[sugar] Mini-Conference Proposal: Toolbars & Tabs

[Greg Smith (gregmsmi)]

Hi All,

I can't make the mini-conference, but I do want to make one comment on
this subject.

Thousands of hours of teacher training have already gone in to the
current XO deployments. Any dramatic change to the look and feel of the
GUI will largely negate that. Its already very costly to make a big
change to look and feel. Of course, as time goes by more teachers get
trained and its even more costly.

My suggestion is to only make a major change once. Make it fully
backward compatible or optional if possible. Check with the deployments
before you do it and make sure they agree its needed and worth the
re-training effort.

If a couple of hundred classes are just getting comfortable with the XO,
a change may make them they feel totally lost. That will negatively
affect user satisfaction, even if the new design has a lot of benefits.

I understand the need to make it easier to include new applications and
to expand the developer base. Maybe now is the time to do that. Just
make sure its not a surprise to existing users. Also make sure they are
bought in, understand the benefit and are ready to make the move. Do
that before you commit any real work to the new look and feel.

Having a great kid and teacher friendly GUI has enormous value. Get that
right and the whole project will be more successful. That challenge is
that once you pick a strategy its very hard to change. So spend extra
time up front ensuring it's a winner the first time you roll it out.

HTHs. I look forward to notes from the conference.

Thanks,

Greg S