How to use bellclocks.com A simple, distraction-free, clock and timer
BellClocks has been designed to be as attractive as it is simple to use, with an intuitive interface and an LCD style. It’s an easy way to keep track of time, whether that’s the time of day, or counting down to a key moment.
How to use the timer
BellClocks’ timer is straightforward, but has all the features that you need. It is the default page on BellClocks, but if you don’t have the timer screen, just click or tap the hourglass timer icon on the left.
Using it is as simple as selecting the length and hitting start.
- Click or tap the ‘UP’ and ‘DOWN’ arrows to select the duration of your timer.
- Click or tap the ’START’ button.
And that’s it. The timer will count down, flashing and sounding an alarm when it reaches zero. You can even leave it in the background to work on something else, knowing that the alert will notify you when the time is up.
Other timer features
Pausing the timer: If you need to pause the timer for any reason, then the ‘START’ button changes to ‘PAUSE’ when the clock is running. Tap this, then hit it again when you are ready for the countdown to restart.
Quick times: Underneath the main countdown area is a set of preset times for 5, 10, 20, and 30 minutes. Clicking on these will set the timer to the relevant countdown, saving you clicking up and down repeatedly.
Silencing the alarm: If you are somewhere you can’t have an audible alert, or just don’t want one, then tapping the speaker icon in the top-right of the screen toggles the alarm sound on and off.
Sharing BellClocks: Want to let someone else know about BellClocks.com? Have a friend who could benefit from better timekeeping? Just need to email yourself a reminder of the URL? Then click the share icon in the top right, and it will open up the sharing options relevant to the device you are using.
Hidden presets: You might not have noticed, but the timer uses the URL to encode settings. This means it’s easy to save to the timers you use often. Just set the timer in with the buttons, or even edit the URL directly, and save it as a bookmark. You can even save a running timer, and it will start as soon as you click the link. Need that 17 hour, 42 minutes, and 36 seconds timer to go instantly? BellClocks has got it covered for you!
How to use the clock
If you know how to tell the time, you know how to use BellClocks. To get to the clock feature, just click the clock icon to the left.
BellClocks uses the time and time zone from your system, which, for most people, will be automatically set.
You might notice, though, that the time zone is displayed at the top of the screen. Underneath the clock is a list of the world’s time zones, so, if you need to be able to see at a glance what time it is anywhere from Abidjan to Zurich, just find your local time zone and click on it.
Saving time zones
Just like the timer, BellClocks encodes the time zone in the URL, so if there are common time zones you need to see, simply select those times and save the URL as a bookmark.
It means that if you have friends and family in Freetown, Fort Nelson, Famagusta, and Fakaofo you can quickly check if it’s a good time to call them!
BellClocks’ LCD design
With the versatility, color, and resolution of modern displays, why does BellClocks opt for an LCD design?
Well, LCD is still very much with us, depending on the make or model of device you are reading this on, there’s a good chance it’s an LCD screen. But there is also an element of sentimentality. LCDs, like BellClocks’, were the first watches and digital devices many people owned, and using that style is a gentle nod to that sentiment, but also to how technology has moved so quickly.
The first LCDs
The principles behind modern LCDs were first demonstrated in the late nineteenth century, and the first practical applications were developed in the early twentieth century. But it was in the 1960s that the modern LCD began to change our lives.
The technology uses a thin layer of liquid crystal sandwiched between transparent plates. The crystals react to an electric current, blocking or allowing light to pass depending on the orientation.
Although tiny and complex, it is also an efficient technology, since the currents involved are small. Displays like those on watches, where the numbers can be represented using the familiar seven segments, use very little power.
The birth of the digital watch
The display made the digital watch possible.
Although LCDs weren’t the first digital watches, they were the first successful digital watches. The first digital watches used LED displays. Unfortunately, even low-energy LEDs were too power-hungry for the batteries of the time. And the devices were also quite delicate, often breaking from the inevitable knocks they suffered on the wrist.
Their long-lasting batteries, resilience, and low prices meant that wristwatches moved from being something of a luxury, mechanical, item, to a cheap, everyday device. They were also particularly popular with children, for whom telling the time digitally became second nature — even when they’d often struggle to read a traditional clock instinctively.
That digital clock display remains evocative for many who will remember that first bit of technology they had on their wrist.
LCDs today
LCDs are commonplace today, and have developed alongside other technologies where they are often used as a simple display to let us know what is happening inside what would, otherwise, be a black box. Many household items, like cookers, washing machines and dishwashers, and boilers will feature LCDs to let you know things like temperature and progress of their current cycle.
The LCDs we look at most are displays. Although OLED is emerging as a replacement technology, the cheap, reliable LCD remains a common feature on phones, computers, and TV screens.
LCDs do not emit light, or color. Instead, they can block it or allow it through. Modern color screens on devices work by adding a color matrix to the LCD, which lights up the relevant color. It’s the reason why, on some screens, you can see the familiar red, green, and blue dots if you look closely enough.
That need for extra light is also why you can sometimes see a glow around the edge of some screens, and why some cheap displays can appear uneven.
Back to the watches
However, simple clock displays did not have these problems. Digital watches were designed to be visible in ambient light, although many had a small, button-operated, backlight to use when it was very dark.
The high contrast display of the LCD was further enhanced by the clarity of the segmented number display. This would usually take up most of the watch face, which helped the readability of the screen. Together, it made for an easy-to-use display that you could just glance at, with none of the confusion that mechanical watch wearers could sometimes suffer if the hands weren’t clearly aligned to numbers.
So, there is some sentimentality behind the LCD-style display, and retro is fashionable. But the style also has the benefit of being familiar and unambiguous. There’s no doubt what each of the numbers mean, and there’s no squinting at unfamiliar or unclear fonts. Whatever time is left on the countdown, or whatever time of day it is, BellClocks lets you know, clearly and without doubt.
Whether you are using BellClocks to time some cooking, countdown that workout, measure a study session while you cram information into your brain, or to create a calm space while you empty your mind for meditation, BellClocks is there to help you, simply, clearly, and without fuss.