Question: I want to use a simple countdown timer starting at 30 seconds from when the function is run and ending at 0. No milliseconds. How can it be coded?

Answer: 
So far the answers seem to rely on code being run instantly. If you set a timer for 1000ms, it will actually be around 1008 instead.

Here is how you should do it:

```
function timer(time,update,complete) {
    var start = new Date().getTime();
    var interval = setInterval(function() {
        var now = time-(new Date().getTime()-start);
        if( now <= 0) {
            clearInterval(interval);
            complete();
        }
        else update(Math.floor(now/1000));
    },100); // the smaller this number, the more accurate the timer will be
}

```

To use, call:

```
timer(
    5000, // milliseconds
    function(timeleft) { // called every step to update the visible countdown
        document.getElementById('timer').innerHTML = timeleft+" second(s)";
    },
    function() { // what to do after
        alert("Timer complete!");
    }
);

```
```js
// Javascript Countdown
// Version 1.01 6/7/07 (1/20/2000)
// by TDavid at http://www.tdscripts.com/
var now = new Date();
var theevent = new Date("Nov 13 2017 22:05:01");
var seconds = (theevent - now) / 1000;
var minutes = seconds / 60;
var hours = minutes / 60;
var days = hours / 24;
ID = window.setTimeout("update();", 1000);

function update() {
  now = new Date();
  seconds = (theevent - now) / 1000;
  seconds = Math.round(seconds);
  minutes = seconds / 60;
  minutes = Math.round(minutes);
  hours = minutes / 60;
  hours = Math.round(hours);
  days = hours / 24;
  days = Math.round(days);
  document.form1.days.value = days;
  document.form1.hours.value = hours;
  document.form1.minutes.value = minutes;
  document.form1.seconds.value = seconds;
  ID = window.setTimeout("update();", 1000);
}
```

```html
<p><font face="Arial" size="3">Countdown To January 31, 2000, at 12:00: </font>
</p>
<form name="form1">
  <p>Days
    <input type="text" name="days" value="0" size="3">Hours
    <input type="text" name="hours" value="0" size="4">Minutes
    <input type="text" name="minutes" value="0" size="7">Seconds
    <input type="text" name="seconds" value="0" size="7">
  </p>
</form>
```