Building Timeframe: A Decade-Long Journey Creating a Custom Family Dashboard System
By
saeedesmaili
3mo ago· 9 min readen
100/100
Golden Brown
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Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
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Summary
A developer shares his decade-long journey building Timeframe, a custom family dashboard system that displays calendar, weather, and smart home data on an e-paper display. The article details the evolution from initial prototypes using Raspberry Pi and Kindle screens to the current refined system that integrates with Google Calendar, weather APIs, and smart home devices. The author explains the technical implementation, design considerations, and how the dashboard has become an integral part of family life by providing at-a-glance information without being intrusive.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledWhen Caitlin and I got married a decade ago, we set an intention to have a healthy relationship with technology in our home. We kept our bedroom free of any screens, charging our devices elsewhere overnight. But we missed our calendar and weather apps.
Over the past decade, I've worked to build the perfect family dashboard system for our home, called Timeframe. Combining calendar, weather, and smart home data, it's become an important part of our daily lives.
The goal was to create something that felt like part of our home, not just another piece of technology. It needed to be glanceable, always-on, and non-intrusive.
Timeframe has evolved from a simple calendar display to a comprehensive family information hub that shows our schedule, weather, smart home status, and even family photos.
The beauty of Timeframe is that it's always there when we need it, but never demands our attention. It's become part of the background of our home life, quietly keeping us informed.
Over the past decade, I've worked to build the perfect family dashboard system for our home, called Timeframe:
