[Sugar-devel] [DESIGN] Global create-new/modify icon

[Gary Martin]

Hi Simon,

On 10 Mar 2011, at 17:16, Simon Schampijer wrote:

> One of the major functionality in activities is creating and/or modifying, for example creating a new game in Memorize a new abacus in the Abacus activity and so on.
> 
> I am wondering what would be a good icon to use for that. I have seen the use of a scissor (like editing an activity), or the gear like we use in 'view source'.
> 
> Any other ideas? And then it would be great if we could set on one and be consistent in activities and use the same icon in all of them.

Thanks for raising this, I've added this topic to next weeks Design Team meeting, I'll try and get a few mockups together before then:

	http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Design_Team/Meetings

Some misc. thoughts regarding using the existing scissor/edit tool and secondary palette.

Pros:

 * existing Activity edit secondary toolbars usually have only copy, paste, sometimes also undo & redo (so there is usually plenty of UI space)
 * no need to add yet another primary toolbar widget (less complex primary UI and/or space for other tools)
 * Sugar design model, editing is what you do during an activity to change it, 'creating new' activities should be done before an Activity begins (e.g. home --> start new, and/or proposed Journal duplicate feature). BTW, Think it is OK for an Activity to support clearing/erasing/reseting state (such as Paint, Memorize), though ideally with reliable undo or versioning support to help prevent accidental data loss.

Cons:

 * overloading an existing UI category (traditional OS users have certain expectations for an edit menu)?
 * will folks overlook the edit sub-palette and miss the extra modification features?
 * editing vs. customising/modifying, different enough concepts to need a new primary category?

Mockup of Memorize using existing scissor/edit widget & toolbar:

	http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Garycmartin#Memorize_Toolbar_Mockups

For those who have not seen it, here's the activity customisation design that Walter currently has in Abacus:

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Regards,
--Gary