Docs · concepts

How to read a meter

A Dipstick meter draws two quantities on one axis: how much usage is left, and how much of the window is left. The whole product is which of the two is further to the right.

The fill is usage remaining.

It starts at the left end tick and its edge marks how much of your budget is left. As you consume usage the fill drains: its edge retreats to the left.

The marker is window remaining.

The blade that breaks the track marks how much of the limit window is left. As the window elapses the marker walks right to left. At the moment a window resets it is at the far right; just before the reset it is at the far left.

The end ticks never move.

Both ends are fixed at zero and one hundred percent, which is what makes the two moving parts comparable by eye rather than by arithmetic.

A tie counts as behind.

When usage remaining exactly equals window remaining, the meter reports behind. The clock is not losing, so the meter does not claim it is.

Green — ahead

Remaining usage exceeds remaining time. The fill is plain, with no texture, and the fill edge sits to the right of the marker.

Amber — behind

Remaining usage is less than remaining time. The fill carries a forty-five degree hatch and ends in a stepped shoulder — a half-height cap at the fill edge that is visible at any size, including in the menu bar.

Red — low

Under fifteen percent of usage remains. The fill carries a dense hatch, and because the rule is absolute a red fill is always a short one: no meter can be red and more than fifteen percent full.