New ways to get started with Scratch!

dietbacon

Hey everyone,

We are always looking for ways to make Scratch easier to get started with. Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve added lots of new resources to a new section called Tips! .

On the new Tips page, you will find interactive tutorials that can help you start making a variety of projects. There are also printable Activity Cards with detailed instructions on how to build any of the projects you are interested in.

In addition to the inclusion of the new Tips page, the site navigation menu has also been updated. We replaced the “Help” button with a “Tips” button, which will lead you to the new Tips page mentioned above. We believe this will help newcomers discover and use our new Scratch activities. We have also removed the “Discuss” button from the navigation menu. We made this decision based on usage (how often it was clicked) and to give emphasis to the other menu options like “Create” and “Explore.” You can still access the Discussion Forums by clicking the link in the footer at the bottom of every page or by going to https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/. These changes were made to help highlight project creation and get new users started on becoming full fledged Scratchers!

Scratch On!

- - - - -

FAQ:
Where is “Discuss” in the footer?
In the footer, under “Community”, you will see a link to “Discussion Forums”. You can also always access the forums with this url: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/

Can you make the search bar smaller to make room for discuss?
This decision was also made in part because the navigation menu is translated to many other languages, and in some of those languages there was just too much text to fit in the space.

The search bar is flexible in size based on the language you are in. While it may appear extra large in English, this is not always the case. For example, change your language to Deutsch and see what happens. And this is with one item removed from the nav bar - imagine what it was like when there were five items in the nav bar before.

Last edited by ceebee (July 5, 2017 15:27:29)

WolfCat67

I like the inclusion of a tips bar, but I'm not too stoked about the “Discuss” option being removed…
Oh, I guess I was first or something.

Last edited by WolfCat67 (July 5, 2017 23:03:30)

gamer2343676

Phew! I thought I was dreaming just now (Scared to death)
Oh, and its the first step to supporting tablets & phones. (Zoom in!)

Last edited by gamer2343676 (July 5, 2017 14:54:03)

FancyFoxy

When this was put in, the Edible Scratch language stopped working on every page that wasn't the main page or the Tips page.

ceebee

WolfCat67 wrote:
I can't find the “Discuss” option inside of the footer. Is that meant to happen?

In the footer, under “Community”, you will see a link to “Discussion Forums”. You can also always access the forums with this url: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/

yzyzyz

dietbacon wrote:
Hey everyone,

We are always looking for ways to make Scratch easier to get started with. Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve added lots of new resources to a new section called Tips! .

On the new Tips page, you will find interactive tutorials that can help you start making a variety of projects. There are also printable Activity Cards with detailed instructions on how to build any of the projects you are interested in.

In addition to the inclusion of the new Tips page, the site navigation menu has also been updated. We replaced the “Help” button with a “Tips” button, which will lead you to the new Tips page mentioned above. We believe this will help newcomers discover and use our new Scratch activities. We have also removed the “Discuss” button from the navigation menu. We made this decision based on usage (how often it was clicked) and to give emphasis to the other menu options like “Create” and “Explore.” You can still access the Discussion Forums by clicking the link in the footer at the bottom of every page or by going to https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/. These changes were made to help highlight project creation and get new users started on becoming full fledged Scratchers!

Scratch On!

nooooooooooooooo! I want the discuss button in the normal place. no one new will go to the discussions page! try to place it in the profile drop down menu.

goldencomet3_test

when green flag clicked
forever
play sound [New Scratch Updates v] until done
say [WOW!!!]
end

FancyFoxy

yzyzyz wrote:
dietbacon wrote:
-snip-

nooooooooooooooo! I want the discuss button in the normal place. no one new will go to the discussions page! try to place it in the profile drop down menu.

Why would it be in the profile dropdown menu? It doesn't have much to do with your profile.

yzyzyz

FancyFoxy wrote:
yzyzyz wrote:
dietbacon wrote:
-snip-

nooooooooooooooo! I want the discuss button in the normal place. no one new will go to the discussions page! try to place it in the profile drop down menu.
Why would it be in the profile dropdown menu? It doesn't have much to do with your profile.

I was just suggesting something. you need to have it somewhere visible.

FancyFoxy

yzyzyz wrote:
FancyFoxy wrote:
yzyzyz wrote:
dietbacon wrote:
-snip-

nooooooooooooooo! I want the discuss button in the normal place. no one new will go to the discussions page! try to place it in the profile drop down menu.
Why would it be in the profile dropdown menu? It doesn't have much to do with your profile.
I was just suggesting something. you need to have it somewhere visible.

It is visible at the bottom of all Scratch pages.

yzyzyz

FancyFoxy wrote:
yzyzyz wrote:
FancyFoxy wrote:
yzyzyz wrote:
dietbacon wrote:
-snip-

nooooooooooooooo! I want the discuss button in the normal place. no one new will go to the discussions page! try to place it in the profile drop down menu.
Why would it be in the profile dropdown menu? It doesn't have much to do with your profile.
I was just suggesting something. you need to have it somewhere visible.
It is visible at the bottom of all Scratch pages.

but it's not that visible. at all.

WolfCat67

ceebee wrote:
WolfCat67 wrote:
I can't find the “Discuss” option inside of the footer. Is that meant to happen?

In the footer, under “Community”, you will see a link to “Discussion Forums”. You can also always access the forums with this url: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/

Ah, OK. That makes mores sense.
It's still going to take a lot more of getting used to. Arguably the forums can be more helpful than a tips page, but eh. Though it would kind of be nice to see both of them on the header… :P

muellly

Nooooooooooo. The discuss option was already the most obscure option. I didn't even know it existed until I saw a link in a curated project. And I didn't even know the full extent of what discuss was for until this year. Making it even more obscure is a bad idea. New Scratchers who need help with scripts that aren't in tips or have a question about Scratch aren't going to know where to look now. New Scratchers who don't know about the forums may try to post comments that were their function on featured projects creating more spam. I don't even see where the discuss is in the footer. Instead of pushing the forums aside you should promote them. Did you even do a poll to see if most people who didn't click the button didn't know they exists instead of them being not interested in them. I also don't see how this promotes the other options. All this appears to do is make the search bar bigger, and I used it even more rarely then the forums. I feel that removing the discuss button is a step back for Scratch, and I am hoping right now that this isn't the beginning of a road of step backs like another site I used to be on because I like to program in Scratch and I hope that updates won't one day take the joy out of it. That site was Roblox.

CellularData

Why exactly are you trying to lure people away from discussing Scratch?

Are you trying to bring down the social aspects? If so, I think taking “Discuss” off the top bar is not the way to do it

Last edited by CellularData (July 5, 2017 14:54:26)

WolfCat67

muellly wrote:
Nooooooooooo. The discuss option was already the most obscure option. I didn't even know it existed until I saw a link in a curated project. And I didn't even know the full extent of what discuss was for until this year. Making it even more obscure is a bad idea. New Scratchers who need help with scripts that aren't in tips or have a question about Scratch aren't going to know where to look now. New Scratchers who don't know about the forums may try to post comments that were their function on featured projects creating more spam. I don't even see where the discuss is in the footer. Instead of pushing the forums aside you should promote them. Did you even do a poll to see if most people who didn't click the button didn't know they exists instead of them being not interested in them. I also don't see how this promotes the other options. All this appears to do is make the search bar bigger, and I used it even more rarely then the forums. I feel that removing the discuss button is a step back for Scratch, and I am hoping right now that this isn't the beginning of a road of step backs like another site I used to be on because I like to program in Scratch and I hope that updates won't one day take the joy out of it. That site was Roblox.

Hey, look at the bright side.
At least it has “forums” in the name on the link, now.

It was confusing with it called “Discuss”, I initially thought it was just a place for parents to talk about how great the program is. Oops.

FancyFoxy

CellularData wrote:
Why exactly are you trying to lure people away from discussing Scratch?

Are you trying to bring down the social aspects? If so, I think taking “Discuss” off the top bar is not the way to do it

This is 0% what their intention is. They are doing it to give more emphasis to the other buttons.

-PastelDraws-

ahh messy quotes again

Last edited by -PastelDraws- (July 5, 2017 14:56:28)

Auroura_Wolf

Based on the general consensus here, the active forum users were upset by this change. This includes me. It really annoys me, and I think this will confuse lots of people. Also, this may have an effect on the forums in general. Projects advertised in Show and Tell won't get as much attention, confused people may not realize there's a forum to ask their questions, and people may spread the rumor that the forums has shut down
I think it would be better to just bring back the discuss button

FancyFoxy

Auroura_Wolf wrote:
Based on the general consensus here, the active forum users were upset by this change. This includes me. It really annoys me, and I think this will confuse lots of people. Also, this may have an effect on the forums in general. Projects advertised in Show and Tell won't get as much attention, confused people may not realize there's a forum to ask their questions, and people may spread the rumor that the forums has shut down
I think it would be better to just bring back the discuss button

Projects in Show and Tell have never really gotten that much attention.

yzyzyz

Auroura_Wolf wrote:
Based on the general consensus here, the active forum users were upset by this change. This includes me. It really annoys me, and I think this will confuse lots of people. Also, this may have an effect on the forums in general. Projects advertised in Show and Tell won't get as much attention, confused people may not realize there's a forum to ask their questions, and people may spread the rumor that the forums has shut down
I think it would be better to just bring back the discuss button

I agree with every word.

Discuss Scratch