The Menu Bar Item

A menu bar item, if you are wondering, is one of those little widgets on the right hand side of the main menu bar: the spotlight icon, the clock, your battery, bluetooth or airport power indicators, etc.

MacBreakZ 4 puts its own menu bar item into the menu bar:

This widgets displays two things:

• the elapsed time and the time to the next break
• the current activity level

The numbers that are shown are the hours, minutes and seconds that have elapsed since your last break. These numbers are adjusted for your activity level, e.g. they may stop going forward and then start going backwards as you take a short rest from mousing & typing.

Every few seconds, the numbers will appear in between square brackets (e.g. [00:15:00]). This is the time to the next break.

The color of the text indicates your current activity level, that is how actively you are using the keyboard and mouse (or other input devices).

When the text is green, your activity level is "safe", when it turns orange you are entering the "warning" zone. "Red" indicates the danger zone.

Your risk of developing repetitive strain injuries (such as inflammations, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.) is strongly related to long continuous keyboard and mouse use. Even short breaks of activity (see microbreaks) of only a few seconds in between bursts of activity can significantly reduce that risk.

You should thus aim to stay within the "safe" activity zone and never stay in the "danger" zone for very long.

Clicking on the menu bar item will reveal a short menu of the most common frequently used commands.

MacBreakZ ships with two different user interface modes. When you choose the mode that hides the dock item and menu bar of the program, you will only see the menu bar item.

How To: Hide the menu bar item

You can hide the menu bar item by changing your settings in the Preferences...

How To: Customize the menu bar item

The information displayed and the colors of the menu bar item can be customized in the Preferences...

Windows Version

Check out ergonomix for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP.

Quick User Survey

If you've got a minute, please take our short, (6 questions only) user survey to help us make MacBreakZ even better.

Books on RSI

If you want to find out more about RSI or stretching, check out our list of recommended reading.

RSI Background

This link provides background information about preventing and recovering from RSI.

Injury Prevention

Find out how MacBreakZ can help you prevent Repetitive Strain Injury.

Recovery from RSI

If you are already injured read the disclaimer below carefully, then learn how to start recovering.

Disclaimer

The techniques, ideas, and suggestions in this product are not intended as a substitute for proper medical advice! Consult your physician or health care professional before performing any new exercise or exercise technique, particularly if you are pregnant or nursing, or if you are elderly, or if you have any chronic or recurring conditions. Any application of the techniques, ideas, and suggestions in this document is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

The author and publisher of this product and their employers make no warranty of any kind in regard to the content of this product, including, but not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher of this document and their employers are not liable or responsible to any person or entity for any errors contained in this product, or for any special, incidental, or consequential damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this document.