Edward,<br><br>Thank you for your feedback on SocialCalc. Appreciate it.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 8:17 AM, Edward Cherlin <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:echerlin@gmail.com">echerlin@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Thanks. I believe that you are right in your comments below, that the<br>
Open Document spec, manuals for other software, and your video will<br>
enable us to create an excellent manual at FLOSSManuals.net. Would you<br>
like to join us when we do the Book Sprint?<br>
<br></blockquote><div><br>Could you please let us know about the date of the Book Sprint. Would ask our team members to participate in it.<br><br><br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I am thinking about what we might add to the Help in SocialCalc,<br>
allowing for the tradeoff between space and completeness. Adding links<br>
to existing documentation will provide a sufficient backstop, but I<br>
think that there are several places where just a few words will make<br>
all the difference for beginning SocialCalc users, particularly for<br>
harried teachers. I don't want to make them learn too much themselves,<br>
or to have to tell children to rely too much on external resources.<br>
<br>
I'm sure that we can find a suitable balance on these questions.<br></blockquote><div><br><br>Yes. It would be great if we could arrive at a list where we get this feeling. <br><br><br></div><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
> (I think there is a reported issue that SocialCalc's IF<br>
> function only takes the 3 argument form, not the 2 argument form. It also<br>
> evaluated all arguments unlike many other IF functions.)<br>
><br>
> The toolbar buttons, including the two types of move and swap colors, as<br>
> well as the sheet settings, names, and more are explained in a video I<br>
> created. The 54 minute Flash video, created with Camtasia, goes over many of<br>
> the features of the main SocialCalc engine that the Sugar version of<br>
> SocialCalc is built upon. (For example, that version does not have the<br>
> Sugar-specific graphing tab.) You can view the video at:<br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.peapodcast.com/sgi/socialtext/sctraining1/" target="_blank">http://www.peapodcast.com/sgi/socialtext/sctraining1/</a><br>
<br>
</div>Perfect. I'll report on that soon.<br></blockquote><div><br><br>Thank you.<br><br> <br>Regards,<br><br>Manu<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="im"><br>
</div><div><div class="h5"><br>
> Edward Cherlin wrote:<br>
><br>
> I ran through all of the basic functions of SocialCalc, including<br>
> every icon on every tab. I have tested some but not all of the 109<br>
> functions provided, with good results so far. Although there are<br>
> functions I could wish for, the only real deficiency I have found is<br>
> in the documentation.<br>
><br>
> I have created a page for elements of Sugar that children are not<br>
> likely to discover on their own,<br>
> <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/The_undiscoverable" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/The_undiscoverable</a>. I recommend it to<br>
> developers who want to think about whether more of Sugar can be made<br>
> discoverable, or whether we need to write lesson plans for the<br>
> features that cannot be made obvious to the novice. I will put in a<br>
> section for SocialCalc. These are not bugs in the sense of incorrect<br>
> behavior or missing explanations, so I omit them here.<br>
><br>
> Here is a summary of the other issues I have encountered.<br>
><br>
> o The database functions are severely underdocumented. What database?<br>
> What are databaserange, fieldname, criteriarange?<br>
><br>
> o Where does Paste Formats get its formats from?<br>
><br>
> o What does Swap Colors do?<br>
><br>
> o The financial and statistical function definitions in the Help might<br>
> be clear to one who uses other spreadsheets a lot, but certainly are<br>
> not to a beginner.<br>
><br>
> o More explanation is needed on angles in degrees and radians.<br>
><br>
> o I understand Move From and Move Paste, but not Move Insert.<br>
><br>
> o I see how to set names, but not what to use them for or how.<br>
><br>
> o I don't see the Sheet setting control on the Format tab that the<br>
> Help refers to.<br>
><br>
> o I found the OK and Sort... buttons on the Sort tab confusing. It has<br>
> since become clear to me. Perhaps OK should be renamed Set Range.<br>
><br>
> Not bad for a beta.<br>
><br>
> On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 12:16 PM, Manusheel Gupta<<a href="mailto:manu@laptop.org">manu@laptop.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
><br>
> Dear community members,<br>
><br>
> We are preparing for the next release of SocialCalc on Sugar. Localization<br>
> infrastructure, canonicalization of the save format and collaboration will<br>
> be the key features available in the next release. We are also looking<br>
> forward to develop interoperability between SocialCalc format and a number<br>
> of other spreadsheet formats like .wk3/.wk4/csv/excel/open office<br>
> spreadsheet. We have recently received a number of requests on developing<br>
> interoperability between SocialCalc and .wk3/.wk4 format, which has been a<br>
> challenging problem to work on. Hope to get this feature ready before the<br>
> next release.<br>
><br>
> Lately, I have been testing SocialCalc on the Sugar Live CD, and have run<br>
> into issues. I can't seem to get SocialCalc to start. I fired up the Sugar<br>
> LiveCD, and opened up the USB icon in my journal. I can see the file<br>
> SocialCalc.xo on my USB stick. When I click on it, I get a start button,<br>
> but then nothing happens. Below is a gears image, which starts something<br>
> that looks like a developer interface. Not sure, where I have been going<br>
> wrong. Any help on this issue is highly appreciated.<br>
><br>
> Please visit the SocialCalc on Sugar page at<br>
> <a href="http://seeta.in/j/products-and-services/socialcalc-on-sugar.html" target="_blank">http://seeta.in/j/products-and-services/socialcalc-on-sugar.html</a>. The<br>
> activity is available for download both from the SEETA website<br>
> (<a href="http://seeta.in" target="_blank">http://seeta.in</a>) and from <a href="http://activities.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">activities.sugarlabs.org</a>. If you have any<br>
> questions, or would like to add suggestions/comments/feature requests,<br>
> please do so here.<br>
><br>
> Thank you for your continued support.<br>
><br>
> Regards,<br>
><br>
> Manu<br>
><br>
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<br>
</div></div><div><div></div><div class="h5">--<br>
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin<br>
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.<br>
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.<br>
<a href="http://earthtreasury.org/" target="_blank">http://earthtreasury.org/</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br>