[double RE] : etoy space invader &

G.J.Tielemans at dinkel.utwente.nl G.J.Tielemans at dinkel.utwente.nl
Mon Nov 5 22:43:36 UTC 2001


On the same day two emails arrived which I see as two levels of tutorials:

First Space invaders:
Compliments Karl for the elegant way you constructed your guided tour in
Squeakland style. 
- I was wondering what the easiest way is to fill the GeeMailMorph during
construction of such a  tutorial: how to make a screenshot, how to make the
red marks. You could make a tutorial about that, blending some of the
comments you already got from others.

- I think using BookMorph is for cases like having different "engine states"
of the same object on different pages, like in the active essay from Mitchel
Resnick in the "Lifelong Kindergarten" at MIT about... Game of life
http://el.www.media.mit.edu/groups/el/projects/emergence/ (yes it is in java
not in Squeak, but as example..)
      
- I disagree with others that the background of grabbed areas should be
transparent: now you see better the screenshot with cues about the context.
(I only wished the shots would be more in line. (is there a grid-tric?))
- I also copied your drafts with the halo options, works faster then drawing
it myself with my skills: help the user to choose... Therefor: at what level
of users are you aiming. For starters you should explain halo but also
painttool for the other choice a little.

- You solved also my question how to put a tutorial next to a playground on
one page of a swiki: You just don't, you put them inside one squeak window.
I now can even put in my annotations as student when I made a local copy of
this project. I cannot check or I can also write in  a tutorial window at
Squeakland also, I thought I could not... (I am wondering if Squeakland is
build the same way, but at home I have the newer versions of Netscape, Opera
and IE, so I cannot use the Squeakland-plugin from home)

The second one is StarSqueak GameOfLife from Helge:
- lots of work, organised in a view, compliments...
- I like your start with the textual explanation Welcome to...
- People who visit this level of tutorial know how to start stand alone
Squeak (instead of the plug-in) and how to file-in a project from Bob's
Superswiki, so they end-up with a canvas filled with help files and viewers.

- Yes i think that on this level you can fill the canvas with tools browsers
etc, opened in the views that help to understand your current design.... Can
someone comment on this /create guidelines for this type of tutorial on this
level?

For example: Explorer looks as a fine tool on this level. (Going back to
Mark's book I found a reference on page 49, but did not understand the
meaning when I saw it the first time,)


..........

Your welcome to... made me thinking again about documentation as a way to
disclose the richness of swiki libraries to newbies: I opened the Package
browser, looking for other welcome pages: I found only the very nice one for
Genie: aGenieIntroduction, with a compact expalantion of this pacakage and
how to use it....

Is it an idea to ask the people who coordinate these packages (do the
harvesters know who they are?) to write aXxxxxIntroduction for their
package? (and update it when a package grows?)


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karl Ramberg [mailto:karl.ramberg at chello.se]
> Sent: zaterdag 3 november 2001 20:36
> To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> Subject: Re: etoy space invader tutorial (alpha)
> 
> 
> John Hinsley wrote:
> > 
> > Karl Ramberg wrote:
> > >
> > > I'v written up a tutorial with some of the knowledge I
> > > have accumulated about etoy scripting. It's not completed
> > > but it would be good to get some feedback at this stage...
> > > I'm not used to write tutorials and find it hard to get from
> > > the click-on-that-button-and-do-this stage to acutally teach.
> > 
> > A brave move, Karl (tutorials are so difficult and time consuming to
> > write)!
> > 
> > Just two initial thoughts: I've just taken a look and have 
> yet to really
> > get down to it.
> > 
> > My first reaction was to put the GeeMail in a window (just 
> to make it
> > easier to roll up -- I guess that most people will try to make the
> > project within the tutorial project).
> That's a good idea, I'll put it in a window
> > 
> > My second was that some of the images are very unclear (I 
> may be missing
> > something here, but making them bigger and smaller doesn't 
> help with the
> > clarity.)
> I'm not quite sure what you mean here... All the images are 
> just screen shots
> dragged and dropped on the geemail, no scaling but some red 
> marker circles 
> 
> > It's interesting that you used GeeMail as a way to present 
> it where I'd
> > probably have used a book morph or maybe -- boring old 
> traditionalist
> > that I am -- html within Scamper.
> I have used the geemail before on occasions and liked it. 
> There is hardly any formatting issues, just type, a new line
> where images should be, press return till the cursor appears again
> and type on. Just one long scrolling page. 
> A bookmorph is probably better for a prewritten text as you 
> know where to put page breaks etc. 
> I'm no fan of html, too much trouble with external images. I like 
> the speed of just dropping the screen shoot where I want it, cmd-click
> to bring up the halo, paint with a red marker, keep the changes and 
> just continue typing. It's really good for fast speed and workflow
> when dealing with multiple screen shots to work this way so 
> one does not loose the impetus during not so much fun 
> explaining :-)
>  
> 
> > I'll go and have a nap and then see if I can follow the 
> tutorial, but at
> > a glance, the instructions seem fine. I'm sure I'll learn 
> something from
> > it!
> 
> Hope you have a good time. 
> 
> Note to my self:
> A little better explanation of the project at the start would
> probably be a good thing to add, so the reader know which 
> issues will come up and see where it's going. Maybe even a
> index:-)
> 
> Thanks for your comments
> Karl
> 
> 




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