[Sugar-devel] [DESIGN] Possible camera device settings

[Gary Martin]

Hi Anish,

Re your IRC question and http://people.sugarlabs.org/anish/drawing-1.png mockup; I just had another scan through the past design mockups and spotted the below. So the consideration behind a camera device frame icon seems to only have been to allow the user to switch it off or on, I assume as a potential extra aid to privacy:

	http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Design_Team/Designs/Frame#08

Quote: "The camera and microphone icons appear in the Frame anytime an activity (or the OS itself) wishes to make use of them. Their presence here provides a global switch for each, allowing the child to mute a conversation or hide her video stream as necessary, for privacy."

This does seem a UI complication that most users would be unlikely to find, or need to use (most would just use the activity controls to stop/start recording or video/audio chat as needed), and potentially cause more support issues (like the recent accidental speaker mute report).

As per on IRC, I agree with silbe that extra image controls, if needed, would be best within a specific activity. Ideally they would only be needed in advanced activities with special requirements, perhaps an activity designed for using a microscope camera, or images from a telescope, where you might need to more frequently override the usual default settings.

Regards,
--Gary