etoys-dev April 2007

etoys-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org

15 participants
18 discussions

[Etoys] A few notes on eToys interface - playing with latest eToys in olpc
by Milan Zimmermann 02 May '07

02 May '07

HI, After a while, I have played with the latest OLPC eToys, and I'd like to share a few notes. I was running it on "regular" Linux distro . 1) A few notes about eToys experience: - I really like the eToys new look, cleanup and changes. - It seems that some menus have been simplified, which is great. - The intro with 5 clouds and runing car is nice and fun! (Actually it would be fun if all menus were turned into clouds :) ) - one note here, it seems the "Load a Project" text is _not embedded_ in it's cloud. - I think the largest potential issue is ease of eToys navigation for someone who is running the system for the first time. I am thinking how to modify the UI, without significant changes, to help a new user to not "get lost" (for example by following a few projects from the cloud menu). I think people's sense "not getting lost" is greatly satisfied when there is a way to know "how to go back" - either one step back, or all the way to the beginning. I realize this is where the "Navigator->Prev" is used, but it is not very obvious for a first time user, mostly because it's contents (the Prev button) is "hidden". I am thinking if the following would help: - By default, always show the "Navigator" toolbar contents "expanded", so user can see the "New/Prev". This way it would be more obvious how to go back. It seems to me this would be a nice usability help for a small price - Rename "Prev" to "Previous" or "Back". Add a more explicit popup, instead of "Previous Project", maybe "This button will take you back to the previous project" - Add a "Home" button, to "Navigator". The "Home" button would take user all the way to the clouds menu. - The demo is "modifiable" which is nice for playing, but at the same time it would be good if there was a way to revert it back to the initial state. The book now has this option which I love. - A bigger change, and probably overkill, would be at the time of entry to any project, a popup would show for 5 second, something like "Use the red Navigator button on the bottom-left to go back where you came from". This would, at all times, give a small hint as to how to navigate. - In general, the popup help on various items could be more wordy. One example, on "Supplies", instead of "A Source for many basic types of Objects" popup, could be "Click here to find useful objects. You can drag out objects to the area above and start using them". I do not mean this one thing is a problem, but in general I find it helpful if popup help is a bit more wordy, not sure this is the best for all ages though... 2) Next, about how to help more users to try OLPC eToys. I am running on "regular" Linux distro (non-olpc, Suse 10.2), by installing yum and then following steps on this page: http://etoys.laptop.org/. Perhaps a note could be added to http://etoys.laptop.org/, to explain that the steps described there will allow running OLPC eToys on any (reasonably recent) Linux system. (It was not clear to me, and I hesitated to install the RPMs). Also, I am thinking it would help teachers and interested people to try OLPC version of eToys, if we add a few links on how to run OLPC eToys on Windows, and Mac, maybe just a link to the Windows OLPC emulation page. Sorry this is longer than I wanted, I really love the changes and cleanup, great work, Milan

10 27

[Etoys] A few issues and suggestions regarding the etoys image
by Karl 02 May '07

02 May '07

I noticed that the halomenu for BookMorph still offers sendPagesToServer. There is no easy way to get a text widget with a scrollbar. There is inconsistency and unneeded complexity to the ways morphs are picked up. -Some places you have to click and drag to get a morph (Objects tool, Supplies flap) -Some places you get the morph on mouseDown (desktop, tiles in the viewer) -Some places you get a morph on mouseUp (TestTileButton in ScriptEditorMorph, desktop, some tiles in the viewer) Also sometimes the the hand morph is positioned to the top left corner of the script tile morph, sometimes not. Karl

3 2

[Etoys] Text characters in viewers
by Karl 02 May '07

02 May '07

I counted 40 characters in the viewer when viewing text. Could that be limited to say 10 or 15 characters for efficiency ? Karl

2 1

[Etoys] [BUG] Walkback on duplicating object embedded in flexed object
by Bert Freudenberg 02 May '07

02 May '07

To reproduce, embed an object and rotate its parent. Then duplicate the embedded one. - Bert -

2 1

[Etoys] Sugar Nav bar problems
by Bert Freudenberg 24 Apr '07

24 Apr '07

Hi everyone, Just built a new RPM, image version 1276. This includes the new nav bar in Sugar look, Scott's blueprint canvas, and the implicit self tiles. The ZIP file is available as usual from http://etoys.laptop.org/ but I have not published the RPM yet (it's on tinlizzie though). The problem is that as soon as the sugar nav bar is enabled, there is a pause every second. The tiny car moves some steps, then stops, moves, stops. This is only visible on the XO, my desktop is too fast. Disabling the flap cures this. MessageTally indicates that undoButtonAppearance is the culprit. It rebuilds the undo icon every second, which apparently is not a cheap operation. Maybe using an 8-bit bitmap with a colormap would be more efficient? To get really fancy we'd even need to support two colors plus alpha, because the original icons have a fill color, stroke color, and transparency info. Also, on the XO the navbar looks tiny, I think each button must be 75x75 px. - Bert -

2 2

[Etoys] [Bug] OggSound walkback
by Bert Freudenberg 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

Open a SoundRecorder, make sure codec is set to Speex, record something, click the "morph" button to get an event morph (we should rename the button, btw), and delete the morph. You'll (sometimes?) get a walkback - the SoundEventMorph tries to recompress the sound with a GSMCodec in #releaseCachedState which fails. We should not recompress the sound in #releaseCachedState if it is already compressed, IMHO. But in general, recompressing should work, so that's still a bug. - Bert -

2 1

Re: [Etoys] problems with event recorder and event theater
by Scott Wallace 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

Thanks, Phil, Yes, the "file dialogs" are problematical for the Event Theatre, which transforms coordinates for playback so that they bear the same positions relative to the top-left corner of the playback theatre as they had borne to the top-left corner of the originating recording theatre; this works well for almost everything, but for the "standard- file dialogs" it falls apart because such dialogs are positioned relative to the screen-center rather than relative to the theatre- location. So mouse clicks made within a file-dialog upon recording will tend to play back as clicks somewhere else on the screen, with potentially bizarre consequences. This is potentially a hard problem. Until it gets resolved, I think it's probably best not to include any use of the file-dialogs in your event recordings. Thank you for alerting us to this issue! Sorry not to have an immediate solution up our sleeves. Cheers, -- Scott Begin forwarded message: > From: Phil Dawson <phil_dawson_2000(a)yahoo.com> > Date: April 19, 2007 5:27:58 AM PDT > To: Scott Wallace <scott.wallace(a)squeakland.org> > Subject: Re: [Etoys] problems with event recorder and event theater > > Yes, the problem happens every time I use find any > file. The reason I ran into this is because I was > trying to make a recording of this tutorial > > http://wiki.laptop.org/go/BookMorph_Tutorial > > --- Scott Wallace <scott.wallace(a)squeakland.org> > wrote: > >> Thank you, Phil! >> >> Could it be true that *every* time you've >> encountered this kind of >> problem, it's involved use of a "file dialog" (find, >> find-any-file, >> or publish-it) within an event-recording? >> >> Cheers, >> >> -- Scott >> >> On Apr 18, 2007, at 6:41 PM, Phil Dawson wrote: >> >>> Hi Scott, >>> I am running etoys-dev-2.0-1217 on open suse 10.2 >>> I am trying to record the process of importing a >>> photo. The recording process seems to mess up >> when I >>> go to find any file and select the file name of >> the >>> picture. Every thing done after that is ether not >>> recorded correctly or it just does not playback >>> correctly. I just tried it today with the latest >>> patches and I am havening the same problem. I >> have >>> attached a .pr for you to look at. >>> >>> Thanks >>> Phil Dawson >>> --- Scott Wallace <scott.wallace(a)squeakland.org> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi, Phil, >>>> >>>> I've not seen this problem, and so far no one >> else >>>> has reported it, >>>> so it has been hard to investigate it further. >>>> >>>> So -- assuming you're still encountering it -- >>>> please help us track >>>> this problem down... >>>> >>>> * What *platform* are you operating on? (Actual >> XO >>>> machine?) >>>> >>>> * Please describe, as precisely as possible, a >> short >>>> sequence you've >>>> recorded whose playback exhibits the problem. >>>> >>>> * If possible, please enclose a ".pr" file that >>>> illustrates the problem. >>>> >>>> >>>> Getting "off registry" has always been a big >>>> potential problem with >>>> the Event Recorder. Since an event-recorder >> "tape" >>>> consists >>>> primarily of nothing more than time-stamped mouse >>>> events, with >>>> absolute x-y coordinates, as soon as there is any >>>> disparity between >>>> locations of any objects at the time of the >>>> recording and at the time >>>> of playback, there's the potential for >> malfunction. >>>> The motivation >>>> for the "Event Theatre" (as opposed to the bare >>>> EventRecorder) was >>>> specifically to minimize such problems by >> assuring >>>> that recording and >>>> playback take place in circumstances that are >> made >>>> to be compatible. >>>> >>>> >>>> If there's really a bug here, we need to catch >> it. >>>> So hopefully you, >>>> or perhaps some other readers of this list, can >> help >>>> us isolate it. >>>> >>>> >>>> Sorry nobody got back to you sooner on this. >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> >>>> -- Scott >>>> >>>> >>>> On Apr 8, 2007, at 4:58 PM, Phil Dawson wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hello Everyone, >>>>> While trying to make some "How to" projects >> using >>>> the >>>>> event recorder or the event theater I run into >> the >>>>> same problem. While the record function seams >> to >>>> be >>>>> working when I play back the recording it will >>>> start >>>>> off fine and then start showing commands that I >>>> did >>>>> not select and eventually everything it shows is >>>>> wrong. I am useing etoys-dev-2.0-1217 with the >>>> latest >>>>> updates. I am not sure but I thought the >>>> recording >>>>> functions were working before the large cursor >>>> update >>>>> was added. >>>>> >>>>> Phil Dawson

1 0

[Etoys] problems with event recorder and event theater
by Phil Dawson 19 Apr '07

19 Apr '07

Hello Everyone, While trying to make some "How to" projects using the event recorder or the event theater I run into the same problem. While the record function seams to be working when I play back the recording it will start off fine and then start showing commands that I did not select and eventually everything it shows is wrong. I am useing etoys-dev-2.0-1217 with the latest updates. I am not sure but I thought the recording functions were working before the large cursor update was added. Phil Dawson

2 1

[Etoys] Clipboard between eToys and Sugar
by Takashi Yamamiya 17 Apr '07

17 Apr '07

Hi, I have been playing with the source code of Sugar last week. So I'm ready to go further. To break a barrier between eToys and another activities, I think it is necessary to make eToys' clipboard work with Sugar clipboard properly. http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experi… Currently, only you can copy a string from eToys to others, but apparently that's too inconvenience. So my plan is: 1) Simple string Copy a string between eToys and another activity both way. 2) Graphics image Copy an image between eToys and another activity both way. 3) Morph Copy a morph to another instance of etoy's image through the clipboard or export as a graphics to another activity. 4) Formatted text I think it is harder part than others. Using RTF??? 5) Drag and drop I guess most of them can be done just by using X11's clipboard. But if I realize to need dbus, I'll wait for Michael's dbus implementation. And more challenge would be UI issue. For example, we don't have an easy way to copy neither a simple text or a morph. But I could implement internal code without waiting the discussion. Cheers, - Takashi

2 5

[Etoys] Toolbar / Navigator flap
by Bert Freudenberg 15 Apr '07

15 Apr '07

Just noticed Eben put up some designs for the Write activity: <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Write> It uses a tabbed toolbar, so if we need many items we could adopt this (not that I think we would). Here is the toolbar design separated: <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/ The_Sugar_Interface/Toolbars> Also, he published the style guides for widgets (color pickers, text input, sliders etc): <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Human_Interface_Guidelines/ The_Sugar_Interface/Controls> - Bert -

2 4

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

etoys-dev April 2007