[sugar] doubts about shell redesign

[Joshua Minor]

On Mar 12, 2008, at 9:55 AM, Eben Eliason wrote:
>
>> Have you considered using the Activity View button (F4) on the
>> keyboard to cycle between activities?  For example, if you are not on
>> an activity pressing it takes you to the current activity, but
>> pressing it again could jump to the next activity.  You wouldn't be
>> able to do the hold-alt trick you mentioned, but it would make that
>> button more useful.
>
> We did discus that option.  I think we tabled it because we wanted  
> the icon in the UI to function identically to the key on the  
> keyboard, and because we were skeptical about changing the purpose  
> of a button based on context.  I do agree that it makes sense on  
> some levels, though.  One major drawback, as you mention, is that  
> you can't as easily do the "hold trick" as you put it.  I suppose  
> there might be ways to get around that, for instance by allowing a  
> short delay between presses before the activity actually switches  
> and the Frame hides again.  We may want to revisit the option,  
> since alt-tab (apart from legacy compatibility) isn't necessarily  
> clear or discoverable.

Even without the hold-trick I think it would be useful.  My 4 year  
old would be happy if she could just repeatedly press that button  
until she gets the activity she wants :)

>
>> Also, does the Journal count as an activity when cycling with either
>> or both of these keys?  Right now it does, which feels unnatural  
>> to me.
>
> It does, and as long as the Journal is treated similarly with its  
> icon in the top edge of the Frame, I believe it needs to for  
> consistency.  Others have expressed their feeling that this is  
> unnatural, so I'm curious to know more about why that might be.  I  
> think that switching between an activity and the Journal may be a  
> useful function;  I frequently find myself alt-tabbing between the  
> Finder and my current application (OSX), and I find it quite useful.

I do the same on my Mac, but on the XO there is a dedicated button to  
go to the Journal.  To me the difference is that I often do work in  
the Finder, but not so much in the Journal, so it just feels like it  
is in the way when I cycle between activities.  I think this will be  
less of an issue when alt-tab cycles in most-recently-used order.

-josh