[sugar] Pippy VS Develop

[Jameson "Chema" Quinn]

Here is my thinking on view source.

Possible use cases:
1. within same activity: "get properties" in an svg editor, "view model" in
OpenSim, "go to definition" within develop itself. To be really useful, the
UI for these should be as streamlined as possible.

2. Separate activities: "view html" in Browse-->Write (in text-only mode,
preferably); "view raw svg" in svg editor --> Write; "edit activity bundle"
--> Develop or Pippy, depending on activity (should be global default for
Python-based activities)

Note that, due to bitfrost/security constraints, option 2 means at least one
step through a trusted UI (although lack of xorg security makes this a
little bit silly). The obvious such step, and the one currently implemented,
is to bring up an item in the journals detail view, ready for launching in
its appropriate activity. This is a good first approximation, but it is not
ideal in a couple of ways: it means that any user choice between use-cases
must go in a separate step; it currently lacks an obvious "oops, go back"
option (without using the frame, which requires a more-advanced
understanding); and it pollutes the journal with another item which could
have been avoided if the user chooses not to view it or even perhaps if the
user views it without editing it (Develop, for instance, has the ability to
view an installed activity in-place without a bundle in the journal; the
first edit causes it to make a backup copy in the journal, and all saves are
to the journal of course).

Looking at the use cases, one tempting way to streamline the UI is to use
modifier keys. Shift-view source would always point to Develop, while
unmodified view source would default to Develop but be overrideable by a
given activity (for all other use cases). (extra credit if there is some
transient UI when you use an overrided view-source to remind you about
shift-view-source.) There would be no built-in possibility to choose between
more than two use cases for a given activity, though an activity could
custom-code something if necessary.

In that case, the only important, nontrivial thing missing is a special
details view in journal that includes a back button, which would just switch
to the most recent nonjournal activity.

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 8:40 AM, Eben Eliason <eben.eliason at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 9:35 AM, Chris Ball <cjb at laptop.org> wrote:
> > to solve.  I don't view the two activities as competitive:
> >
> >   * Pippy:    Introductory Python tutor
> >   * Develop:  Activity creation IDE
>
> Agreed.  I think they serve different audiences/purposes.  The only
> reason this could become confused is because Pippy grew the ability to
> export activity bundles, albeit somewhat limited ones.
>
> Regarding view source, I don't think anyone has nailed down the proper
> implementation yet. However, I certainly feel that the "lowest level"
> of the view source key ultimately should be to open the appropriate
> activity bundle within Develop.  I'm hoping for something like a modal
> alert which the activity can use some API to cater to its needs, and
> which provides a way for the user to view/edit relevant code in other
> activities (via some URI handling system which Rainbow could provide
> for opening content).  Opening the bundle in develop would /always/ be
> an option, but it might be possible to open the HTML/CSS/JS for a
> webpage in a mini-dreamweaver, or even in Write for that matter.
>
> - Eben
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