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Making Sugar sweet
Experiences in creating a great user
experience with UI design.
Our community


• Sugar Labs, a member project of the Software
  Freedom Conservancy is a community of
  volunteers.
• Sugar is free software; it is licensed under the
  General Public License (GPL), versions 2 and 3.
Context




Learning has a bearing on all of the challenges our
children will inherit.




                                                      3
Qt Developer Days 2009 Keynote - Sugarlabs
Children don’t get ideas; they make ideas.




They construct knowledge in the context of building
personally meaningful artifacts. —Kafai and
Resnick
The challenge




going to scale
A child's laptop is...


•   Safe and robust;
•   Light to carry;
•   Vibrant to look at;
•   Low power; Used outdoors;
•   Helps them communicate and interact;
•   Encourages them to express themselves;
•   Lets them engage in open-ended discovery;
• And of course... inexpensive!
aside




Sugar is a testament to the power and quality of the
development tools and processes used by the Free
Software community.
The Sugar Learning Platform




Sugar facilitates exploring, collaboration, and
reflection and to encourage critical thinking.
Originally developed for the OLPC XO




Sugar is largely platform-agnostic.
It can run on almost any computer, even the old,
obsolete hardware typical of schools.
It's an education project




Sugar is used every school day by one-million
children.
Learning ≠ Windows




Nothing in our children's future resembles office
             work from the 1970s.
Sugar users



•Sugar “learners” create demonstrations, projects,
and critiques.
•They develop craft, engage and persist, envision,
express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and
understand.
•They engage in open-ended discovery, going far
beyond the use of the computer as a means of
access to information.
“ถายดอกกระเจียวเห็นไหม”
User-centric design metrics (Nielsen)



•Learnability: How fast can a user learn a new
system?
•Efficiency: How fast can a user perform tasks?
•Memorability: How easily can a user reestablish
fluency?
•Errors: How often do user make errors?
•Satisfaction: How satisfied is the user?
Learning-centric design (Soloway)




Learning: How do our design decisions impact
learning?
Simplicity is not the goal

                                 Buxton's Law
   complexity



                                 God's Law




                               time


We can use UI design to reduce complexity or to
enable the user to reach to complexity.
The culture of Free Software




Free-software developers go beyond consuming;
they create and they share their creations. Most
important, they engage in criticism. They take
nothing at face value.
Learning software must be Free Software




With Sugar:
•children create content as well as consume it;
•children share their creations and help each other;
•and they engage in self-reflection and group
critique.
Sugar core ideas


•   Activities, not applications
•   Presence is always present
•   Tools of expression
•   Journal/portfolio
Low floor, no ceiling




Sugar places an emphasis on usability and
             discoverability.
Reading and writing and sharing
A network neighborhood
Dos and many don'ts


Do use hover
Do use consistent color
 and icon models
No right click
No double click
No overlapping windows
No “eye candy”
No 3-D
Qt Developer Days 2009 Keynote - Sugarlabs
Guided discovery




to start
clearscreen make “box1 1 setpensize 20 repeat 1300
[forward :box1 right 91 setpencolor division xcor 6
setshade heading make “box 1 sum :box1 1]
end
Collaboration
Journal
View Source
Crumple zone: copy on write
Qt Developer Days 2009 Keynote - Sugarlabs
Modifying physics




         elif event.key == K_h:
             self.setdensity=10
         elif event.key == K_l:
             self.setdensity=0.1
         elif event.key == K_n:
             self.setdensity=1
Under the hood




Sugar is built on top of the GNU/Linux desktop:
GTK+, X11, D-Bus, NetworkManager, Gconf,
Telepathy, etc.
Sugar provides data-storage service and presence
service through D-Bus (Sugar activities can be
coded in any programming language).
The majority are written in Python, which takes
advantage of binding in the Sugar-Toolkit.
Freedom and empowerment




Sugar is about creativity, fluency, innovation, and
  problem-solving, all of which involve personal
  expression.
Sugar bring the tools of expression within reach of
  children so that they can be free to change their
  world.
The mantra of the next generation will be “show
  me the code and I will make it even better.”
Thank you


     walter@sugarlabs.org

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Qt Developer Days 2009 Keynote - Sugarlabs

  • 1. Making Sugar sweet Experiences in creating a great user experience with UI design.
  • 2. Our community • Sugar Labs, a member project of the Software Freedom Conservancy is a community of volunteers. • Sugar is free software; it is licensed under the General Public License (GPL), versions 2 and 3.
  • 3. Context Learning has a bearing on all of the challenges our children will inherit. 3
  • 5. Children don’t get ideas; they make ideas. They construct knowledge in the context of building personally meaningful artifacts. —Kafai and Resnick
  • 7. A child's laptop is... • Safe and robust; • Light to carry; • Vibrant to look at; • Low power; Used outdoors; • Helps them communicate and interact; • Encourages them to express themselves; • Lets them engage in open-ended discovery; • And of course... inexpensive!
  • 8. aside Sugar is a testament to the power and quality of the development tools and processes used by the Free Software community.
  • 9. The Sugar Learning Platform Sugar facilitates exploring, collaboration, and reflection and to encourage critical thinking.
  • 10. Originally developed for the OLPC XO Sugar is largely platform-agnostic. It can run on almost any computer, even the old, obsolete hardware typical of schools.
  • 11. It's an education project Sugar is used every school day by one-million children.
  • 12. Learning ≠ Windows Nothing in our children's future resembles office work from the 1970s.
  • 13. Sugar users •Sugar “learners” create demonstrations, projects, and critiques. •They develop craft, engage and persist, envision, express, observe, reflect, stretch and explore, and understand. •They engage in open-ended discovery, going far beyond the use of the computer as a means of access to information.
  • 15. User-centric design metrics (Nielsen) •Learnability: How fast can a user learn a new system? •Efficiency: How fast can a user perform tasks? •Memorability: How easily can a user reestablish fluency? •Errors: How often do user make errors? •Satisfaction: How satisfied is the user?
  • 16. Learning-centric design (Soloway) Learning: How do our design decisions impact learning?
  • 17. Simplicity is not the goal Buxton's Law complexity God's Law time We can use UI design to reduce complexity or to enable the user to reach to complexity.
  • 18. The culture of Free Software Free-software developers go beyond consuming; they create and they share their creations. Most important, they engage in criticism. They take nothing at face value.
  • 19. Learning software must be Free Software With Sugar: •children create content as well as consume it; •children share their creations and help each other; •and they engage in self-reflection and group critique.
  • 20. Sugar core ideas • Activities, not applications • Presence is always present • Tools of expression • Journal/portfolio
  • 21. Low floor, no ceiling Sugar places an emphasis on usability and discoverability.
  • 22. Reading and writing and sharing
  • 24. Dos and many don'ts Do use hover Do use consistent color and icon models No right click No double click No overlapping windows No “eye candy” No 3-D
  • 26. Guided discovery to start clearscreen make “box1 1 setpensize 20 repeat 1300 [forward :box1 right 91 setpencolor division xcor 6 setshade heading make “box 1 sum :box1 1] end
  • 30. Crumple zone: copy on write
  • 32. Modifying physics elif event.key == K_h: self.setdensity=10 elif event.key == K_l: self.setdensity=0.1 elif event.key == K_n: self.setdensity=1
  • 33. Under the hood Sugar is built on top of the GNU/Linux desktop: GTK+, X11, D-Bus, NetworkManager, Gconf, Telepathy, etc. Sugar provides data-storage service and presence service through D-Bus (Sugar activities can be coded in any programming language). The majority are written in Python, which takes advantage of binding in the Sugar-Toolkit.
  • 34. Freedom and empowerment Sugar is about creativity, fluency, innovation, and problem-solving, all of which involve personal expression. Sugar bring the tools of expression within reach of children so that they can be free to change their world. The mantra of the next generation will be “show me the code and I will make it even better.”
  • 35. Thank you walter@sugarlabs.org