At 21:23 01-12-2004, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>I just figured I'd go get the latest Squeak 3.8 beta to keep up with
>the latest ideas and I am reminded once again how *scary* and daunting
>Squeak looks when first opening a new image.
>
>While I could rant about the initial window style and font choices, I
>know there is a desire to integrate Diego's L&F into the base image --
>that would be a good move IMO, but that is not what I want to discuss.

What is Diego's look and feel? Maybe I would like to use it

I've spend some time trying to figure out whether I could use Squeak for my 
Introductory IT course for biology-students, but what have scared me away 
from that is that Squeak is so completely "strange" to use for windows 
users. This plus the fact that everything can be changed or deleted would 
take focus away from the real issues in the course...

Here is a few ideas:
    * Create a windows look and feel. People are used to that...
    * Create a 2 mouse button look and feel: right button open menu left 
button selects items.
    * Let a designer choose colors and icons. We are not very good at that!
Sorry about these arguments. I'm pretty sure that this has been said before 
and a lot of people have argued that just because someone else has 95 % of 
the market doesn't mean that everyone should follow!

This whole discussion about what to tell people as they enter the world of 
squeak just screams into my ears saying: "Something is wrong" if everything 
works in a obvious way nothing needs to be described up front.

Regards

Morten Andersen


>So what I'd rather rant about is this little window that is in orange
>at the top of the screen that says "A Word of Caution..."  It seems
>extremely uninviting and raises the hair on my back until I remember
>this is just Squeak and not something dangerous or toxic that I've
>just downloaded.
>
>So I breath a sigh of relief and remember to just close the window and
>move along (also, the message inside the window is very uninviting and
>discourages folks from exploring this *overwhelming* system).
>
>Couldn't we do something instead that invites folks in for a stay for
>while?  How about replacing the window with the following window if it
>is still important to direct folks in educational realms to SqueakLand
>(or see screen shot attachment):
>------------
>| A note to students, parents, and teachers |
>------------
>If you are a student, parent, or teacher looking for well-documented
>and easy-to-use educational software, you may want to visit
>SqueakLand.org, where you can find some great educational projects
>built in Squeak, but delivered in an easier-to-use distribution of
>Squeak.
>
>If you are still eager to explore this base distribution of Squeak,
>there is lots of help available in the form of web-accessible
>tutorials and documentation and on-line via the Squeak mailing list
>from numerous knowledgeable users of Squeak. Access to the mailing
>list can be found at:
>http://squeak.org/documentation/index.html#mailing.
>------------
>
>Oh yeah, a light green color to the window seems better than the
>"cautionary orange neon danger color".  Anyways -- not to start a
>debate or ruffle any feathers, but I think a change like this would
>say the same thing as the former message and not cause any anxieties
>to newcomers (and oldcomers alike).
>
>Kind Regards,
>
>John
>
>--
>If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. --
>Albert Einstein


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