Clutter

This article or section documents something not included in the current version of Scratch (3.0). It is only useful from a historical perspective.

The Clutter logo

Clutter was a website created by paulmedwal, a member of the Scratch Team, that allowed users to put Scratch projects together in a sequence called a "clutter", much like a slideshow.

The site was released in late October 2010 and was run side-by-side with the Scratch site. It had 190 registered users with 172 clutters. In late 2012, a notice was put up informing users that the site was in read-only mode and that it would soon be shut down.

A series is a group of projects that are to be played in order, the purpose of Clutter.

Purpose

Clutter allowed users to do the following three things:

• Order projects sequentially, similar to galleries
• Enter a secret word to move to the next project in the clutter
• Link to another project in the clutter within a project

“	Clutter has many purposes. One is to make it easy to create multi-scene stories (without needing to always hide tons of sprites) and multi-level games (you can have secret words to get from one to another). But I also hope that new types of collaborations will form over creating larger scale projects.	”
– paulmedwal, then Scratch Team member.

A secondary use of Clutter was to test new ideas that can help shape the development of Scratch 2.0.

Types of Clutters

Story

A story clutter

In a story clutter, the projects were in a specific order, chosen by the creator. The project could be changed by clicking the arrows at the bottom, or by broadcasting -> or <-, to go to the next or previous project, respectively.

broadcast (-> v)

Link

A link clutter

In a link clutter, the projects did not come in any specific order. Instead, users had to type a word that determines the project. Each word was chosen by the creator. Broadcasting ->project name, where project name is the name of the project, will also change the project.

Secret Word

A secret word clutter

This type was similar to a both the other types of clutters. In a secret word clutter, the projects were in a specific order, and can only go forward. This type was generally used for multi-level games. The creator chose a secret word that had to be typed in order to go to the next project. Broadcasting -> also went to the next project in the clutter.

Creating Clutters

To create a clutter, one had to first click the "Create" button in the toolbar at the top of the website, and be logged into their Scratch account.

Then a user had to fill in the following information:

1. Clutter Info — This section allowed you to give a name to your clutter, as well as a description. You could also choose who is allowed to edit the clutter other than yourself.
2. Clutter Type — You can choose between three different types of Clutter:
3. Story — Users click left and right arrows to move between projects in the clutter.
4. Secret Word — Users enter a secret word, which is decided by the creator, to get to the next project in the clutter.
5. Link — Similar to the secret word, but depending on what word is typed it switches to a different project in the clutter
6. Scratch Projects — You must next choose which projects go into the Clutter, and, depending on the project choose link/secrets words. You can also add another user's name to add their projects
7. Clutter Icon — You must choose an icon for the clutter, the icon can only be an icon of one of the projects
8. Share! — Then the clutter is ready, and when the share button is clicked, it is uploaded to the Clutter website. A confirm box asks "Are you sure you want to share this clutter?"

Front Page

The Clutter website front page

The main page was similar to the Scratch front page. It had Featured, Top Loved, Top Viewed, and Top Remixed sections, as well as statistics about the site. Unlike the Scratch Front Page, however, it also had Showcase and Fan sections and lacked a Newest Clutters row.

• Featured Clutters — Clutters featured by the Clutter Team.
• Fan Clutters — Clutters by your fans. Unlike the Projects by Scratchers I'm Following row on the Scratch Front Page, any user can have multiple clutters here.
• Showcase Clutters — Clutters that have been showcased by their creators. It displays a random selection.
• Top Loved Lately — Displays a random selection of recently loved projects.
• Top Viewed Lately — Displays a random selection of recently viewed projects.
• Top Remixed Lately — Displays a random selection of recently remixed projects.

User Page

A userpage on Clutter, showing shared clutters and the showcase clutter.

Clutter user pages were different than Scratch My Stuff page. It had these areas:

• Sidebar
  • User information
  • Showcase Clutter
• Project areas
  • Clutter
    • Saved Clutters (Only available on your page)
    • Shared Clutters
    • Favorite Clutters
  • Friends
  • Fans
    • I'm a fan of...
    • Fans of my Clutters
  • Messages (Only available on your page.)
    • Messages ()
    • Clutter Invitations ()
    • Friend Requests ()

Clutter Forums

There were also forums designated specifically for Clutter. These forums were:

• Announcements — Announcements about new developments to the Clutter site
• FAQ — Frequently asked questions about Clutter
• About Clutter — For talking and asking questions about Clutter
• Show and Tell — Advertising clutters
• Collaborate — A forum that helps users join together to work on clutters
• Suggestions — Ideas about improvements to the website
• Bugs and Problems — For letting the Clutter team know about any problems or glitches with the website

The forums disappeared not long before the website was shut down.

Showcased Clutters

On one's user page, there was an option to showcase a clutter. This is an experimental feature that was eventually implemented into Scratch 2.0. A user could choose a single clutter to show on the sidebar of their user page, underneath their information. This allowed the owner to show their best project in a noticeable place, which many people want.

Clutter Notifications

Main article: Messages and Notifications

Users on Clutter received notifications for the same reasons that users on Scratch do, with the exception of becoming a curator.

Staff

The following people worked on or helped with the Clutter project:

• Paul Medlock-Walton — Chief developer
• Andrés Monroy-Hernandez — Adding support through ScratchR
• John Maloney — Integrating the Java applet
• Orit Giguzinsky — Assisted with graphics
• The MIT Scratch Team — Giving feedback and advice
• The Eloranta Research Fellowship — Supporting the development of the site
• Prof. Edward Barrett, Prof. Eric Klopfer, and Prof. Mitchel Resnick — Supporting Eloranta application

Links

• Clutter announcement on Scratch Forums