2010/4/30 Sean P. DeNigris sean@clipperadams.com:
This part lost me. It sounds true, but what's the hurdle? My suggestion was: if we want a menu/search bar to ease the transition of new users into the Squeak way of doing things, why not provide them with an easily accessible hint (whether by the name of the bar, or a balloon, or whatever) as to what that way is, so that they can pursue it when and if they are interested.
A balloon could be a good idea but they haven't been updated to the current look. The concept may not sink it quickly: "Smalltalk expressions can be evaluated in the search bar." Most programmers have no notion of dynamic environment and they are used to write-compile-run cycles. The workspace seems to be a better place to get this concept understood. But, hey, a balloon is fine too.
We could also consider having some kind of "Tip of the Day" with various tips. It's not contextual as a balloon but it could bring something to newcomers.
This results only in the removal of a hurdle - the hurdle of knowing that there even is a better way out there, and where to look for information. Superficial adoption is what got us into the current MS/Apple mess - visitors to Xerox that noticed the UI look, without any of the revolutionary object-oriented open system.
This is a very interesting comment. It's not the first time superficial got someone into troubles. Isn't it? :))
Sean
Ian.