Spinning off from a previous thread, I too have some desiderata, very different from those of FIDE. As far as I know, no current clock even comes close:
- Each clock face should have three separate display areas: main time, delay time, and move count. All three should be visible simultaneously.
- The main time should have a full 5-digit display: h:mm:ss. Leading zeroes in the hours and minutes positions should be suppressed, along with the colon between them. A leading zero in the seconds position should not be suppressed, nor should the colon.
- Delay time should have a 3-digit display: m:ss. The minutes and colon should be suppressed when the delay goes below 1 minute, and the first digit of the seconds should be suppressed under 10 seconds. However, when the delay goes to 0, the zero should continue to be displayed.
- Move count should have a 3-digit display: nnn. The hundreds digit, but not the tens digit, should be suppressed if zero.
I envision the display as consisting of a single computer-like screen (not segmented digits), about 7 inches across by 2 inches deep:
-[size=200]1:45:28 @@1:39:57 [/size]
[size=150] 5 @@@@ [/size][size=90] 17 @@@- 16 [/size][size=150] @@@@ 0 [/size]
That’s not a perfect rendering, but it’s the best I could do within phpBB limitations. Those @ symbols are supposed to be invisible – I just put them in for spacing. My apologies if the rendering is even less satisfactory on your browser than on mine.
The digits for the main time should be about 3/4 inch high, as on a Chronos or DGT North American. The delay digit(s) should be smaller, say 3/8 inch. The move-count digits should be smaller still, say 3/16 inch.
Imagine, also, a thick vertical line down the middle, top to bottom, to separate white’s side of the display from black’s. (No way I was going to figure out how to represent that in phpBB.)
The above sample display indicates that the players’ main times are 1:45:28 and 1:39:57. White has made 17 moves, black 16. White has a 5-second delay waiting for him at his next move, while black has used up his 5-second delay for his current move.
The clock should render each player’s main time as follows:
h:mm:ss if one hour or more;
mm:ss if between 10 minutes and 59:59 inclusive;
m:ss if between 1 minute and 9:59 inclusive;
:ss if under one minute.
The main time should be centered on each player’s display. When the time ticks down from 1:00:00 to 59:59, the hours digit and colon should disappear, and the remaining digits should jump to the left a bit so as to keep the display centered. Similar leftward jumps should occur when the time ticks from 10:00 to 9:59, and from 1:00 to :59.
The clock should render delay times as follows:
m:ss if 1 minute or more;
ss if between 10 and 59 seconds;
s if 9 seconds or less.
The delay time should appear at the outside edges of the display – at the left edge for the player on the left (usually white), at the right edge for the player on the right (usually black). When the delay time ticks down from 1 minute to 59 seconds, the minutes digit and colon should disappear, and the remaining digits should remain left-justified on the left display, right-justified on the right display. Thus, on the left side, the remaining digits should jump to the left, but on the right side, they should stay where they are. Similar re-justification should occur when the delay time ticks from 10 seconds to 9.
The clock should render the move count as follows:
nn if 99 moves or less;
nnn if 100 moves or more.
The move count should be displayed at the inside edges of the display – at the right edge for the player on the left, at the left edge for the player on the right. When the move count is below 10, it should nevertheless be displayed as two digits, with a leading zero. At move 100, a third digit should appear, with the move count remaining right-justified on the left display, left-justified on the right display.
I like the above arrangement because of the symmetry. And there is a natural mnemonic: The move counts are always within 1 of each other, so are close together on the display. The delay times are almost always far apart, so are at opposite edges of the display.
The different digit sizes, and diverse display conventions, should quickly foster an intuitive grasp of which digits serve which purposes. Main times are always large, and are displayed with a colon and at least two digits. Delay times are medium-size, and (if under 10 seconds) are displayed as a single digit with no colon. The move count is small, and is virtually always two digits, with a leading zero if necessary.
Other points:
- If a delay is in effect, the delay digit should always be displayed, even if zero at the moment. If no delay is in effect, or if there is an increment, the area of the display normally used for delay seconds should remain blank. Any increment is simply added to the main time, as usual. This convention allows an arbiter or spectator to quickly determine whether the delay has been set.
- The move-count display should have the following options: (a) move count not displayed; (b) move count displayed; (c) move count displayed and triggers the subsequent time control.
Bill Smythe
