Changes

Although every activity requires at least the Activity Toolbar, developers may desire to hide the Toolbox in order to provide an all-encompasing experience, such as in an adventure game or a slideshow, or simply to make use of the full screen as an editing area.  However, activity developers should consider these use cases carefully and take the following guidelines into account when taking advantage of this feature.

Although every activity requires at least the Activity Toolbar, developers may desire to hide the Toolbox in order to provide an all-encompasing experience, such as in an adventure game or a slideshow, or simply to make use of the full screen as an editing area.  However, activity developers should consider these use cases carefully and take the following guidelines into account when taking advantage of this feature.

====Soft Hiding====

=====Soft Hiding=====

Most activities should use soft-hiding, which means that although the Toolbox will be hidden completely from view, it will still be accessible by moving the cursor to the top edge of the screen, provoking it to slide out and exposing the controls.  This works great for casual or turn-based games, as well as any games which don't require the mouse.  In these instances, the ability to access preferences, share or invite friends to the activity, start a new game, and of course exit the activity remains available at all times.  This is also useful for presentation modes, such as slideshows, allowing the child to access the bar to perform operations such as next, back, and of course stop slideshow, thus showing the toolbar permanently again.

Most activities should use soft-hiding, which means that although the Toolbox will be hidden completely from view, it will still be accessible by moving the cursor to the top edge of the screen, provoking it to slide out and exposing the controls.  This works great for casual or turn-based games, as well as any games which don't require the mouse.  In these instances, the ability to access preferences, share or invite friends to the activity, start a new game, and of course exit the activity remains available at all times.  This is also useful for presentation modes, such as slideshows, allowing the child to access the bar to perform operations such as next, back, and of course stop slideshow, thus showing the toolbar permanently again.

When soft-hiding of the Toolbox is in effect, pressing the escape key should always reveal it again, exiting any mode related to its hiding (such as the slideshow).  If no explicit toggle button or action (such as "start slideshow") exists to turn soft-hiding back on, activities may institute a timeout, after which it turns soft-hiding on again without input from the child.  The activity must ensure that soft-hiding is never initiated without explicit interaction whenever the cursor remains within the Toolbox area.

When soft-hiding of the Toolbox is in effect, pressing the escape key should always reveal it again, exiting any mode related to its hiding (such as the slideshow).  If no explicit toggle button or action (such as "start slideshow") exists to turn soft-hiding back on, activities may institute a timeout, after which it turns soft-hiding on again without input from the child.  The activity must ensure that soft-hiding is never initiated without explicit interaction whenever the cursor remains within the Toolbox area.

====Hard Hiding====

=====Hard Hiding=====

Activities which make use of the entire screen, and moreover require active cursor movement across it, may wish to hide the Toolbox completely from view, eliminating the possibility that it could be invoked at the screen edge via the mouse.  Hard-hiding allows activities to do this.  The primary use case for this mode is action games which could be interrupted accidentally during gameplay.  As such, these guidelines are written with respect to a fullscreen game, but their principles should carry over to other uses activity developers may find.

Activities which make use of the entire screen, and moreover require active cursor movement across it, may wish to hide the Toolbox completely from view, eliminating the possibility that it could be invoked at the screen edge via the mouse.  Hard-hiding allows activities to do this.  The primary use case for this mode is action games which could be interrupted accidentally during gameplay.  As such, these guidelines are written with respect to a fullscreen game, but their principles should carry over to other uses activity developers may find.