#3963 NORM Never A: Record activity could use the same outer box as Measure

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#3963: Record activity could use the same outer box as Measure
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 Reporter:  HoboPrimate       |       Owner:  Eben          
     Type:  enhancement       |      Status:  new           
 Priority:  normal            |   Milestone:  Never Assigned
Component:  interface-design  |     Version:                
 Keywords:                    |    Verified:  0             
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 The thing that started my thoughts on this, was seeing that while a Record
 activity object is different than a Picture object, both share the same
 icon, making them hard to tell appart in the Journal, both visually and
 functionally.

 The measure icon uses a rounded square inspired from the rounded screens
 that old oscilloscopes had, Eben told me.

 But I figure that this outer shape could well be re-used and be given a
 general meaning. That of something which is being recorded, in a general
 sense, by one of the inputs available on the XO laptop (the audio port,
 camera, microphone, etc.).

 Why I find this shape so fitting to this purpose? It looks like something
 is being watched, through a special viewer, and when combined with an
 inner icon representation, like an eye to represent watching or something
 to be looked at, or a signal like Measure, the connection clicks for me.
 Making both Record and Measure use that shape would more firmly make this
 connection.

 I also think that future activities may have built-in recording in some
 fashion (even if it isn't recommended in the guidelines to so so. For
 example, colingoXO may use such a feature.

 P.S.- Of course, if this was adopted, the inner signal that Measure uses
 should be rethought a bit, to better represent what it records, and
 because it could clash with some future icon representing a System
 Monitor, which nowadays is usually represented by a (simplified) "hospital
 heart signal screen". ( Then again, maybe this connection should go away!
 Who knows if in the not too distant future the XO will have an activity
 exactly for that?)

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Ticket URL: <https://dev.laptop.org/ticket/3963>
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