For someone interested in "human factors", this discussion has been an eye-opener. My summary of the need: 'Users will depend on the content of the preview image to identify which document entry to launch from the Journal". My summary of the intent: "Can Sugar guarantee that what is recorded in the preview image is the newest information available about what is being done with the document?" My summary of the problem being discussed: "The preview image is captured from the whole-screen. There are logical times when Sugar would like to record the latest information -- but the current implementation does not have the whole-screen available" -- therefore a snapshot is being taken just about every time that the activity's whole-screen is being overwritten." To me, that is performance-affecting overkill.
My opinions as a Sugar user: ===> The most evident symptom is "no thumbnail at all". The question then becomes - "how much handholding ought Sugar to provide", if the user does not bother to "identify" or "keep" any specific information about what he is doing. In my opinion when a __new__ document is 'opened', a "preview image" ought to be taken. If the XO then gets powered off without any further direction having been received from the user, it is *his* fault if the "preview image" does not show the latest thing he did with the document. If he had bothered to "keep" or "close" the document, a more up-to-date preview should have been captured. > saving often enough that the user will never be surprised that, > when resuming, the state isn't as they last left it. If the user did not look out for himself, should Sugar ? [To "automatically" take care of the unexpected power loss situation, periodic snapshots would need to be taken by Sugar.] > It is possible to launch an activity and close it > without a screenshot ever being taken? If the Activity got started without it ever opening a "document", it most likely was a game. Perhaps snapshot the initial screen of the game, for "visual recognition" next time searched for by the user. ===> What if no image is available with the present implementation to be captured for the preview? To me, that is a problem unlikely to be solved in 2008. I myself am willing to let this problem arise as a consequence of "speeding up tabbing between sessions". >> 1 If you close the an activity while the frame is up, you will get a >> screenshot with some black areas. >> 2 If you close a non-active activity from the frame (icon palette) you >> would get a completely black screenshot. Taking the preview from the current screen appearance is problematic. Much better if a different implementation had a "pristine" copy of the screen information that it could snapshot. I myself am in favor of ANYTHING which improves Sugar performance on the XO. mikus _______________________________________________ Sugar mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/sugar
