[Sugar-devel] [Dextrose] Some quick comments on the Journal in 11.2.0 build 16 and Dextrose 508

[James Simmons]

Martin,

My own attempt at an alternate Journal Activity, Sugar Commander, can
delete or modify any Journal entry, as well as add new ones.  The only
things it cannot do that the real Journal can do are: copy files to
removable media and SD cards, and launch other Activities.  If you are
concerned that children might destroy or corrupt Journal entries, they
can do that today, with a perfectly ordinary Activity.

Keeping the Journal from appearing in the Neighborhood view is a
simple matter of hiding some controls in the toolbar.  Keeping the
Journal from creating its own Journal entry is simple enough as well.

As for the Zoom metaphor issue, the Journal inherits from Activity
like any other Activity.  Replacing the Journal Activity with an
alternate Activity should be doable.

James Simmons


On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 10:20 AM,  <martin at martindengler.com> wrote:
> On Tue, May 03, 2011 at 09:32:20AM -0500, James Simmons wrote:
>> the Journal view is an Activity in all but name
>
> The Journal's primary function is a "time-based view of
> ... activities"[1], which is explicitly a meta-activity.  There are
> other differences, including:
>
> - the Journal can interact with data store objects it did not create,
>  unlike other activities that are / can be limited for security[2]
>  reasons.
>
> - the Journal does not fit in the Collaboration UX like an Activity
>  (it doesn't show in the Neighborhood view, you can't "Join"
>  someone's journal, etc.)
>
> - the Journal (for better or worse) is outside of the Zoom metaphor[3]
>  and visually extends to the Frame[4], unlike other activities
>
> The reasons that the Journal feels like another activity have always
> seemed a bit jarring, as it would if the Neighborhood were "just" an
> activity.  An alternative Journal has been done before[5] and it's
> amazing but note how it's not integrated into the rest of the Sugar
> Shell (Zoom metaphor components), and that's a real chunk of messy
> work because the Journal is really not an Activity.
>
>> If [kids succeed in replacing the Journal] they can impress their
>> friends by customizing an important part of Sugar.
>
> Yes, but...
>
>> Allowing them to replace the Journal Activity with one they
>> created themselves would be a safe way to do that.  If they screw up
>> the original Activity is still there.
>
> ...no.  The original activity might still be there, but all that data
> that just got deleted?  Or transformed?  ...it's gone.
>
>> James Simmons
>
> Martin
>
> 1. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experience/The_Journal
> 2. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Human_Interface_Guidelines/Design_Fundamentals/Key_Design_Principles#Security
> 3. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experience/Zoom_Metaphor
> 4. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Human_Interface_Guidelines/The_Laptop_Experience/Zoom_Metaphor#Activity
> 5. http://dev.laptop.org/~cscott/journal2/journal2-talk.pdf http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Journal2
>