Talk:OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Sugar Interface/Colors

I don't understand this idea. It seems contradictory to say that you cannot use color like other UIs because the screen may be used in monochrome mode, but you are instead using color to identify a particular child. If color is significant, then how will it be useful in monochrome mode? In other words, how will a child identify another child's icons, text, etc. if the display is in monochrome mode?

Wouldn't it be better to use color for decoration and not for significance? That way, whether the display is in backlit color or reflective monochrome, there is no information loss.

I should also mention that we've found that children (esp. preteens and teens) are constantly experimenting with their identities and changing their surroundings whenever possible. This means to me that kids will want to change their colors regularly, again reducing the value of color as an identifier. Since the XO has a built-in camera, why not use a combination of the child's name and photo to identify their work. Admittedly a tiny thumbnail can be hard to recognize, but I think that AIM, XMPP, Google Talk, etc. have shown the value of even a tiny image (which can also be zoomed when the mouse cursor hovers over it).