

No, I am not opposed to adding any features. The app started a long time ago with the vanilla JS version then one weekend I decide to upgrade it to a more modern Preact app. I got it to a certain point and then started working on other stuff. The GCal button is a great idea. I always pictured some sort of meeting planner (e.g. https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html) that could allow 2 people to sync up at an agreed upon beat. The timestamp deep links and time in title would be great too. Feel free to fork it and add / edit / change any features you want. I think one of the reasons the original Internet Time didn't take off was there just weren't enough integrations into people's daily lives (e.g. on your watch, email, and in your daily calendar). If those tools existed back in 1999 then it might have taken off? If you need anything from me let me know. My other longer-term goal is to build an Android app and watch face for WearOS. I also have an API set up here too that I haven't used much:

• https://api.swatchtime.online/api/v1/current
• https://demo.swatchtime.online

If you want me to add you as a collaborator on the Preact app repo I can.

[cmbartschat]

Thank you for being so receptive.

I published my prototype code: https://github.com/cmbartschat/beats
And it can be visited here: https://beats-prototype.ribbits.org/

The prototype is implemented using Qwik - for link previews/OG tags, some backend logic is going to be necessary. Qwik gives a full stack framework with super efficient load times, and with an amazing development experience.

[kendawson-online]

I like it. The UI is nice. I haven't used Qwik before but if it uses similar syntax to Vue/React I should be able to figure it out. So, what is the plan for future dev work? Port existing Preact code to Qwik and implement new features to https://github.com/cmbartschat/beats? Do you have a roadmap / spec? Your list above was quite helpful. It seems you have quite a bit already implemented. Maybe come up with a list of features not yet implemented and break them into subtasks? There are some features I like in the settings of my Preact app like -- ability to hide centibeats, ability to switch between 12/24 hr time, ability to show regular time along with beats, ability to change font, color, etc. In the case of your app I'd like the ability to show/hide the background image. Sometimes I like to set up a display with big fonts with high contrast and run it in the background like a clock. Having a plain LED-clock looking interface can be nice. But, I think that users should be able to customize their clocks however they want. That's why I put it all under settings and used checkboxes. I like how you set up the conversion. Reminds me a bit of how this dev does it: https://internet-ti.me/@940.

I'll download your repo later and check it out. I might just keep my Preact app as is. I'll try to build your source locally later and set up a dev environment. It's nice though. As you get the code to a more mature state I can offer feedback about UX and features too. But, it's a solid start. The "Reminders" part isn't easy. I went down a rat hole on my app working on that feature. There are a lot of edge cases to consider. I did add permissions for browser notifications. But, I think the better way to do reminders would be to have some sort of calendar / iCal / CalDAV integration and use native notifications or push notifications that the user opts into. The version I came up with only works on certain conditions and if local storage gets dumped it's all gone. But, storing everything in a db and using logins or custom tokens and push notifications would solve a lot of issues. I just never got that far.

[cmbartschat]

To avoid fragmentation, I'm most interested in working together in this github org. It seems like a good place to plant the flag, avoiding the "15 competing standards" problem: https://xkcd.com/927/. A single polished, feature-complete site with all the bells and whistles is better than 15 people all working on their own thing.

No rush, once you've looked things over, happy to discuss further.

[kendawson-online]

A good point. XKCD nails it every time. I'll send you an invite to this org and we can discuss farther. I have a few things going on but, we can maybe keep the discussion going on email? ken@kendawson.online