Designs

This page serves as a showcase for design ideas and discussion around the Sugar UI. Each topic below contains a "slideshow" illustrating our latest ideas and outlining some of the decisions and tradeoffs that were made in coming to them. Please feel free to add to the discussion sections to provide useful feedback as we iterate on the designs and move them toward implementation.

For more detailed (and more technical) descriptions of some of the topics presented below, please visit the Specifications section of the wiki, which will drive the implementation of specific features.

Activity Management

This slideshow focuses on our new approaches to activity launching, switching, and management. Most importantly, it includes updated design ideas for the Home screen and a brand new Frame organization which enhances activity management, though has additional merits on its own as well.

Frame

This slideshow provides a deeper understanding of the reorganized Frame, describing its sections for people, places (and activities), clipboard, and devices. It also introduces the foundation of the notification system and explains its relationship to the Frame's layout and purpose as a persistent UI element.

Journal

This slideshow presents a brand new vision for the Journal, which is focused around two views: object and action. The object view will be reminiscent of the current Journal UI, presenting a list of objects stored on the system and providing access to detailed information and (now) their version histories. The action view, on the other hand, will serve as a friendly "journal-like" log of the child's interactions with the machine, referencing one or more objects but reading much like a scrapbook, and providing a friendly browsable interface into the content they have created.

Toolbars

This slideshow illustrates the latest thinking regarding toolbars and the nature of tabs within the interface.