Hi Jane Jane Weideman wrote: >>I have expressed my opinion of the new GUI ( >>http://wiki.edubuntu.org/EdubuntuScreenShots ) quite >>forcefully ( >>http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti/2005/10/001200.php ) - and >>am looking for some civilised debate on this topic. > > I am curious to find out if this is an isolated opinion or a valid and > general concern, because apart from feedback that it was a bit too young > looking, and not diversity-conscious enough we have had all poitive > feedback so far. > > Comment anyone?
Yes. I think he's opinions are valid, although perhaps slightly misguided. The biggest issues seemed to be that Squeak wasn't included, and that it's visually very distracting. Squeak we know presented a technical challenge. Ogra will probably be able to give us more info on whether it will be included in the next Edubuntu. Will there even be enough disc space? On the theme issues, we use even a brighter, noisier, louder theme in tuXlabs. We've had some of our volunteers, who said that it's too colourful, and that they think it should be scaled down. From the primary and the high schools, from both the learners and the educators, we've had very positive feedback. They feel that the colours make the computer lab a friendly, "warmer" environment for the learners. The first release of Edubuntu is also mainly aimed at primary schools, so the icon set will reflect that. I think the important lesson in this, though, is that people have different preferences, and that it's important to have options. This December I'd like to put together a gartoon theme for OpenOffice.org. It already has a crystal theme, which is colder, and cleaner, and probably more suitable for grade 12's and university students. So perhaps we should look at having a complete crystal theme as well. Even without that, there's always the brown Ubuntu theme that everyone loves :) About the default wallpaper, I wonder how much work it would be to modify the GNOME desktop chooser to modify the symlink to where the default wallpaper is, then you could have a default wallpaper changer admin tool to allow the administrator to change the default wallpaper. That way admin can have some nice control over the default appearance of the desktop. Having said that, theming is important, because it's the first impression a user will get from a system, on the other side, it's also incredibly easy to change and adjust, even by the most novice user. I think opinions such like Tom has posted is important, because it stimulates discussion around the subject, and it will help us to put together more ideas and make Edubuntu better, faster. I also think that Edubuntu will mature drastically with each new version, and there will be many options to get the aesthetics just right. -Jonathan -- edubuntu-devel mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/edubuntu-devel
