Tally

Click Counter

A tally, not a timer. Click to add one, pick a bigger step if you are counting in pairs or dozens, undo a mistake, and the count survives closing the tab.

Presses: 0
Per minute: —

How to

How to use the click counter

Click the pad to add. The step defaults to one and is shown in the corner.
Pick a step if you are counting in pairs, fives or dozens.
Use subtract or undo when you overshoot — undo restores the previous value rather than just subtracting.
Come back later. The count is stored in this browser and restored on load.

The measurement

Why a counter and not a timer

Counting is a different job from measuring

Every other tool here fixes an interval and reports a rate. A tally has no interval: it counts until you stop, which is what you want for inventory, headcount, laps, reps, birds on a wire, or anything else where the total matters and the time does not.

The one figure it borrows from the rest of the bench is a per-minute rate, shown once you have been counting for a few seconds. It costs nothing to compute and it is occasionally the thing you actually wanted.

Undo, and why it matters more than it sounds

The failure mode of every hand counter is one press too many with no way back. Undo restores the previous value from a history of the last two hundred changes, so a double-tap or a stray click is recoverable rather than a reason to start again.

The count is written to this browser's storage on a short delay after every change, so a closed tab, a refresh or a crash does not lose it. Nothing is uploaded — the number never leaves your machine.

The bench

Every tool on the bench

One instrument per input, all on the same clock. A rate is only comparable against the same tool and the same interval.

Background

Read the method

Longer entries on what this tool measures and where the number comes from.

Click speed and your hands

Rapid clicking is a physical activity with a real injury profile. The fatigue threshold arrives inside twenty seconds — information, not an obstacle.

Read the entry

Questions

Asked of the chronometer

Can I count without clicking?

Yes. The up arrow, plus and equals all add; the down arrow and minus subtract; ctrl or cmd plus Z undoes. Those work anywhere on the page unless you are typing in a field, so the counter can be driven without aiming at the pad.

Is the count safe if I close the tab?

Yes. It is written to this browser's storage shortly after every change, so a refresh, a closed tab or a crash all restore the last value. It never leaves your machine, which also means it does not follow you to another device.

What does undo do that subtract does not?

Undo restores the previous value; subtract takes the current step off. After counting in twelves and mistakenly adding one, subtract removes twelve and undo puts you back where you were. There is a history of the last two hundred changes behind it.