Second, and more importantly, OOo4Kids introduces the concept of different levels of interface complexity. For that reason, I would argue against completely tidying the menus in OOo4Kids. Although users may not be able to access the full-feature set, they are reminded that it exists, which may help to prepare them for the re-learning that is necessary when they graduate to the complete office suite. While this might be like a loose end that the project simply hasn't got around to tidying, it has the advantage of making clear that only selected features are enabled. You may not be able to use many Calc functions in OOo4Kids, but you can at least see the general categories that are missing. However, they are less restrictive than you might think for two reasons.įirst, many - though not all - of the missing features are still listed in the menus. Striking a balanceĪt first glance, these simplifications might seem cramping. OOo4Kids even includes the styles and formatting floating window mostly unmodified, which has the advantage of allowing teachers to train students in the advanced use of a word processor. But, for the most part, the feature sets that are available are precisely those that users of any age are likely to use.
In particular, Calc is missing most of the features for manipulating functions, especially those that make the spreadsheet application suitable for text lists. These selections of what to omit are not always ideal. Other general options, such as Colors, are redesigned, with larger displays of the predefined colors.
General options are also pared down, with some, such as Java source missing together. In Calc, the number of functions is also limited. Go through the menus, and dozens of features, ranging from document properties to advanced Find features and Change options are missing. Similarly, in Calc, the default number of rows and columns are reduced from hundreds to a couple of dozen, and more cannot be added. In all applications, the default view is 115%, making the editing window slightly larger than in standard In Writer, OOo4Kids has only a single toolbar, and even that is sparsely populated. These characteristics carry over into each application as well. Both fonts and icons are considerably larger than the original as well. In fact, unlike the original, all choices are available as icons, with none in the menus. It offers only the four main applications - Writer, Calc, Impress, and Draw - as choices, leaving out the database and equation editor, as well as any list of recent documents. OOo4Kids starts with a splash screen that summarizes many of its differences from. deb packages are available on a web site separate from the main one. Its recently-announced 1.0 release is available in 13 languages, and on all major operating systems, as well as Sugar OS. OOo4Kids balances these conflicting needs better than any application I've ever seen - so much so that I think that the main project could benefit from adopting its code.Īs the name implies, OOo4Kids is a version of designed for children between the ages of 7 and 12.
#OOO4KIDS DRAW HOW TO#
On the other hand, I wonder if children shouldn't start with the interface they will be using as adults, so they don't how to learn the interface all over again.
On the one hand, I can see the value of offering a simplified interface for learning on. This is a program list from a K12 Open Minds 2009 session where people list out their favourite open source programs for classroom usage.I am always of two minds about office suites or applications for children.
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