Changes

== Proposal for an alternative design of home ui ==

== Proposal for "kidie" - a "kid-oriented intuitive user environment ==

'''Rationale'''

'''Rationale'''

sugar is feature-rich and functionality-rich, but access to those features and functions is currently via a myriad of cryptic icons.  once established in the mind of a user, icons are powerful.  The letters of the Roman alphabet, for example, are powerful carriers of information.

sugar, conceived by  http://new.pentagram.com/2006/12/new-work-one-laptop-per-child/ provides access to functionality via a myriad of cryptic icons.  Once established in the mind of a user, icons are powerful: the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet, for example, are powerful carriers of information.

but to become a user of that alphabet, you first have to learn it.

But to become a user of that alphabet, you first have to learn it.

so an alternate home ui is proposed here, which would provide access to all the features and apps of xo via a simpler, more obvious, user interface (ui). precisely what that ui will look like is something to be worked out, by trial and error, by a spiral of prototyping and end-user trials.

kidie's principal design requirement is that it be simpler, more obvious than sugar, and have the flattest possible learning curve whilst providing seamless access to all the functionality of sugar and sugar network and dextrose and toast and and and...!

 

kidie is a conceptual design; whether it will ever translate into an implementation will depend on you.

on opening an xo:

on opening an xo:

i would like it to audibly say "Hello" in a language of my choice - i would like to be able to choose that language on the startup screen

i would like it to audibly say "Hello" in a language of my choice - i would like to be able to choose that language (from a list) (with the help of a literate friend if necessary).  thereafter, kidie will write/speak in that language.

- please add your own idea here -

- please add your own idea here -

imagine you are a kid.... what would you like to do with a little magic box called an xo?:

imagine you are a kid.... what would you like to do with a little magic box called an xo?:

- continue an activity already begun.  the startpage would contain a journal button to pull up a list of all the activities in progress (maybe as a wheel-list of thumbnails), plus activity category buttons to start new activities.  (an "activity" is an app+documents created by the kid (or kidgroup) with that app; chats are activities too.

- either, continue an activity from where you left off.  the startpage would contain a journal button to pull up a list of all the activities in progress (as a scrollable circular list of thumbnails), plus activity category buttons to start new activities.  herein, an "activity" is an app+documents created by the kid (or kidgroup) with that app; chats are activities too.

- or begin a new activity

- or, begin a new activity

new activity category buttons/doors:  

new activity category doors:  

- play a game

- play a game

- find new friends

- find new friends

- see what other people are doing

- see what other people are doing

- what else?

- roam around the virtual environment

suppose you push open the door called meet.  what would you like to see?  how about an album of photos of all your xo friends who are currently also online/onlan? pushing your cursor onto one of them, a window on their current activity opens with a chat subwindow underneath.

doors would be semiotic thumbnails; pointing at a door triggers an audible one-word message (in language of choice) as to what is behind that door. sound-effect can be optionally turned off.

these days, we have high-res, high enough that my friends could be indicated to me by thumbnail-sized photos, so i could see over a dozen of them on my screen at the same time.  and if my album were shown to me as an imaginary "rounded square" wheel (viewed edge-on), i could spin it and bring the other photos around the back to the front.  it would help me if the photos were in alphabetic order of first name.

suppose you push open the door called meet.  what would you like to see?  how about an album of photos of all your xo friends who are currently also online/onlan?  pushing your cursor onto one of them, a window on their current activity opens with a chat subwindow underneath.  these days, we have high-res, high enough that my friends could be indicated to me by thumbnail-sized photos, so i could see over a dozen of them on my screen at the same time.  and if my album were shown to me as an imaginary "rounded square" circular list (viewed edge-on), i could spin it and bring the other photos around the back to the front.  it would help me if the photos were in alphabetic order of first name.

* Children are frequently asked (or try for themselves) to do things that they don't understand.  This seems a natural way of learning.  --[[User:FGrose|FGrose]] 03:11, 14 August 2012 (EDT)

* Children are frequently asked (or try for themselves) to do things that they don't understand.  This seems a natural way of learning.  --[[User:FGrose|FGrose]] 03:11, 14 August 2012 (EDT)

yes indeed, children of all ages, myself included, try to do things that are new to us, and find ways of doing them, often ways that their designer never imagined.  and we sometimes fall down or injure/defeat ourselves with some tools when we use them in a way that the designer did not intend.  i feel sure a design could be worked out that would work equally well with mouse and keyboard as well as touch screens and finger-sliding.

children of all ages, myself included, try to do things that are new to us, and find ways of doing them, often ways that their designer never imagined.  and we sometimes fall down or injure/defeat ourselves with some tools when we use them in a way that the designer did not intend.  i feel sure a design could be worked out that would work equally well with mouse and keyboard as well as touch screens and finger-sliding.

      a comment: doors and wheels and xo as a cursor seems retrogressive, hiding functionality to simplify user choices, and making them harder to discover.

a comment: doors and wheels and xo as a cursor seems retrogressive, hiding functionality to simplify user choices, and making them harder to discover.

      a response:  not hiding functionality, but aiming to provide obvious paths to activities instead of trying to show everything at once on one screen.

a response:  not hiding functionality, but aiming to provide obvious paths to activities instead of trying to show everything at once on one screen.