Counter Help
Tally Counter, People Counter, and More
This help is for our Tally Counter, People Counter, Production Counter, etc. All of these counters have a default configuration for the convenience of users, but they are essentially the same counter underneath.
Our counters are a relatively new tool that we're pleased to bring to the web. They are as basic as you can get, they count up and down from keyboard taps and mouse clicks. That is what you immediatly see, but that is only 10% of the foundation that underlies our counters. What you don't see is the WebAudio engine for sound, the keyboard shortcuts for ease of use, the color levels for instant count comprehension, and 40 functions and features that user users can tailor to their needs in the Basic and Advanced settings area.
Whether you are counting attendance, room capacity, production numbers, or sightings, our counters let you focus on the task at hand and not the tool you use.
Counter Features
| Direction | Count up or down, and through zero |
| Range | Count from -999999 to +999999 |
| Colors | Six color levels where you can set the count value and color when count reaches each level |
| Sounds | Use our sounds or audio files on the web for up and down sounds, and adjust volume for each one |
| Audio | We use precise WebAudio API engine for precise sound playback |
| Lock/Unlock | Lock or unlock counter via keyboard taps, with an onscreen lock indicator |
| Resizable | Adjust window to resize counter |
| Save | Bookmark multiple counter versions with your settings, then share with others |
| Display | Settings to control color, font, size, bold, and shadow of count value |
| Title | Set Title to any text, or no title for a cleaner look |
| Settings | Changes are automatically saved |
| Shortcuts | Space-bar for up, downarrow for down, escape for reset, or set your own keys |
| Customize | Set background color and/or background image for a complete custom look |
| Dark Mode | Counter fully supports light/dark mode for most lighting conditions |
| Chroma Key | Set background to green for video chroma keying use |
| Platforms | Works on Windows, Apple, Android and Linux platforms, from desktop screens to mobile devices |
Action Bar
We tried to make all the key features of the Counter accessable from
| Switches between light &dark mode | |
| Opens help under the counter, with links to this help page | |
| Resets counter | |
| Opens settings under the counter, with a link to advanced settings | |
| Shows a link to bookmark or share your counter setup |
Counter Help Topics
A question or suggestion? Email us at . . .
Count Display
You can set how you want the count displayed. These adjustments are set via the Basic Settings, accessible by clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, on the right.
Count Styling
Customize appearance of count display:
ColorSet text colorBoldToggle bold text on or offShadowApply a text shadow effect
FontEnter font name or select from list of common browser fonts
If font selected is not available, the count display will use the fallback sans-serif browser font.
| Tip: | For more control of the count display size, use the Count Size setting in the Advanced Settings area. It lets you scale the count display from 35% to 300% of normal. |
Count Levels
Set up to six count levels to change the display color as your count increases or decreases. This gives you an instant visual cue of what range your count is in. These are set via the Basic Settings, accessible by clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, on the right.
Count Level
Each level includes a count value (from -999,999 to +999,999) and a
color. As the count changes, the display uses the color from the highest level reached. Empty levels are ignored. If you want separate colors for dark mode, switch to dark mode to edit those.
Order Matters
Levels are applied in order, right to left. If levels are out of order, the counter still uses them exactly as listed. Use the Clean Up Levels link to: sort levels, remove duplicate values, and move empty levels to the end.
| Tip: | Use color levels to highlight important thresholds:
0 25 50 75 100 to recognize ranges quickly. |
Keyboard Shortcuts
The counter has three running controls: Up, Down, and Reset plus the Lock/Unlock feature. We have shortcuts for all of
- Up
Space ArrowUp - Down:
Backspace ArrowDown - Lock:
KeyL - Unlock:
KeyL - Reset:
Escape
Keyboard shortcuts allow you to start counting by just tapping the space-bar, and they can be set to other keys in Advanced Settings. You get there by first clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, and then clicking the Advanced Settings link in the upper right corner of the Basic Settings. You can assign multiple keys to a shortcut, like Space and KeyU for Up, and Escape and KeyR for Reset.
Options
You have a couple controls over how the counter is resized. You can set these in the Basic Settings area by clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, on the right.
Fit Width / Fit Height
These control how counter resizes when browser window changes size. Default is for counter to be bound by both the window width and height.
| Tip: | Most users count up to 9999 or less, so the display is optimized for a four digit count value to fit. The Count Size setting in the Advanced Settings area gives you additional counter size control. |
Count Sounds
Yes, our counters have sound. You can set them in the Basic Settings area by clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, on the right.
Up & Down Sounds
These sounds play each time you count up or down. Select sounds from the Sound Up and Sound Down lists. Sound Off
prevents them from playing. You can also enter links to sound files accessible on the web
Note: The site hosting the sound file must allow the sound to be used on other websites. This is controlled by a setting called a 'CORS header' (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing). If it's not enabled, the sound likely will not play in the counter even though the link works in your browser.
Try / Volume / Stop
Use Try and Stop links to try out sounds you've selected. You can individually set the volume (0-100%) for the sounds. The volume settings are applied on top of your overall device volume setting. If your device volume is set at 50% and the sound volume is 50%, the resulting volume of our sound will be 25% (50% of 50%).
| Tip: | Use the Preview Sounds link to our soundboard to find sounds that fits your preference. |
Counter Title
Adjust the counter title to your liking. You can make these adjustments in the Basic Settings area by clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, on the right.
Title Text
Enter custom title for your counter, up to 100 characters. Can use <br> <b></b> <i></i> and in title.
Title Styling
Customize appearance of title:
ColorSet text colorBoldToggle bold text on or offFontEnter font name or select
from list of common browser fonts
If font selected is not available, the time display will use the fallback sans-serif browser font.
No Title / No Tagline
Toggles to turn on/off the counter Title and or Tagline.
| Tip: | To change size of title, use the Title Size setting in the Advanced Settings area. It lets you scale the title from 35% to 300% of normal.
|
Lock/Unlock
You can lock and unlock the counter to prevent unwanted counts when you step away or take a break. When counter is locked you will see the 'padlock' icon between the Up and Down controls.
You lock and unlock the counter through a keyboard shortcut. By default this is tied to KeyL on your keyboard, for both lock and unlock, so it acts like a toggle. You can set the shortcuts for this to any keyboard key in Advanced Settings, and lock and unlock can be separate keys.
You get to Advanced Settings by first clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, and then clicking the Advanced Settings link in the upper right corner of the Basic Settings.
Advanced Settings
You get to the Advanced Settings by first clicking the Settings icon under the counter controls, on the right. Then click the Advanced Settings link in the upper right corner of the Basic Settings. You can switch back and forth between the Basic and Advanced settings.
Click a row to edit that setting. Edited settings are indicated by a checkmark next to the edit icon. Advanced Settings not on available on the Basic Settings view include:
- Count Start/Change
- Count Min/Max
- Count Display Size
- Count Grouping
- Confirm Reset/Unlock
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Title Size
- Background Image
- Control Colors
- Auto Scroll Into View
Default Settings
You can restore your counter to it's default settings at any time. To see beforehand your current counter settings, click the Create Link icon under the counter controls.
To restore to default settings, click the Settings icon under the counter controls. Then click the Restore Default Settings link:
You will be asked to confirm this before the restore happens.
Saving Counter Setup
When you change the Count Levels or the Sound Up sound, these are all setting changes, and are all stored locally by your browser. If you are the only user, and you only need one counter, then there is no need to save anything, as your browser is already doing this for you.
But, when you or your AI agent discovers how useful our counters are, you may then want a Lab Counter, and a Production Counter, and then saving your counter setup might become important. You can save your counter configuration in a link with the counter setup as part of the link. Then you can set up different counters, save the links, and when you later click on a saved link, the counter is exactly as you saved it. Each time you click a saved counter link, the counter switches to that set of options. Save the link, click the link. That is all you have to do.
To bring this up, click on the Create Link icon under the counter controls. Easy!
Sharing Counter Setup
Once you set up the counter you can share your setup with anyone you want. See the above section on Saving Counter Setup. Anyone who clicks on your counter link will see the counter in their browser, just as you configured it. When they click your counter link they will see a popup similar to this:
If they already use Timer123 counters, they can cancel and save their current counter setup if they want, or they can just click Apply to start using the counter you shared.
Nothing to download. Nothing to configure. Nothing to slow you down.
Custom Look & Feel
Our counters let you control 40 different visual and functional aspects through the Basic and Advanced settings area. Advanced Settings lists out the 40 different settings you can adjust.
Once you have set up a counter for your needs, you can save your configuration in a link for later use or to share with others.
Our People Counter is an example of what's
Multiple Counters
Can you have multiple counters at the same time? Kind of. Our counters store their settings in shared local browser storage. If you have counters in two browser windows or tabs, the counter that makes changes last wins. So, not a good experience for users. For multiple counters running at the same time, you have two options:
- We have multiple counters like People Counter, Tally Counter, Production Counter. You can use these at the same time and they won't step on each other since they have different names, and thus separate storage. And yes, you can change the different counters to all have the same or different titles if you want. Maybe not an elegant solution for multiple counters, but it is easy, and it works.
- Use different browsers like: Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Edge Since each of these browsers use storage separate from each other, the same counter will play nice in separate branded browsers.