Dear Art, Well, music may be the "universal language", but English UI strings sadly are not. In order to expand the potential user base for your efforts, I would encourage you to work on the internationalization of the UI strings with gettext in future versions.
http://en.flossmanuals.net/make-your-own-sugar-activities/going-international-with-pootle/ and I will be happy to work with you on getting them set up in Pootle for localization. cjl Sugar Labs Translation Team Coordinator On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 3:56 PM, Walter Bender <walter.ben...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Tue, Mar 13, 2012 at 1:13 PM, Art Hunkins <abhun...@uncg.edu> wrote: >> I'd appreciate a reviewer taking the time to review my new activity, >> ChimePlay. It has been in the queue for several weeks now (originally the >> queue contained 13 activities; it still does, FWIW). >> >> In case it matters, I've included here my response to Walter's request in >> regard to ChimePlay. (My response wasn't originally addressed to this list >> or to Walter personally.) Perhaps someone was waiting for me to address it? >> >> In any case, thanks for your support. > > Hmm. I thought someone pushed it through. Will take care of it now. I > would like to sort a few things out with you regarding how to make all > of your activities a little more friendly to some of our younger > users. But that can happen sometime when we both have a bit more time. > > -walter >> >> Art Hunkins >> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Art Hunkins" <abhun...@uncg.edu> >> To: <activit...@sugarlabs.org> >> Cc: <a...@lists.sugarlabs.org> >> Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 4:36 PM >> Subject: Re: [REQUEST] ChimePlay-1 >> >> >>> Hello, Walter, >>> >>> Thanks so much for your on-going help and encouragement for and with my >>> Sugar activities. Without it, and similar counsel from other seasoned Sugar >>> activity developers, I'd still be stuck in the "Sugar starting gate." >>> >>> Your observations here can apply just as well to my previous 7 activities. >>> Indeed, perhaps it is ironic that in ChimePlay there is the *least* amount >>> of displayed verbiage of any of my activities; I've done my best to keep it >>> down. (For my last three activities, which urge children to create their own >>> audio samples, most of my commentary is included in a ReadMe.txt file. Only >>> "immediately relevent" material is presented on-screen.) >>> >>> Some context: I am a professional art music composer, whose main >>> "electronic" language is Csound. All my Sugar activities are spinoffs of >>> live-performance Csound works composed for adults (please see my website, >>> www.arthunkins.com, where these relationships are clear enough). At the >>> urging of Richard Boulanger, I was led into OLPC, Sugar and the XO, to offer >>> some of my work to at least the older children of the world. As an >>> exclusively Windows person, Linux has been a strange new world - also >>> inhabited by Sugar, Python, PyGTK, git, Inkscape - all equally new and >>> strange. >>> >>> ChimePlay almost didn't get written; I thought that SamplePlay was my last >>> activity. However, inspired by a couple of chime sets at the St. Francis >>> Springs Prayer Center (Stoneville, NC, USA) and my life-long fascination >>> with chimes and bells, ChimePlay manifested and here we are. In the future, >>> I intend no more activities; I'll simply maintain and continue to test the 8 >>> activities I have so that hopefully they remain useful. Hopefully you can >>> humor me this one last time. I also hope my work points the way for other >>> Csound artists to become involved with Sugar with an equally limited >>> investment of time and technology. (Though I admit the requirements of my >>> doing *anything* in Linux/Sugar was infinitely beyond any investment I'd >>> anticipated. It's been an incredibly difficult and arduous learning curve. >>> For example, I just spent three intense and frustrating days relearning >>> Inkscape in order to create a passable icon for ChimePlay.) >>> >>> Early in my activity work, I found some Python/GTK code structures that I >>> could reasonably understand and continue to use in all my activites. I've >>> intentionally limited the depth of tech work I've exposed myself to, and >>> only bugged other developers, like yourself, with issues I considered >>> crucial. I've dealt with others (such as on-screen text, the limit to >>> English, the treatment of MIDI device insertion/detection) in >>> "non-Sugar-like" ways, which were understandable by "low/non-tech" me. I did >>> this to protect myself and my sanity - as well as to complete anything. >>> >>> I'm well aware that most children will not have access to MIDI devices. >>> For live Csound work in the adult world, however, MIDI devices are >>> universally required. (In my recent activity ReadMe's, I've indeed >>> recommended certain inexpensive devices to children and their teachers, >>> especially the Korg nanoKontrol.) It seems to me that for any performance >>> activity with Csound (such as for the XO or Sugar), classrooms might well >>> opt to invest in a few MIDI devices, such as keyboard controllers. My >>> activities allow for a very wide range of devices. >>> >>> In previous activities, I've made alternate versions which used only the >>> ASCII keyboard. However, I've found these versions awkward and >>> counterintuitive, as well as requiring considerable additional written >>> explanation. I never use them for my own demonstrations. (They also are a >>> pain to program.) Instead, in ChimePlay, I've paired one live-performance >>> MIDI version with an auto-play incarnation, which requires no controller at >>> all. Just (optionally) adjust the presets, press START and instant chimes >>> (your choice of two chime sets). >>> >>> Once again, thanks for your most valuable help and advice - and the spirit >>> and tone in which it has been given - over several years. >>> >>> Art Hunkins >>> >>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sugar Labs Activities" >>> <activit...@sugarlabs.org> >>> To: <abhun...@uncg.edu> >>> Cc: <a...@lists.sugarlabs.org> >>> Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 11:03 PM >>> Subject: [REQUEST] ChimePlay-1 >>> >>> >>>> A Sugar Labs Activities Editor requested further information from you >>>> regarding version 1 of your activity ChimePlay. >>>> >>>> Walter Bender wrote: >>>> >>>> "I wonder if the bulk of the explanatory text could be under an about >>>> button? Also, could you look for the midi device on launch and display an >>>> error message if it is not detected? Alas, I doubt too many Sugar users >>>> have >>>> a midi device :(" >>>> >>>> >>>> Please reply to this e-mail or join #sugar on chat.freenode.net. >>>> >>>> Sugar Labs Activities >>>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org >>>> >>> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Sugar-devel mailing list >> Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > > -- > Walter Bender > Sugar Labs > http://www.sugarlabs.org > _______________________________________________ > Sugar-devel mailing list > Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel _______________________________________________ Sugar-devel mailing list Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel