[sugar] shell refactoring doubts

Eben Eliason eben.eliason at gmail.com
Sun Mar 2 19:16:11 EST 2008


>
> - Are the activity buttons in the top frame also radio buttons as are
> the zoom levels?


That was our initial instinct, however after some thought we'd like to try
an alternate approach.  To remain consistent with a typical activity
switcher (and alt-tab), we'd like to try rearranging the activity icons such
that the active one is at the far left, adjacent to the "activity" zoom
icon.  With this approach, alt-tab can simply reveal the Frame and cycle
left to right through the activities. Ideally this shuffle would be an
extra-quick animation, so that the context switch is clear.

- In the frame slides, the palette item for switching to the journal
> is called "Show contents" but in the others it is "Open Journal".
> Would be good to settle before people start translating. Also, in the
> slides is used "About My XO" and we have been using "About this XO".


I think "Show contents" (Or something equally general like "Look inside") is
appropriate.  This will keep the terminology consistent with other storage
devices. I'm open to opinions on the correct verbiage.

- What's the date that appears in the activity list? The installation
> date, the date in which the bundle was made or acquired (copied,
> downloaded or created)?


Installation date (Which, am I correct in assuming, would be the same as the
date it was copied, downloaded, or created?)

- What should happen when the user requests from the activity list
> that an activity is launched?


I'll get back to you on the details.


> And from the activity ring?
>

I'll get back to you on that as well. The initial intent was to pulse the
icon beneath the XO during startup, which would be a good first approach.
 In talking with Christian and Marco last Friday, we had a few other ideas
that we need to flesh out regarding which icon (and in which zoom
levels/views) we should pulse.

- Do activity bundles appear in the journal or just in the activity list?


I see benefits to both.  This should be easy to adjust later, correct?  We'd
thought that

- Where are activities uninstalled?
>

Activities can be uninstalled from the list view of Home. (and or the
Journal, if we put them in both places...?)

- Where are activity bundles deleted?
>

Un-installation and deletion are synonymous.

- What happens with the animation between zoom levels when the active
> view in the home level is the activity list? Shold we just switch
> without animating the XO?


This is actually slightly more complicated than that, even.  Proposal:

Case 1: When zooming between 2 levels neither of which are in list view,
animate the XO as usual.

Case 2: When zooming between 2 levels both of which are in list view, do not
animate the XO at all.

Case 3: When zooming between 2 levels, one of which is in list view and one
of which isn't, animate the XO as usual, but add an alpha fade so that the
XO gradually disappears (or reappears) during the transition.

Note: This should include zooming into/out of an activity.  Ideally the XO
and the activity icon should zoom/fade in/out.

- I will need labels and icons for all the new buttons. Also many menu
> items have new icons.


Yup, I can get you these sometime tomorrow.  There are a couple of more
detailed specifications you'll need, too.  For instance, we're going to
color the battery icon as shown in the mockups when it is discharging.  When
it is charging, we're going to use a white icon instead, to represent that
it is "inactive".  When there is no battery in the machine at all, the icon
should go away entirely.

- Eben
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