[Sugar-devel] Features: Background image in Home View

Manuel Quiñones manuq at laptop.org
Tue Mar 26 07:35:38 EDT 2013


2013/3/25 Walter Bender <walter.bender at gmail.com>:
> On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Manuel Quiñones <manuq at laptop.org> wrote:
>> 2013/3/25 Martin Langhoff <martin.langhoff at gmail.com>:
>>> On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 11:48 AM, Manuel Quiñones <manuq at laptop.org> wrote:
>>>> My first impression is that this feature can potentially hurt the
>>>> clean design of Sugar at some points:
>>>>
>>>> - the icons color semantic
>>>> - high contrast, accesibility
>>>
>>> Agreed. IMHO it can be improved by applying a "washout" -- mix the
>>> image with a white image at 50% alpha.
>>
>> Great, a washout is a simple and effective solution to my concerns.
>> We can play with the percentage of white to get the best value.  I
>> feel 60-70% could be better.
>>
>>>> I would like to know more about why is this a long requested feature,
>>>
>>> Identity is a strong human urge. Kids put stickers on them, adults buy
>>> cars of different colors :-)
>>
>> You are right, and I have to say I love the art intervention kids do
>> with stickers.  I was wondering if the home background was the right
>> place.  Sounds like a valid reason.
>
> I first proposed this feature after observing a school where the kids
> were constantly switching back and forth between Sugar and GNOME. When
> I asked why, they said it was so they could load a background image.
> It was important to their sense of identity. It seemed that we should
> offer this feature directly in Sugar.
>
> This was further reinforced by the request by the president of
> Amazonas to load a background image on their machines. We ended up
> with a modified boot image as a compromise at the time, but it would
> have been much preferred by the "customer" to have it on the home
> screen.

Thanks for the background on this topic :)

> Finally, while I agree that a background image can make a mess of any
> desktop, including Sugar, it is also possible to design a background
> that enhances the look. I defer to the imagination of our users in
> that respect.
>
> Regarding fading or mixing with white, I think it is dependent on the
> image. Maybe let that be a degree of freedom with a reasonable
> default?

I agree.  Yes a slider with a reasonable default makes absolute sense to me.

>>
>>>> - Adding it only in the home view kills the ilussion of having three
>>>> zoom views.  The background should be displayed in all three, I think.
>
> Not 100% convinced, since the layout for the icons is different in
> each view. I could imagine zooming out on the background image in some
> interesting way as the view changes. Or just let the user choose
> separate backgrounds for each view?

For the zoom semantic we did a very good improvement in the previous
cycle, unifying the toolbars.  It would be a shame to loose it again.
We can even reinforce it doing a subtle zoom of the background.  The
(default) backgrounds should be unobtrusive enough to support any
layout of icons.  In the home you can also choose the random layout,
currently.

>>>
>>> +1
>>
>> Ideally the background could do a subtle zoom to better enhace the
>> illussion.  Would require hardware acceleration though.  Could be left
>> for future enhacement.
>>
>>>
>>>> - Why it needs a restart?
>>>
>>> +1
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> m
>>> --
>>>  martin.langhoff at gmail.com
>>>  -  ask interesting questions
>>>  - don't get distracted with shiny stuff  - working code first
>>>  ~ http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/User:Martin_Langhoff
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> .. manuq ..
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>
>
>
> --
> Walter Bender
> Sugar Labs
> http://www.sugarlabs.org



-- 
.. manuq ..


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