User Interface Basics

Vitamin-R “lives” in the menu item bar behind the (R) icon. Clicking this icon will bring Vitamin-R to the front. You can also right click on the icon to get a menu with some quick actions.

The main window is divided into two halfs:

• Workflow View
• Pad View

The Workflow View shows you everything you can do in the current state. The Pad View gives you access to a number of optional tools that make working with Vitamin-R more effective.

The Workflow View

The title section of the Workflow View shows what state Vitamin-R is currently in, e.g. “Define Time Slice”. Next to the title is a pull down menu that allows you to choose state-wide options. Here you can switch parts of the UI on and off to suit your own preferences and requirements. In some states, you can also choose alternative UIs for section of the view.

At the bottom of the State View are the default buttons that represent the actions that you will usually be expected to take to get to the next step.

Between the title and default button sections, you will see a number of controls that allow you to configure this or the next state, such as specifying durations, settings options, writing objectives, etc. Some of these sections have a cog wheel button to the right of the section title. You can customize the sections further using the options in the cog wheel button.

Pad View

On the right of the main window, you can choose to see one of a number of pads.

You choose which pad you want to see by clicking on the appropriate icon in the Pad Selector in the window title bar.

You can select between the:

• Now Pad
• Later Pad
• Scratch Pad
• Log Book
• Statistics and
• Help Pad

If you click on the same icon twice, the Pad View is collapsed if you prefer a “leaner” look.

While the Pad View is open, it may be automatically switched to an appropriate pad. You can switch this off in the Title section of the respective state.

Keyboard Navigation & Global Shortcuts

Vitamin-R 3 is designed for streamlined interaction. The Command-Return keyboard shortcut will automatically select the default button in the Workflow state.

You can use the Control-R shortcut to bring Vitamin-R 3 to the front from any application and a variety of other global keyboard shortcuts to start and pause time slices and timed breaks, or bring up the Now, Later and Scratch Pads. You can see and customize the full list of global shortcuts in the Preferences ⇒ Shortcuts section.