Navigation on glowscript.org Home Page

[Adam Thompson]

I have been an avid VPython user since ASU adopted the Matter & Interactions textbook (back in '07 or '08) for their physics majors courses. I recently discovered Glowscript while downloading VPython's most recent version.

I am now using Glowscript to produce E&M demos for my physics classes. Glowscript is much more convenient because I do not have to have IT install or maintain VPython. So far I love it!

That being said, I have run into a few issues described below:

• The "Sign In"/"Sign Out" links are just above the "Help"/"Hide Help" links, and a minor mis-click and I have to entirely sign in again. It might be nice to shift this links somehow to avoid this.
• After accessing my folders, I have no immediate way to make it back to the homepage (to access the forum or example programs). I realize that the example programs are in the Help link, but that wasn't obvious to me at first. I suggest having a "Home" link at the top right after "User's Glowscript Programs".
• The alert() function in programs can be problematic:
• If I use an alert() function in a loop, there is a possibility that the alert will continuously pop up prevented termination of the program. This is an easy mistake.
• Further, the option to disable future alert pop-ups makes it so alert cannot be used at all, unless the browser is completely restarted.
• I suggest that a hot-key like Ctrl-3 to forcibly terminate the program in focus might be helpful here.
• I can't rename programs once they are written, nor can I move them between folders. Obviously, a low priority, but for usability in general it could be necessary. 
  

Thanks for your help, and for developing this browser script, just like you did with the visual modules for Python.

[Bruce Sherwood]

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree that improvements should be made to the interface, but I myself can't do anything about this for awhile because Ruth Chabay and I are currently consumed preparing the fourth edition of our Matter & Interactions textbook.

At the risk of stating the crushingly obvious, there are workarounds available for some of these issues. When you're not editing or running a program but rather looking at the contents of a folder, the bold-face "GlowScript" at the top of the page does take you to glowscript.org without signing you out. Another convenience is to open another browser tab and go to glowscript.org in that tab, which you can keep around. You can generally get out of traps by clicking the "Replot" icon of your browser. That for example makes it possible to use alert again. You might also consider using print rather than alert, or console.log (see Work with 3D objects > Text output). To rename or move, just copy the program text, create a new program, paste in your text, and delete the old program.