[Sugar-devel] Memorize create icon

[Gary C Martin]

Hi Simon,

Bringing on list so folks can argue with me on this :-)

On 3 Sep 2009, at 16:07, Simon Schampijer wrote:

> On 09/03/2009 03:55 PM, Gary C Martin wrote:
>> Hi Simon,
>>
>> OK here's a possible create icon for Memorize. The idea being the  
>> "Play"
>> tab tools all become first class, and all the create tools go under  
>> this
>> icon in a secondary toolbar:
>>
>> Regards,
>> --Gary
>>
>> P.S. Memorize icons are all quite large, but if you need to shrink  
>> this,
>> look inside the .xml for the scale transform. Hard for me to be sure
>> until it's all in together place ;-)
>
> Ok, I like the image itself. Where I see a big difference is the  
> following: In the old design, one had to save a game in the edit  
> tab, switch to the play tab and load the game there. Which, I see it  
> in my class is quite hard to explain. If possible I would like to  
> review the whole edit-play interaction. Maybe you have a good idea  
> how to handle all that workflow nicely? I will think about it, too.

Aaaaaaaagh! It just dawned on me why we're having such a problem.  
Memorize breaks two cardinal sins, I knew there was something wrong  
with the Memorize UI but had never explicitly thought it through as to  
why it was a pain. The sins are:

1) Clicking "Create" tab does not just change the toolbar... it  
switches the canvas content! (booo, hissss)

2) Bad old days of Save and Load application style abuse, making no  
use of Journal state saving (no write_file() method being used)!

So..... OK, here's some rough thoughts on sorting it out for the new  
toolbar design. Sorry it's no a simple/quick fix, and I think it may  
be rather controversial:

1) Clicking the (new) "Create" primary toolbar button should NOT  
change the canvas content. It should just reveal the secondary create  
toolbar.

2) Clicking the "Create --> New game" button should switch to the  
create editing canvas (with a blank question/pair list, the current  
game is now blank).

3) A new button "Create --> Edit game" should allow you to edit the  
current active game, clicking it would show the create canvas with the  
current questions/pairs. It could just use the pen toolbar icon.

4) The "Play --> Load game" button can be removed [users should be  
resuming Memorize game content from the Journal].

5) The "Create --> Load game" should be renamed "Import game" [this  
allows importing game content from a Memorize Journal entry so you can  
modify it in a new Memorize entry, allows you to modify/extend  
existing games while still keeping the original un-changed].

6) The "Create --> Save game" should be removed.

7) The "Create --> Game name:" text input can also be removed [the  
Memorize Activity title should now be being used]

6) The "Play --> Restart Game" should just be called "Start Game" and  
it should switch the canvas to game mode (if not already).

8) The "Play --> 4x4 / 5x5 / 6x6" should switch the canvas to game  
mode (if not already), and start the game.

9) The "Play --> Load demo games" should be renamed "Play demo games",  
switch the canvas to game mode (if not already), and start the game.

10) Stopping the Activity should use write_file() method to store any  
current question/pair list state to its Journal entry [this replaces  
the current need to save separate game objects].

Regards,
--Gary