[Trac #379] Matchbox theme

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#379: Matchbox theme
--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  jg      |        Owner:  Eben    
     Type:  task    |       Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal  |    Milestone:  BTest-2 
Component:  sugar   |   Resolution:          
 Keywords:          |  
--------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
Changes (by Eben):

  * status:  new => assigned
  * type:  defect => task

Comment:

 This is tricky; at the moment, we are operating under the assumptions that
 the design won't require dialog boxes at all.  For the most part, this is
 a result of the fact that early on we decided that modal dialogues aren't
 the way to go, and when we are always in fullscreen mode, this means no
 dialogues at all.  I'm unsure at present, though, if we can actually
 achieve this ideal.

 There are many good alternatives to the traditional dialog box:

 An alternative to dialog boxes is the banner, such as that used in the
 upcoming version of Safari to alert the user about suspicious web sites.
 These provide the needed information, but don't obstruct the child's view
 of the activity and don't prevent them from doing other things until the
 click "ok."

 http://www.tuaw.com/2006/10/19/screenshots-from-the-latest-leopard-build/

 Firefox's approach to the same problem is also interesting, making use of
 a more traditional dialog box, but reinforcing it by making it contextual
 to the area of concern.  Our current rollover model (which reveals several
 levels of deeper information about any given icon or item on screen) could
 also support this kind of dialog.

 http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/features.html#secure

 Another rather nice alternative is discussed here, with a visual demo.  In
 this method, the dialogs don't require (or allow) user interaction, but
 instead just provide some feedback which remains onscreen for just a short
 time and doesn't require the child to dismiss it actively.

 http://www.humanized.com/weblog/2006/09/11/monolog_boxes_and_transparent_messages/

 We'll need another high level design session to decide on what manner of
 dialogues we use, if any, before we can come up with an actual visual
 design.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/379#comment:5>
One Laptop Per Child <http://laptop.org/>