Focus
Filmina has a timer for studying in blocks with breaks, a background sound to cover distractions, a focus mode for reading, and two accessibility modes, for ADHD and for dyslexia. None of it starts by itself: you turn it on when you want it.
The study block
The timer sits at the top right, next to the search and Mina buttons (Study block). While you're reading, the same timer moves into the header of the viewer or the reader. On a phone it's folded together with the other corner buttons behind More (the three dots).
Tapping it opens A study block: a slider to pick the length (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50 or 60 minutes; it starts at 25) and, below it, how long a break you'll get afterwards. If you're listening to an explanation, it also says how far you'll get in that time ("To slide 14", or "To the end"). Start sets it going.
While it runs, the corner timer shows how much is left. The panel has the session's four rounds, Pause (and Resume), Restart, which resets it to full length and paused, and at that point End. A paused block doesn't end: it waits.
When time's up a bell rings and the panel says Block done: "Finish what you're reading. The break can wait." The timer counts how far over you've gone, and if Mina is explaining, she finishes the slide and waits. From there, Take a 5-min break or End session.
During the Break the panel says "Stand up and look away. I'll let you know", with Back to it now in case you want to come back early. The explanation stays paused and picks up when you start the next block. When the break ends, the bell rings again and it asks Ready?, with Keep studying or End session. A break lasts a fifth of the block, and after the fourth block it's a Long break, three times as long:
| Block | Break | Long break (after the fourth) |
|---|---|---|
| 15 min | 3 min | 9 min |
| 25 min | 5 min | 15 min |
| 50 min | 10 min | 30 min |
The first time you start a block, your browser asks for permission to send notifications: with it, you're told even if you're on another tab ("You finished block 1 of 4", "Break's over"). The same permission covers Filmina's other notifications, described in Calendar and your time.
In Chrome and Edge on a computer, the panel has Floating window: the timer in a small window that stays on top of your other apps, so you can keep an eye on it while doing something else.
The block keeps going even if you reload the page or your computer goes to sleep: what's saved is the time it ends. A block that ran out more than half an hour ago with nobody attending to it ends on its own.
Background sound
Background sound is the pill with headphones at the bottom of the sidebar. On a phone or tablet it's in your account menu. Once something has played, if the sidebar isn't in view, a headphones button appears in the corner so you can pause or change it.
There are four: Rain, Sea, Brown noise and White noise, with a Volume control. The button beside it pauses and resumes the sound. Rain and sea are recordings downloaded the first time you pick them; the noises are generated on the spot. It never starts by itself, not even when you open Filmina, and it drops in volume while Mina is speaking so you can hear her.
There's no music on purpose: you read lyrics whether you want to or not, and a melody asks for attention too. A steady noise covers interruptions (a door, a conversation on the other side of the wall) without bringing anything of its own to follow.
The reader's focus mode
When you read a document in Reading mode, or a saved summary, the text size controls (Smaller text, Larger text) sit at the top, on the same line as the name, with Focus mode next to them. The reader is covered in Uploading and reading files, and summaries in Summaries and maps.
Focus mode hides the comments column and leaves the text on its own with space above and below. It fades toward the edges so you read the band in the middle, and the title and controls dim until you hover over them. If the chat with Mina or the side note was open, it closes. Escape or the same button turns it off.
Accessibility
In Settings, the Accessibility section has two switches, ADHD mode and Dyslexia mode. They're independent and you can turn on both. They're saved to your account, so they follow you to any device you sign in on.
ADHD mode
Designed so there's one thing at a time and time stays visible. What it changes:
- One paragraph at a time. In the explanation, the paragraph being read comes to the front with a colored line on its left, and the rest fade right back.
- Time you can see. The player's progress bar stays thick and in color, and the position and time left are in bold.
- Less motion around it. Things that move by themselves at the edges go, like the Z's when Mina dozes off, and so does the row of shortcuts. Anything that signals something (Mina thinking, Mina speaking) stays as it is.
- 15-minute blocks. When you turn it on, the study block drops from 25 to 15 minutes if you've never changed its length.
- A question after each slide. Turning it on switches on the questions between slides (see The question between slides).
Those last two are starting points, not locks: you can change the length again on the timer and turn the questions off in the viewer settings. The mode doesn't turn off screen transitions or change what Mina says.
Dyslexia mode
Designed to make reading take less effort. What it changes:
- Larger, clearer type. The whole app, headings included, switches to Atkinson Hyperlegible Next, a sans serif in which easily confused letters (b, d, p, q; I, l, 1) are clearly different. The explanation, questions, summary and notes get bigger.
- More room. More space between letters, even more between words, and lines further apart. The explanation column widens where there's space.
- No italics or long runs of capitals. Emphasis is in bold.
- A warm background. Neither pure black nor pure white: in dark mode, a charcoal gray with bone-colored text; in light mode, cream with near-black text. Both keep a high contrast.
- The paragraph being read is highlighted in a soft peach, without changing size so you don't lose your line. The others aren't blurred and stay legible for rereading. In a summary Mina reads aloud, the word being spoken gets the same color.
- Everything left-aligned. Questions are no longer centered.
It doesn't use "dyslexia fonts" like OpenDyslexic, or bionic reading: studies don't show that they help.
With both on, the paragraph being read gets ADHD mode's line and Dyslexia mode's highlight together.
If you prefer less motion
If you've turned on your system's reduce motion setting, Filmina follows it everywhere: screen changes and things that unfold happen without animation, and celebrations skip the confetti. There's nothing to switch on in Filmina.