Scratch

JarodGodel · 2008-03-31 15:56:10

I'm a Scratch newbie, so I apologize if this has been asked before... Are there any plans to:

1. Allow us to change the size of the Scratch screen when embedding in a web site, and

2. Allow us to make web requests from within Scratch?

For #2, I was thinking something along these lines:

That way people could, for instance, upload/record drawings as XML files, and load them into programs.

andresmh · 2008-04-01 15:30:53

Yes, there are plans and some experimental prototypes but it is still far from being robust enough and easy to use to be released. Thanks for asking, that is an area of Scratch in which I am particularly interested. However, we as a group are uncertain on how attractive and useful it would be for most Scratch users.

Do you have any compelling examples of the kind of things you imagine young people could use these type of features?

The few examples that I have imagined are related to controlling something on a project based on the weather. What other things? Stock market and other typical XML feeds seem not so interesting to most people.

If you have any better examples please let me know!

JarodGodel · 2008-04-01 15:51:29

Examples off the top of my head:

1. Something like OLPCities (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Olpcities) or Animal Crossing, which would allow kids not only to build their own games, but also share experiences, messages, and gifts between "worlds".

2. High Score boards. Once someone built a game, they could update and download high scores as they played.

3. Widgets. If someone could pull in feeds, they could build weather tracking widgets, sports score widgets, etc. Basically anything you could do with Konfabulator or Dashboard, you could do with Scratch, and have the added benefit of being able to include sounds, animations, etc. into it. (XBox Live integration as well.)

4. Community message boards. If you could have a larger Scratch app as well as the ability to read-in and write-out data, you could create a community (or class?) bulletin board so people would exchange notes, update information, etc. (This would also work for group calendars.)

That's just off the top of my head, but I'm sure there are tons of other ideas. Essentially, it'd be giving Scratch applications the same functionality as Flash/Shockwave apps have now, only because it's Scratch the IDE and userfriendliness makes building apps much easier.

thecooltodd · 2008-04-02 01:46:44

A high scores board would be awesome.

Scratch

archived forums

#1 2008-03-31 15:56:10

Scratch as a rich client

#2 2008-04-01 15:30:53

Re: Scratch as a rich client

#3 2008-04-01 15:51:29

Re: Scratch as a rich client

#4 2008-04-02 01:46:44

Re: Scratch as a rich client

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