On 1 May 2008, at 16:24, Albert Cahalan wrote: > For other reasons (GUI complexity and the OOM killer), the ability > to launch multiple activities should be disabled by default.
Do you mean 2+ instances of one activity, or multiple activities? I do agree that UIs that support multiple activities (and switching) will be more complex than one that is completely modal. The iPhone and iPod Touch are the best current examples I can think of, though they clearly have some areas still to solve in terms of using several applications together to achieve something no single one could alone. Current lack of Copy/Paste is a well cited complaint (but I can see Apple solving/fixing that at some point, at least I hope so). There's also the whole conversation going on about will Apple allow developers to create background applications. These devices are currently more about accessing than creating, the XO is about creating and accessing – I think that changes the UI game enough to warrant activity instance switching. Preventing multiple activities on the XO would be too extreme, I think, though it would be the next logical step down for UI simplification. For the younger end of the target audience I can see this being a positive (an assumption, I have no proof), but it would reduce the utility of the XO over a range of learning usage scenarios for everyone else. You loose much of the combinatorial effect of using several activities to achieve an end goal – can you imaging trying to write homework that need a photo added, images from the web, reading a pdf with the homework assignment/questions, or how an invitation to participative in another's activity would be very disruptive (say a friend wanted to use chat and ask you something about the homework assignment you were doing). Preventing 2+ instances of the same activity would be less disruptive, but would not solve kids launching multiple other activities as they click about with the interface. Devils advocate: Now if activity launch + state restoration, and activity closing + state saving, was as fast as iPhone/iPod Touch, then my opinion could** start to swing in favour of a UI that presented a, one activity running at a time, view. You wouldn't so much quit an activity, as return to the Home view. Switching via the frame would be gone, you'd just return to the Home view. ** I say 'could' because some actions that require two or more activities to complete would still be sub optimal relative to a UI that allowed instant switching between running instances (example, trying writing an essay about a Shakespeare play you have in pdf format, lot's of back and forwards referencing and copy/paste). --Gary _______________________________________________ Sugar mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
