[IAEP] www-testing.sugarlabs.org - BUGS

[Christian Marc Schmidt]

Thanks Josh, we'll fix these in the next build.


Christian


On 2/27/09 3:55 PM, ",Josh williams" <joshcwilliams at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> There are a few bugs I've noticed on the site. First one I feel is
> pretty big, but I'm a really big on usability, and it will likely only
> affect a small number of users.
> 
> Disabling Javascript causes the logo to disappear. This doesn't seem to
> be a problem when disabling images, but the default size for SugarLabs
> is fairly small. It should also be an H1 tag and not just a link.
> 
> The second bug is fairly minor and I've only tested it in Firefox and
> safari. If you visit the about page or any other page via the navigation
> menu, and then press the back button on the browser, the navigation pops
> back out to its original state. Like I said, not a big deal, but it's
> kind of annoying.
> 
> -Josh
> 
> Christian Marc Schmidt wrote:
>> Thank you, everyone, for your feedback on the test site. The goal
>> remains to get the site launched very soon‹we¹ll work on a revised
>> build will that will attempt to address the main concerns raised today.
>> 
>> Best,
>> 
>> 
>> Christian
>> 
>> 
>> On 2/27/09 2:55 PM, "Carol Farlow Lerche" <cafl at msbit.com> wrote:
>> 
>>     I second Michael's suggestion about a web design that echoes the
>>     Sugar design. Think how useful this would be if carried to school
>>     servers. And as a basis for web-served Sugar-like activities.
>> 
>>     I have to agree with the conclusion that the test design is
>>     off-putting. It is certainly not intelligible to children. One of
>>     the foundations of the Sugar interface is to make things iconic
>>     and simple and universal. The flood of words, most of them jargon,
>>     just doesn't work.
>> 
>>     On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:46 AM, Michael Stone
>>     <michael.r.stone at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>         On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:56:52AM -0500, Benjamin M. Schwartz
>>         wrote:
>>> David Farning wrote:
>>>> Sorry there was a typo in my last email the site is actually
>>>> http://www-testing.sugarlabs.org/
>>> 
>>> I forcefully object to everything about this website. It is ugly,
>>> off-putting, unnavigable, unreadable, buggy, empty of any helpful
>>> information, and in many other ways among the worst websites I
>>         could
>>> possibly imagine for this purpose. It is a very cool
>>         javascript tech
>>> demo, which is not at all useful here.
>>> 
>>> Meanwhile, the front page of the wiki is beautiful. It
>>         presents the
>>> visitor immediately with a statement explaining what Sugar is,
>>         and a bunch
>>> of clearly named links to learn more about Sugar and Sugar Labs.
>>> Scrolling down presents a wealth of introductory information
>>         about Sugar,
>>> presented in a logical fashion. It does all of this in a
>>> non-headache-inducing color scheme, using complete sentences.
>>         Clearly a
>>> lot of work has been put into this, and it shows.
>> 
>>         Christian,
>> 
>>         I wish I felt differently, but I agree with pretty much
>>         everything Ben said. In
>>         fact, I found myself so put off by the new design that I left
>>         the site after
>>         reading no more than two entries. I was particularly
>>         frustrated by the
>>         meaningless colors, the dark -> light background transition,
>>         the useless sound
>>         bytes, and the invisible one-word menu that overlaps other
>>         text when I scroll.
>> 
>>         In more detail, this is not the Sugar design that I enjoy --
>>         in Sugar:
>> 
>>         * Colors denote individual identity and contribution; they
>>         aren't uniform
>>         over a page and they aren't randomly regenerated on each visit.
>> 
>>         * Contrast is used carefully: I would never see a black menu
>>         with yellow text
>>         over a pure white background, nor a yellow menu with white
>>         text on a white
>>         background. (Both of which I observed.)
>> 
>>         * Text colors are never reversed for emphasis.
>> 
>>         * Views are scoped and zoomable, and information is usually
>>         arranged in
>>         visually pleasing layouts with gray-out filters or search; not
>>         organized
>>         hierarchically.
>> 
>>         (The exception is toolbars, which Eben redesigned in a fashion
>>         much more
>>         consistent with Sugar's design imperatives:
>> 
>>         http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Designs/Toolbars
>> 
>>         )
>> 
>>         (At any rate, contrast the hierarchy-free Neighborhood View
>>         and the Home
>>         View with semi-hierarchical Journal or the (deeply
>>         hierarchical) source
>>         code layout.)
>> 
>>         * For better and for worse, icons are used everywhere in place
>>         of short text.
>>         Short text is presented only on hover.
>> 
>>         Now, as an alternate suggestion: why not use the desire for a
>>         nicer website
>>         as an opportunity to test out our actual underlying UI design
>>         principles?
>> 
>>         For example, I'd love to see a Sugar front-page that used the
>>         Frame and its
>>         zoomable Views for navigation, perhaps organizing hierarchical
>>         content with
>>         Eben's Toolbar design.
>> 
>>         Regards,
>> 
>>         Michael
>> 
>>         P.S. - Just think of the educational opportunity that's
>>         slipping away by not
>>         dogfooding the existing design work. :)
>>         _______________________________________________
>>         IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>         IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>>         http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> 
>> Christian Marc Schmidt
>> 
>> schmidt at pentagram.com
>> 
>> Pentagram Design, Inc.
>> 204 Fifth Avenue
>> New York, NY 10010
>> 212/ 802 0248
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
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> 

-- 

Christian Marc Schmidt

schmidt at pentagram.com

Pentagram Design, Inc.
204 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
212/ 802 0248