Show HN: Browser timers that float above your other windows
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one cool design update we did since this post is making it so that multiple timer / alarm / countdown widgets can be popped out to a floating tray. arrived at this method because the Document PiP API only allows a single floating window, so this creates a single tray of alarms (or whatever widgets they choose) that the user can manage.
On Chrome and Edge it uses the Document Picture-in-Picture API so the window stays on top of everything else while you work. Pause from either window and the state stays in sync (BroadcastChannel turned out to be a good fit for this). Firefox and Safari just use a normal pop-up since neither has shipped Document PiP. On mobile it opens fullscreen in the current tab because phones don't really expose multi-window to the web.
It also requests a wake lock so your screen doesn't fall asleep while a timer's counting down. That matters on a phone where the display would otherwise dim and lock.
The use case that drove me to do this: I'm working, have to do something at X time coming up, and I want a countdown in my face, but it's off on my phone or behind other windows. Now it just sits in the corner where I want it.
(There's also been a bunch of tweaks / new tools added since the last time I posted: a day planner, overlap zones, an "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" page ... for anyone who remembers the v1 HN Show post a month or so ago.)