I'm not sure there is a strict rule on this. I generally do this: 1)my opponent moves and presses his clock and I write down his move and think. 2)After a few minutes of fruitless thought, I make my move, press the clock and write down my move.
I used to write down my move, make it, an hit the clock, but I was told it was a violation of FIDE rules to write down your move before moving. This seems like an extremely stupid rule.
I guess it doesn't really matter as long as both players do the same thing
Yes there are a few common game time lengths.You also need to know and understand that one can have a time control with or without bonus increments added for each move. An increment is a certain no of seconds added to each move, to give you more thinking time, and also to give you time to write game moves on your score sheet. Bonus increments can be added as a delay at the beginning of a move or as an actual no of seconds at the end of your move. So if the increment loaded is 30 seconds when you tap your clock button it adds those 30 seconds to the time you have left...and it does that for every move. This type of bonus time, where the full bonus time is given at the end of the move is called a fischer time increment. If you want a short game you can play a 15 min game with no increments added to each move or a 15|10 game, where 10 seconds is added to each move you make. You could also play a more sedate simple 30 min game. Statistics has shown by the way that the average game lasts 40 moves. So you can easily play a game in 30 minutes comfortably. If you want to really speed things up and go wild then there are bullet games that last 1 to 3 min in length. But you had better know your stuff when playing such fast controls!!!
If you want to mimic a championship game then you could play a staged game format as laid down by FIDE. The official tournament time control is stage 1: 40 moves in 90 minutes, and when that is up you move into stage 2 of the game: 30 min to finish the game. From move 1 a bonus increment of 30 seconds is added to each move. So a championship game is a long game usually!! If you don't have a chess clock yet did you know that chess.com has developed a really great chess clock app? Just search for it on the Android Play Store or in the Apple Apps store. You can configure the clock to whatever time controls you want! The app has two big orange rectangle buttons on the screen - one for white and one for black. At the beginning of the game the time for each side is visible in big numbers in these 2 rectangle buttons. To start the game Black taps his clock rectangle which starts white's clock running down. When white has finished his/her move white taps his/her clock rectangle, which stops white's clock and starts black's clock running down. As simple as that.
I see you are all talking about when you can write down your move on the score sheet. FIDE states that a move includes the pressing of the clock button. You are not allowed to first write down your move and then make it. So....make your move....press the clock....write down the move you made. Watch your opponent. When they have made their move and pressed their clock button write their move in the score sheet and begin thinking now on your move. Repeat.
Man, FIDE has some really stupid, arbitrary moves
Well I guess they had to create order and lay down these rules... otherwise each competition round the world would be different!! Here's an interesting fact for you. Did you know that you can lose your game if you refuse to shake hands with your opponent at the start of a match? Yup. And it's happened too!! Chess.com wrote quite a funny article on the weirdest and funniest ways to lose a game...and that was one of them.
"It's as simple as that!" Seems as though managing the time is more difficult that selecting a move. Thanks for the heads up on the timing app.
@BigGiantBrain once you have the clock app in front of you go through the various settings and it will become far clearer when you have the clock app to experiment with and see how it all works. If one is new to this it does sound difficult to set up....but it actually isn't. Create some different time controls....some with and some without bonus increments...and then start the clock to see how it operates. I guarantee you will then understand it all perfectly.
Yes sir, will do. Loved the article on how to lose 
Why yes, thats the rule for OTB chess.
On chess.com of course you dont have to handle a physical clock.
I believe that in OTB chess, Black gets the choice of which side of the board the clock goes. I know that in blitz (again I mean OTB) you are supposed to hit the clock with the same hand you moved the piece with, but I don't know if there is a similar rule for classical time controls
Why yes, you have to make the move FIRST before pressing the clock.
That wouldnt work if you could use one hand to make the move and the other to press the clock.
Thats why you have to use the same hand for both.
Just because its a slow time control doesnt mean that people dont get in time trouble.
Linking the themes of chess clocks and move recording, on whose time do I record my move? Do I make a move, hit my clock, and then record a move, or do I record my own moves in my own time?