Eng:Scratch 2.0 Progress Reports

Leading up to the release of Scratch 2.0, the Scratch Team, over the course of 2011 and 2012 wrote a series of progress reports on the development of Scratch 2.0 to let Scratchers know its current status. Although introduced and written initially as monthly reports, they eventually were posted only every few months.

February 2011
On Friday, February 11, 2011, the first of the progress report on Scratch 2.0 was released. At the top of the page it said: "This is the first in a series of monthly Scratch 2.0 updates. Each update will highlight a few new features that we’re considering for Scratch 2.0." It confirmed the following features:
 * 2.0 will run on Flash online.
 * 2.0 will allow users to toggle the size of the online player.
 * Users will be able to customize their user pages with widgets.

It also said that they were currently working on other features:


 * The ability to create new blocks, like in BYOB.
 * Blocks to show/hide lists.
 * Better tools for collaboration.
 * Ways to pull data from the web.
 * Other suggestions marked "under review" or "planned" on Scratch Suggestions.

The February reports can be found here and [ here].

March 2011
On Saturday, March 26, 2011, the second progress report was released. It gave an update on the ability to create new blocks, which was planned in the previous update.

After thanking everyone who submitted bug reports for the Flash Player, it introduced building custom blocks, like in BYOB. The example given is with a simple jump script. What if you wanted to make a "jump" block? Here is a jump and move script, with the "jump" block. The Scratch Team also wants to define inserts, and drop-down menus are wanted too.

The March reports can be found here and [ here].

May 2011
On Tuesday, May 10, 2011, the third progress report was released. It talked about Scratch 2.0 being "in the cloud" (completely online).

This means that it won’t be necessary to download and install Scratch to try it out. For another, it will be easier to see the scripts that show how a project works. Instead of downloading the project file, all you need to do is click a button to see inside and play with the code then click another button to remix it.

An offline program will be available as well.

The May reports can be found here and [ here]

June 2011
On Friday, June 24, 2011, a fourth report was released. It contained no information on progress, but asked Scratchers for their opinions on how the friending system should change with the next version of the Scratch Website.

It was suggested that it be more like popular social networking sites, for example you could follow or subscribe to people, and other users would have to accept a friend request before they were added to your Friend List.

The June reports can be found here and [ here]

July 2011
On Sunday, July 31, 2011, another report was released with information on how the search system might change.

It gave a few mockups of possible future search pages, with ideas such as separating results into categories (projects, forum post, wiki entries, etc.) and being able to filter results more easily that at current.

The July reports can be found here and [ here].

February 2012
After a long absence, the sixth progress report was released on Thursday, February 16, 2012. This progress report announced that Scratch 2.0 is just entering the alpha stage. It also revealed the new Project Page and Paint Editor. A new feature called the "backpack" was announced, which will allow users to save scripts, sprites, sounds, and costumes they like in it and use them in other projects.

The February reports can be found here and [ here].

March 2012
In the March 2012 ScratchEd Webinar, members of the Scratch Team showed a sneak preview of Scratch 2.0. A recording of the webinar is available here.

April 2012
The April post provided a time-based visualization of the development of the Scratch 2.0 website and platform, made with Gource. It can be found here.

May 2012
To commemorate Scratch Day, Scratchers around the world were allowed to test out Scratch 2.0 from May 17 through May 21 at this site. A preview video was released showing many new features of Scratch. Some of these include:

Website

 * A new GUI
 * A new Front Page
 * Recent activity section
 * Scrollable front page rows
 * New user pages
 * You can feature one of your projects
 * You can post your status
 * You can see your followers
 * You can see who you are following
 * You can see your recent activity
 * A "See inside" feature on project pages where you can open a Scratch editor in your browser

Scratch Program

 * A new GUI
 * Cloud Data
 * Sprite cloning
 * Vector graphics in the Scratch Paint Editor
 * A "backpack", where you can drag on scripts from any project and drag them out in another
 * Procedures (custom blocks)
 * Using the camera for motion sensing (similar to the Microsoft Kinect)
 * Backgrounds renamed Scenes

October 2012
The October 2012 report was written collaboratively by members of the Scratch 2.0 testing team, and released on the 15th of the month. It talked about how to use, and what the uses are, for Cloud Data, the user ID, the current and days since 2000 blocks, and running a script without the screen refreshing.

The report can be found here.