Sure! The best of both worlds? This would put placement of the "new" function in the same place it always has been, for both code and text. And it would give the new user some idea of just what the blue bar is for anyway.
Rather than "code," would "commands" make more sense to the new user without sounding too pedantic or simplified to the pros? Rob On Feb 17, 8:36 pm, Jason Grout <[email protected]> wrote: > Rob Beezer wrote: > > On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 12:22 PM, William Stein wrote: > > >> Any suggestions? > > > I'm thinking about the new user, who (a) doesn't know at all that you > > can add text (b) can't figure out why there are two colors for the > > bars or (c) tries to type code into TinyMCE and can't get it to > > evaluate. > > > What about having a small text link, similar to "evaluate" that says > > "annotate", "add text", "doodle" or something similar? Placed > > somewhere suggestive like the "evaluate" link is. Not sure where that > > would be relative to the input cells, output cells and the blue bar. > > Maybe it could be shoved off to the right margin, keeping "evaluate" > > shoved off to the left margin (simple with CSS?). > > > Maybe long-term the notebook could have an expert mode. Colored bars > > for the pros (which would be nice once you know what's going on) and a > > novice mode with more help or more obvious controls, but maybe a tad > > more cumbersome. You could go in/out of expert mode with a link at > > the top, and/or set your choice permanently with some configuration > > option. > > > I really like the idea of the students having an editor that they can > > use to write on a worksheet, and especially the possibility that they > > can start learning simple LaTeX without the usual overhead of a big > > install, the \begin{document} structure, the command line, etc. So > > anything that makes TinyMCE's presence more obvious to the uninitiated > > would be another great addition. > > How about, in the spirit of the "evaluate" link being real text that > someone can read and immediately guess the function, we have the > new-cell bar, when someone mouses over it, show something like: > > ___________________________________________________________________ > | new code cell | new text cell | > |_____________________________|___________________________________| > > Of course, the text would be small (small enough that the new cell bar > wouldn't be much bigger than it is now). > > Jason --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sage-devel URLs: http://www.sagemath.org -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
