Squeak 3.9 Kernel Image: Out of the box experience

Hello,


I understood from reading this list that Squeak 3.9 gamma 7061 (Squeak
3.9 final) is intended as a basis for making more specialized, or
"friendlier" images (e.g. for people with no prior Squeak experience).
As such, the focus was more on getting a lot of changes incorporated
than on providing a nice "out of the box" experience. AFAICT, the
building of other, more specalized  images (squeak-dev, squeak-fun,
maybe squeak-web?) based on the kernel image was proposed.

I think people will always download the most recent version, so for
them 7061 (the kernel image) is "the current Squeak version". Somebody
who downloads 3.9 final might be disappointed because it does not look
so interesting.

In order to avoid some of this, I propose putting in an explanation about:

- what this is
- where one can find more information
- where one can find other images that might be more suitable

I would do this as a simple additional workspace, with text like this:

**********************
This is Squeak 3.9 (Kernel Image).

It is intended for people who are already familiar with Squeak.

Other Squeak editions (images), e.g for web development or for dynamic
interactive media are available (see below) or in the process of being
built.

What is Squeak?
-----------------------------------
[a few sentences, maybe copied from squeak.org]


EToys - Dynamic Interactive Media
----------------------------------------
Audience: Children of all ages.
- read about it [link]
- play with it in this image [Explain how to activate flaps]
- go to squeakland.org or ...


Web Development
--------------------
Audience: People who want to create web applications

- [point to Seaside tutorial]
- [point to developer image project that can be loaded here]
- [point to seaside image]


General Development
------------------------

Audience: Programmers (all levels), Squeak core developers

- [point to Swiki documentation page(s)]
- [point to Morphic tutorial]


**********************

I see this as a quick fix to avoid disappointment from newcomers who
download now. I'd be willing to produce the text, and integrate any
comments from the list.

What do you think?


best regards

Matthias

Matthias Berth a écrit :
> General Development
> ------------------------
>
> Audience: Programmers (all levels), Squeak core developers
>


Documentation will be provided with the squeak-dev image. Future
directory for this image is:

http://ftp.squeak.org/developers_image/

> I see this as a quick fix to avoid disappointment from newcomers who
> download now. I'd be willing to produce the text, and integrate any
> comments from the list.
>
> What do you think?

Please do

--
Damien Cassou