[sugar] A Sugar TODO List, of Sorts

[Eben Eliason]

I want to preface this list by stating that it contains items I'd like
to accomplish for an update.2 (or 08.late ?) release.  About 70% of it
was created with my "realism" cap on, and the rest might stretch a
bit, depending on the resources we have available.  It ranges from
small bug fixes (I'm sure there are more of these) to important
redesign features to extending some APIs to a couple of "just for fun"
ideas that are obviously lower priority and a few others which aren't
necessarily solidified at present.  It also omits a few elements of
the core OS which may be taken on as GSoC projects, which would be
nice to have as well.  Nonetheless, I think it represents a fairly
comprehensive plan for "rounding out" the core Sugar UI as a whole, to
offer a much improved and largely holistic experience.

My hope is to mold this list a bit, tossing in crucial elements I
might have missed, identifying those that are entirely unrealistic,
and prioritizing the rest to give us an attack vector for what I hope
will be the first truly solid release of Sugar sometime within the
next 6 - 8 months or so.

Shell --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Notifications

  • Make notifications "slide into" or "out of" the Frame
  • Create notification API (delay, type (in|out|remain))
  • Reveal palette when clicking on notification, or reaching screen corner
  • Add "AlertBox" for use with palettes/notifications

  Clipboard

  • Use notification (instead of revealing Frame) when making a clipping
  • Create clipping API (title, creator, icon, preview)
  • Add clipping previews (related to above)
  • Color copy/paste buttons in activities
  • Fix visual style for drag'n'drop

  People

  • Use notifications for XOs in Frame, when joining/leaving the activity
  • Render XOs that have been invited or have temporarily left as
outlines in Frame
  • Expose buddy-active and buddy-inactive signals in PS, to enable above
  • Expose a status property for buddies in PS
  • Expose an avatar property for buddies in PS?
  • Implement status as secondary text in buddy palettes

  Activities/Places

  • Expose the activity name, activity preview in PS
  • Implement "share with" functionality (from Frame)
  • Make current activity icon clickable in Frame
  • Make activity zoom level button cycle active activities?

  Devices

  • Tweak "battery fully charged" behavior
  • Implement white vs. colored battery style
  • Add "speaker" device, with volume adjustment
  • Add "screen" device, with brightness, color/BW adjustment
  • Add device notifications (battery, storage, etc.)


  Neighborhood

  • Remove mesh portals from neighborhood
  • Add icons to palettes of APs, add channel as secondary text
  • Remove "..." from "Disconnect" option on APs
  • Identify the school server visually in the mesh
  • Attach "register" option to the school server icon
  • Gray badges along with icons when searching
  • Add list view, group people under activities
  • Add modal alert before destructive changes (eg. change channel)?

  Groups

  • Refactor visualization of Groups, according to designs
  • Provide basic support for creating groups, inviting people to groups
  • Add list view, group people under activities

  Home

  • Implement "start with" functionality
  • Add "recent" view of Home, or at least recent items in palettes
  • Implement basic launcher service for search field
  • Add grouping (by "identity thread") to activities list

  Activity

  • New activity launch behavior
  • Remove activity toolbar, add non-modal naming notification?
  • New toolbar design?

  Core

  • Fix startup sequence colors, etc.
  • Create a sane color picker
  • Improve object picker design, add search/filters
  • Add the control panel work

Journal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  • Use new visual style for list
  • Add palettes to activity icons
  • Implement inline renaming of entries
  • Add "anyone"" filter
  • Fix appearance of icons in "anything" filter
  • Implement "start with" functionality
  • Replace "resume" button with "details" button
  • Reconfigure detail layout
  • Add "no results" screen
  • Add "no entries" screen


PS. Please understand that this list comes from my perspective as a UI
designer, and represents only user-visible changes.  Additionally,
some of the elements herein could be classified as purely "visual",
though I would prefer to consider them instead "experiential".
Everything identified here aims to improve the overall user
experience.

- Eben