[sugar] doubts about shell redesign

[Eben Eliason]

On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 1:06 PM, Joshua Minor <j at lux.vu> wrote:

>
> 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 :)
>

Fair enough.  I'm willing to repurpose this key, myself, if others on the
team agree.  There doesn't seem to be much of a disadvantage to it.


>
> >
> >> 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.
>

It might also be less frustrating when the activity isn't switched to
immediately, but only when you've "committed" to it.  That way, there's no
time wasted painting in the UI for an activity you don't want.

- Eben
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/sugar/attachments/20080312/ab9971a6/attachment.htm