[squeakland] List of EToys suggestions

Ted Kaehler Ted at vpri.org
Tue Aug 11 13:28:18 EDT 2009


  Session on what We want:

   For beginners, make it VERY difficult to bring the system to its knees.
   Way to tell if totally locked up.
   Using the Frame rate monitor -- if going too slow, warn or stop new 
objects from being dragged out.
   Repeated presses on a button, launches too many things -- prevent.
   Detect and stop recursion in scripts.
   Colors for script catagories!  Icons for them?
   Book of many pages with scripts running in each page.  Why do they 
Keep running?  Is that needed?
   Touch pad is bad.  Hard to grab things.  (use a mouse).
   Make Handles on halos even larger!
   Area around a small object where you can bring up a halo.  As if 
clicked on the object.
   Asking for gradual transition to text -- fade away the tiles.
   Not all tiles are equally relevant -- fade out some of them?  Hide 
some of them deeper?
   Dr. Scheme -- gradually reveals features through levels.  6 Levels.
   Click on a tile in a script, and show where that tile came from, 
and a help page for that tile.  (does hover work inside a running 
script?)
   Remember that can hover over a tile in viewer and see a description.
   Do Etoys with natural languge -- synonyms for tile names?
   Levels, but you have to pass a test to get to the next level.
   Halo Handles move when rotating -- use histeresis so they stay out 
a certain distance and does not move? After one rotation they stay in 
one place.
   Freeze the world and let me edit.
   Freeze the world and then unlimited undo.  time line/history.
   Make random composition of scripts easier, as in Scratch.  Snap 
together or not.  (What are the learning in Scratch?)
   Need predictability.  Did that sketch drop into a book page or not. 
Failing to Embed needs Feedback.
   Microworlds -- packages products that only show some thing, like 
Dr. Geo (or better example?).  Sandboxes.
   For any JPEG, an easy way to paint transparent on it -- remove the 
background by hand.
   Better interaction between objects -- blocks. Allow planned Natural 
selection of arrangement?  combinations.  Examples automatically 
generated.


Notes by Ted.
-- 
Ted Kaehler
http://tedkaehler.weather-dimensions.com/us/ted/index.html
(home) 3261 Montecito Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89120.  voice (702) 456-7930
"Fifteen years ago, who would have predicted that teenagers would be 
allowed to edit the world's primary reference source from their 
homes?"
-- Peter Eckersley, Electronic Frontier Foundation

"Thank you, Ward Cunningham"  --TK


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