Illuminated Clock Screensaver

I think I would find it actually annoying if the clock moved around. I have mine set to sleep the display after an hour or so, so I am not worried about burn-in. I suppose if you didn't want the display to ever sleep there would be a danger. I just like the clock to appear when I am out of the room for a few minutes or so. I love it! Thanks to the developer for getting it working in Snow Leopard! Better install procedure, too.

From what I've seen to date it seems to be a bug with Quartz Compositions under certain conditions when using Snow Leopard. I still think there is a way to make this work and I should release a new version which fixes this behavior in the coming week or two at most.

Thanks for taking the time to post a review, but I must inform you that I did not know about this behavior. The webpage URL redirection is a default behavior created by Quartz Composer when a screen saver template is chosen. In no way did I tell it to redirect to my webpage, in fact I just learned it did. Sincerely I think I have nothing of value for any users of the screen saver on my webpage right now apart from the screen saver, lol. Actually I was able to reproduce this on my computer, but only when the option to require passwords after the computer enters the screen saver is deactivated. I usually lock my computer when the screen saver activates so I didn't see this. Ideally it would have been nice to contact me about this instead of posting a slightly negative review assuming things about the screensaver. Anyway the next version which I'm working on right now will not have this redirection. Thanks for your time!

I don't see how to respond to the comments from the Developer directly in this forum. Part of what you said was "Ideally it would have been nice to contact me about this instead of posting a slightly negative review assuming things about the screensaver." I see no where to actually do that but did look. I read the read me and license with the saver, looked on your web site, and also clicked on your name in the Reviews and comments at MacUpdate but got told you don't exist. As far as my assuming things about the saver it seems to me that in Quartz composer when you select a new ScreenSaver project the Web Page URL is optional and would require user input to link it within the project as well as provide a URL. If I am misunderstanding how this typically works then my apologies.

You should have the setting with 1.1, you must not have the most recent version. Make sure to restart System Preferences after overwriting the qtz file with the new one. You will get the GMT offset setting then. The GMT setting works but the value you must enter does not match with the real GMT offset for your area. It's messed up because I made the GMT fix real quick last night for it to work else for most people it would have been useless. I will make the GMT values fit in the next version as well as make some new parameters available in the screen saver options.

Ok, I installed v 1.1 which has a GMT setting but the problem now is that regardless of the number that I enter it doesn't stay set. When I open the options window again the GMT number reads "0" zero.

I will update to version 1.2 today, which corrects the GMT offset behavior. I encountered the problem you said, but that is beyond my control; the screensaver options panel is automatically generated by Quartz Composer, so it seems like an issue with the way System Preferences store its Quartz screen savers' parameters. I had success with entering a value multiple times though, it was saved after a few tries. I hope it'll work for you.

Turning the little dial won't give me a correct GMT number for my time zone. I'm on the west coast of the States (PST). GMT either -7 or -8. I managed to get a GMT setting of 7 but screensaver clock then read an hour earlier than my correct time. I tried to spin the dial to 8 but can't reach that number....I can only get to 7.4-7.6. and then the numbers start going retrograde. I think that it might make more sense if one could set one's current time a la 10:30 am or pm for example. Anyway, the dial technique is just not working for me. At least if when typing in the correct GMT the number would stay stable and then reflect my correct time on the clock. Maybe more work is needed to get the clock screensaver to work properly?

"I think that it might make more sense if one could set one's current time a la 10:30 am or pm for example." The thing is I have no control over the way the options are presented in the screen saver options panel. This is the only way Quartz compositions enables numerical values to be set by the user. "I managed to get a GMT setting of 7 but screensaver clock then read an hour earlier than my correct time." You should set the Daylight Saving Time value to -1 or 1 to correct the hour. This is the equivalent of adding or substracting an hour in your clocks on daylight saving time. You must spin the dial controller in a circular motion to change the value. On my computer there is no problem setting a value greater than 8 (there doesn't seem to be a limit either on the positive or negative side). If that does not work, typing a value and pressing enter while the cursor is still in the text box does it for me. "Maybe more work is needed to get the clock screensaver to work properly?" I'm doing my best, but like I said I can't change how Quartz screen savers' preferences work.

I've tried spinning the various dials every which way, typed in various GMT numbers but still can't get an accurate time readout. I've no doubt that Michaël, the developer, is trying the best that he can, and am not questioning his competency. Programming the clock software to easily configure accurately must be a difficult problem and I do wish him success.

Sorry to hear it doesn't work for you. Personnally I'm not having any problems with the dials. What version of OS X are you using?

Well, I finally got the correct time setting for my time zone (PST). In the GMT Hours tab I typed in -8, then in Daylight Savings Time I spun the dial (which was at 0) to 1, without typing in either a - or +. Hopefully, the clock readout will remain accurate. Earlier, when spinning any of the dials, the corresponding numbers would not reach my intended setting, either falling short or going long. It's too soon to say "all's well now".....I'll just have to wait and see. My OS is Leopard 10.5.8. BTW, are Michaël Fortin and Simon Carpentier(whose website I'm taken to when clicking on your name one and the same people? Can you be reached...for Clock Screensaver support and feedback, at Simon's contact email address?

No, Simon is not me at all, please do not send any e-mail to him. I don't know how you were sent to his webpage, because the only link there is to his page is in the sidebar of my homepage (www.irradiated.net). This is a list of my friends' websites and they have nothing to do with my software.

Oh, and glad it finally worked for you! I've used the screensaver myself for quite a while and there has been no problem with its accuracy. Just make sure to adjust the Daylight Saving Time parameter when the time comes. I'll most probably make this automatic in the next version so people do not have to worry about daylight saving time at all. I am aware that this is a little bit cryptic, but I will take care of this soon. If you have any more problems, you can contact me directly through my e-mail address and we can work on correcting the issue.