> Andre: I don't think we have one. [Group working on OpenCard's UI]
>
> Rob Cozens : Alain & Joe Stenger volunteered and/or stated they were
> working on it.
Alain : For now, all discussions pertaining to the UI are mixed in with all
of the other issues. We could create a separate list to host these UI
discussions, if we want to, but I don't yet perceive the need for another
list. What I volunteered to do is to create a web-based collaboration
infrastructure who will contain one or more nodules dedicated to channeling
our UI efforts.
> MP0werd : What I meant was that if their embedding the xTalk engine into a
> spreadsheet program, the spreadsheet will be the ui. If it's a word
> processor, the word processor will be the UI. If it's a web plugin, the
> browser will be the UI.
Alain : I see what you're saying. I would indeed like OpenCard to as
versatile as you suggest. And we should design OpenCard with this level of
versatility in mind.
> Rob Cozens : Mike, I think we're talking about two different things. I'm
> not clear on what you mean by "embedding." If you are contemplating
> attaching the OpenCard engine to Excel so one can write macros in OT instead
> of Excel, I think that's ancillary to the primary thrust of OC.
Alain : What I meant was that it would be great if we could use OpenCard in
just about information appliance, running the gamut from PDAs to WorkGroup
Servers. Same design principle that underlies Java.
> Rob Cozens : If you simply mean "write a spreadsheet application in OC", my
> reference is to the interface the programmer uses to create the spreadsheet
> (ie: set up, size, position, and script windows, fields, buttons, art, etc)
> NOT the interface to the spreadsheet itself.
Alain : With HyperCard ( and eventually with OpenCard ), the development
environment and the end-user interface are closely intertwined. We are not
developing a "Hyper-MPW", nor are we developing end-user programs. We are
developing something in between.
> Alain : A prototype of the UI or of the engin ? Created with what ?
>
> Rob Cozens : The UI, created with HyperTalk. I know you've suggested HTML
> and also MetaCard.
Alain : Yes, I have been suggesting that we mock up OpenCard's interface with
HTML or XML because these formats are universally accessible, free of charge,
and support most of the GUI stuff that we want OpenCard to support, including
: color, quicktime, flash, etc. And there are tools currently on the market
that allows us to rapidly prototype dynamic interfaces with drag-and-drop ease
and pixel precision. DreamWeaver, for example.
> Rob Cozens : Is there some reason you feel HyperCard/HyperTalk is
> inappropriate?
Alain : Don't get me wrong. I love HyperCard and HyperTalk. It's just that
the version I am running (2.2) is B-and-W, with little or no support for
multimedia, and so on. I was waiting for the mythical HC 3.0 so as to leapfrog
the ColorTools difficulties of the intermediate versions.
Alain : It seems strange to use HyperCard as a development tool to create
something that will surmount the difficulties and constraints of HyperCard.
Sure, we could script some handlers that could then be proposed as new
OODL-native commands, but we would nevertheless be (perniciously) limited by
the tool that we are trying to surpass.
Alain : Besides, we want to support as many well-designed and widely-accepted
standards as possible, like HTML and XML, so that OpenCard will appeal to many
diverse people and contexts.
> Rob Cozens : I assume it's the one platform with which we as a group are
> most familiar.
Alain : You're right about that.
