I agree that we should drop freeform, and choose one, iconic, layout. Then we could plan for easy searching - using tags, names, or recentness - which greyed out the unselected apps. <br><br>If we did this, my vote would be: ring up to 16 activities, then a single (non-sunflower) spiral.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 10:12 AM, Walter Bender <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I haven't studied it in any scientific way, but I have never seen<br>
anyone use freeform in the field. I can also make a strong case for<br>
its inappropriateness in the classroom and the additional support<br>
overhead. For simplicity-sake, if for no other reason, we should drop<br>
it.<br>
<br>
That said, I cannot argue with your observation that an overloaded<br>
ring is problematic as well. For 0.86, we should consider some of<br>
spiral options, such as the sunflower, which are much more space<br>
efficient. At the same time, I think the real answer lies in better<br>
use the idea that groups of activities can be selected for the ring: a<br>
teacher might say to the child, this week, I want everyone to put<br>
Browse, Write, and Turrtle Art on their desktops. At home, a different<br>
collection might be available. So maybe we can explore the notion of<br>
collections rather than layouts?<br>
<br>
-walter<br>
<br>
On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 10:54 PM, Christian Marc Schmidt<br>
<<a href="mailto:christianmarc@gmail.com">christianmarc@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> I fully understand your confusion, this issue has been going back and<br>
> forth for too long.<br>
><br>
> We should probably talk this over more thoroughly before deciding<br>
> either way. Nicholas had (and I'm assuming still has) very strong<br>
> reservations about the ring, which caused us to reconsider it, but at<br>
> the time it was too late to change and it made it into the build. As<br>
> you know I was initially in favor of the ring (which I think has a<br>
> strong iconic presence), but when I began seeing screenshots of<br>
> overloaded rings it seemed like the favorites model perhaps wasn't<br>
> working as well as we had hoped.<br>
><br>
> This is a case where it would really help to do observations and see<br>
> how children are using the Home view, and which of the two views they<br>
> prefer using... Or do we have any findings and observations we can<br>
> already draw from?<br>
><br>
> For now, the question remains which view (freeform/ring) we use to<br>
> represent Sugar. Or perhaps at least in the interim it would make<br>
> sense to avoid Home altogether and use the Neighborhood view as the<br>
> "signature" shot?<br>
><br>
> I agree that we would ideally keep either the ring or freeform, but<br>
> not both, for simplicity...<br>
><br>
> More discussion ahead, I sense.<br>
><br>
><br>
> Christian<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 10:31 PM, Walter Bender <<a href="mailto:walter.bender@gmail.com">walter.bender@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> On Wed, Mar 11, 2009 at 10:22 PM, Christian Marc Schmidt<br>
>> <<a href="mailto:christianmarc@gmail.com">christianmarc@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>>> Hi Sean<br>
>>><br>
>>><br>
>>> We are currently debating moving to freeform view as the default<br>
>>> (maybe even the only) view in Home. To be on the safe side, should we<br>
>>> use that view here instead, seeing as it already exists in the UI?<br>
>>> CC'ing Walter for his thoughts as well...<br>
>>><br>
>><br>
>> Boy am I ever confused. I thought (and hoped) that we were going to<br>
>> get rid of the freeform view, not the ring view.<br>
>><br>
>> -walter<br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> Walter Bender<br>
>> Sugar Labs<br>
>> <a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a><br>
>><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> --<br>
> <a href="mailto:anything@christianmarcschmidt.com">anything@christianmarcschmidt.com</a><br>
><br>
> <a href="http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com" target="_blank">http://www.christianmarcschmidt.com</a><br>
><br>
> 917/ 575 0013<br>
><br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
Walter Bender<br>
Sugar Labs<br>
<a href="http://www.sugarlabs.org" target="_blank">http://www.sugarlabs.org</a><br>
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