Scratch 2.0: Project Page and Project Editor

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Many Scratchers have asked to see screenshots of what Scratch 2.0 looks like so far, so we thought we’d give a preview of two important pages: the project page, and the project editor. We’re still making lots of changes to Scratch 2.0 -- it is just entering what we call “Alpha stage,” which means it's a very rough draft that needs a lot more work. So the images and descriptions posted here are likely to change somewhat before the release of Scratch 2.0.


The Project Page

click for larger version

Just like on the current Scratch website, you can check out a project, love and favorite it, add it to a gallery, or leave a comment. However, in Scratch 2.0, the project editor is built directly into the website. That means that you can click the See Inside button to check out the scripts that make the project run in the Scratch project editor. This makes it easier to see how a project works, and remix the code.


The Project Editor

Here’s the same project when viewed in the project editor, by clicking See Inside from the project page shown above.

click for larger version

A few of the changes / new features of the 2.0 Alpha editor:

• The block categories have been changed to make room for a few new blocks, and the ability to create your own blocks based on custom scripts.
• The paint editor now uses vector graphic images by default.
• The sound editor will allow very basic editing of sounds.

In the lower right corner of the image above, you'll see a new area that we're currently calling the backpack. The backpack can be used to transfer scripts, sprites, and costumes between projects. For example, if you find a project with a sprite that moves in a way that you really like, you can "See Inside" the project, and drag the script it uses into your backpack to make a copy. When you return to your project, you can open the backpack and drag the script into your sprite. We’re still not sure if “backpack” is the right name for this feature -- some have suggested we use “clipboard” instead. If you have suggestions for a better name, please let us know on the forum thread that corresponds to this blog post.

As we said in the beginning: We are still making lots of changes to Scratch 2.0, so the images and descriptions posted here are likely to change somewhat before the release. If you have more questions about Scratch 2.0, check out the Scratch 2.0 FAQ. If you don’t find an answer there, you can feel free to post your questions on this thread in the forums. We still don’t have an official release date yet, but we plan to let Scratchers test it out at Scratch Day 2012.