Features/Revised Browse default-bookmarks.html

Comments and Explanations:

Summary

What I am trying to Achieve:

An enhanced "start new" screen for sugar.browse. It should have added customizable links and Graphic Elements Suitable for Soas-v4 -Mangolassi

Ideas from Soas #sugar-meeting: 06/14/2010

• Idea Crystalization credits to mchua:, mtd and others.

Case 1) improve the default browse page with a few well documented links that upstream agrees with

• suggested links:

Use exiting 5 links plus MENU

Home

Wiki

Bugs

Activites

MENU - Link to Live DVD page - (New)

This is a separate way for teachers and users to access information from the wiki and other pertinent web sites. It consists all of the links and the same Structure as the SugarCreationKit DVD

Google search

Case 2) we do a custom default page that accomplishes the same but specifically for SoaS-v4 -Mangolassi

Custom Artwork (possibly background color to match Mango lassi + Picture of 4 Usb Sticks?)

Custom links (the same as the ones discussed above?)

3-) Maybe we should consider BOTH solutions as features

Sugar f14 as distributed from the fedora repositories

Spin-Soas-v4 -Mango lassi Only

NOTES:

• mtd: a customizable start page exists.

• This is the first thing a SoaS user will see when the Sugar web browser is launched. This is a critically important page. I don't think we should accept anything until these groups have looked at it:

Existing SoaS deployments

Other sugar deployments

SL Marketing

Fedora Marketing (not sure if this is applicable)

At least as much thought should go into changing the page as went into creating it in the first place.

MartinDengler 15:06, 14 June 2010 (EDT)

Owner

• Name: Tom Gilliard

• Email: satellit@bendbroadband.com

Current status

• Targeted release: SoaS_v4_Feature
• Last updated: (06/15/2010)
• Percentage of completion: 90%

• http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Creation_Kit#AN_ON-LINE_VERSION_OF_THE_DVD_: added links in anticipation of conversion to bookmarks.html write (06/11/2010)

History of TESTING

• Tested on sugar-emulator in f12 (file locations and names may be different in Soas)
• copied file:///usr/share/bookmarks/default-bookmarks.html to desktop,
• opened and edited with OooWriter
• added hyperlinks and saved
• renamed index.html
• opened terminal

su
gedit

• opened modified file
• saved as file:///usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html
• Started "sugar-emulator" and Browse as "Start new"
• took this screenshot:

Change-Browse.activity index.html-to-use-Modified-Browse-html in a live USB

• In booted USB-soas-i386-20100611.15.iso:

• In Sugar Terminal;

su
yum install wget
wget http://people.sugarlabs.org/Tgillard/Modified-Browse.html
cd /home/liveuser
chmod 777 Modified-Browse.html
cp /home/liveuser/Modified-Browse.html /usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html                                                                                                 
[root@localhost ~]# cp /home/liveuser/Modified-Browse.html /usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html
cp: overwrite `/usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html'? y
[root@localhost ~]#  

It worked after this. Browse has a new "Start-New" screen. SUCCESS (06/12/2010)

• Note: One step farther:

su
mkdir /usr/share/library-common
cp /usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html usr/share/library-common/index.html

• Sets up Firefox v 6 .xo (experimental on ASLO) to use the same index.html as Browse uses.
• On live USB Stick (06/13/2010)

Detailed Description

In a discussion with Peter Robinson, I discovered that a custom bookmark Browse.rpm can be downloaded from the fedora repository. I propose we use this fact to create a custom set of bookmarks and artwork for Soas with links to: e-books; Floss Manuals; wiki.sugarlabs.org, all of the links to files in the SugarCreationKit DVD + The Normal Browse Google Screen

• This should be a simple edit in Browse to point to file:///usr/share/bookmarks/default-bookmarks.html instead of file:///usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html.

This allows a number of custom startup screens depending on the deployment or a schools requirements for Soas v4

Bernie has such a revised startup screen in his os240py software for the XO-1

A simple test example (see screen-shot above) works well

• It Contains the normal Browse links:
• Home
• Wiki
• Bugs
• Activites
• plus
• MENU- which points to an On line Version of the SugarCreationKit DVD, (with all of the links to the sources.)

1. CLICK THIS LINK TO TEST: http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Sugar_Creation_Kit#INDEX_OF_Soas_Features

A Proposed start screen with these elements

1. CLICK THIS LINK TO TEST: http://people.sugarlabs.org/Tgillard/index6.html

• AND
• The fedora Personal Toolbar Folder with all of it's links

Suggestions on just what content should be included on this screen must be determined from discussions on the lists.

• The changes in content on the Browse index-html can be updated via a .rpm file downloaded from the repositories
• The Customized Browse index-html will be used for the build of the Browse.appliance in the v4 Soas-spin.

Benefit to Sugar

A simple enhancement to sugar.browse

MartinDengler 13:51, 14 June 2010 (EDT) In fact this is not an enhancement, it's a hack. The browse homepage should be made configurable (perhaps via gconf) and have a sensible default. In fact, you should do some research before you hack an app to pieces: this customisation is already possible and designed-for...see http://cgit.sugarlabs.org/browse/mainline/tree/webactivity.py#n354 and http://cgit.sugarlabs.org/browse/mainline/tree/webactivity.py#n162. The desired homepage should go in /usr/share/library-common/index.html . Please can we do some research before we flail about doing stuff. Sorry about the language but I don't have time to say this more nicely.

Scope

• Edit the Browse activity to point to default-bookmarks.html or some other file specified by fedora

UI Design

Does the feature have a direct impact on the work flow, or does it need a UI? Link here mockups, or add detailed descriptions.

Original Idea: Now depreciated:

• Point Sugar.Browse default "start new" screen to:

file:///usr/share/bookmarks/default-bookmarks.html

• "We'll use something slightly different so we don't conflict." pbrobinson

• instead of sugars's default:

file:///usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html

How To Test

In a terminal (the Terminal Activity works):

Move to the folder with the file for the default Browse homepage.

cd /usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data

Back up your current Browse start page by renaming it to index.html.bak.

mv index.html index.html.bak

Download the sample index.html file from http://people.sugarlabs.org/Tgillard/Modified-Browse.html

wget http://url/to/index.html

Start the Browse Activity. It should open to a page of custom links, rather than the normal Browse start page. Try clicking on a few links. If they go to the webpages indicated, the feature is working.

To undo your testing and restore the previous Browse default start page, change the filenames back so that the old file is once again named index.html.

mv index.html modified-bookmarks.html
mv index.html.bak index.html

User Experience

If this feature is noticeable by its target audience, how will their experiences change as a result? Describe what they will see or notice.

• When Browse is started with Start new or for first time, this page will open. Custom content with links to web pages will be displayed.

Dependencies

What other packages (RPMs) depend on this package? Are there changes outside the developers' control on which completion of this feature depends? In other words, does your feature depend on completion of another feature owned by someone else or that you would need to coordinate, which might cause you to be unable to finish on time? Other upstream projects like Python?

• The advantage is that the Modified default-bookmarks file is updated from fedora in a normal way to Soas and is part of the build of v4
• Fedora requires a .rpm packaging
• Original Index.html is customizable.

Contingency Plan

Alternate path:

• edit /usr/share/sugar/activities/Browse.activity/data/index.html

• Duplicate with SugarClone, locally,for small number of customized sticks

Documentation

Is there upstream documentation on this feature, or notes you have written yourself? Has this topic been discussed in the mailing list or during a meeting? Link to that material here so other interested developers can get involved.

• Discussed with pbrobinson initially and mchua today 06/12/2010 on #sugar-meeting
• Soas Meeting 06/13/2010 http://me.etin.gs/sugar-meeting/sugar-meeting.minutes.20100614_1502.html

Release Notes

The Sugar Release Notes inform end-users about what is new in the release. An Example is 0.84/Notes. The release notes also help users know how to deal with platform changes such as ABIs/APIs, configuration or data file formats, or upgrade concerns. If there are any such changes involved in this feature, indicate them here. You can also link to upstream documentation if it satisfies this need. This information forms the basis of the release notes edited by the release team and shipped with the release.

• not a release in normal sense

Comments and Discussion

• See discussion tab for this feature