Scratch 2.0

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Scratch 2.0
Release Date	5/9/2013
Programming language	Flash
Download	Link (Win/Mac/Linux)
Predecessor	1.4
Successor	3.0

Custom blocks in Scratch 2.0

The vector paint editor

The bitmap paint editor

Cloud variables

Scratch 2.0, also known as Scratch 2, was the second major version of Scratch, following Scratch 1.4. It featured a redesigned editor and website, and it was the first version that included the online editor as well as an offline one. It went into public beta on January 28, 2013, and it was officially released on May 9, 2013. The 2.0 beta site and the old 1.4 site were both taken down from May 6 to May 8 so the Scratch Team could move the projects across.

History

Main article: Development of Scratch 2.0

Scratch 2.0 was announced by andresmh on the Scratch Forums in January 2010. The first released experiment by the Scratch Team as part of 2.0's development was the Experimental Viewer, in August 2010. Later, in 2011, a beta Flash Player was released for projects, which logged-in users could choose to use. In 2012, this was replaced by a version of the alpha editor; this version was made the default for all users that October.

In May 2011, the first known version of the project editor, the prealpha, was released to a limited audience at Scratch Day @ MIT. A little while after this, the Scratch Team started posting updates, called Scratch 2.0 Progress Reports, to their blog. The new website and redesigned project editor, by then in the alpha stage (at alpha.scratch.mit.edu), were premiered for a few days to the public for Scratch Day 2012, a year later. Over the rest of 2012, people were brought in to test this version: community moderators and selected educators; Collab Counselors, former curators, Scratch Design Studio curators, TBG moderators, and a group of 500 volunteers. Some users were also able to infiltrate and use the program due to a glitch.

In December 2012, the public beta was announced to begin on January 28, 2013. It was available at beta.scratch.mit.edu from then on until its full release, upon which it replaced the previous website.

On May 13, 2014, the source code for Scratch 2.0 was released. It is available at LLK/scratch-flash on GitHub.

Offline Editor

The Scratch 2.0 offline editor was released on August 26, 2013. It had few differences from the online editor, most notably, the lack of the Backpack and a different color used when text is selected. It can be downloaded here.

Features

Scratch was completely rewritten in Adobe Flash for version 2.0 but still ran projects from older versions of Scratch. It was still completely free and without ads. Due to the new features and different programming language, Scratch 2.0 projects were saved in the .sb2 format instead of the previous .sb format. However, projects uploaded from Scratch 1.4 can still be downloaded from the project page in the .sb format. Scratch 2.0 features many new additions to both the program and website.

Caution:

Once a project is saved in the Scratch 2.0 editor, its format will be adjusted to .sb2 and cannot be reverted without the use of an external program. This means it cannot open in Scratch 1.4.

New Features

Scratch 2.0 introduced several new features:

• Backdrop Name block
• Backpack for transporting sprites, costumes, and scripts project-to-project
• Cloning sprites (limit of 300 as of now)
• Cloud Data (variables stored on the website)
• Custom Blocks
• Customizable User Pages
• Following System
• Project Notes and Credits are separate from Instructions
• Redesigned comment replies: @username shows who you're replying to
• Show or hide lists
• Sound Editor
• Studios which replace Galleries, but in My Stuff the url stays the same (it is still http://scratch.mit.edu/mystuff/#galleries)
• Time blocks: Current () and Days Since 2000
• Use the at symbol (@username) in a comment to link to a user's profile page
• Username Block
• Vector Editor, as well as a Bitmap Editor for the Paint Editor
• Video Sensing
• When Backdrop Switches to () block
• Zooming in and out of the scripts area
• Record Project Video
• Student and Teacher Accounts

Beta criticism

Early in 2013 during the beta, some people disliked Scratch 2.0. They complained of a bad paint editor and confusing project editor. After the final release, the criticism slowly ceased as users finally adapted to the new environment.

Known bugs

One of the bugs in Scratch 2.0 was the ability for Scratchers to follow users who they could not normally follow, such as themselves or deleted users. To follow such users, the following JavaScript code was used:

$.ajax({type: "PUT",url: "https://scratch.mit.edu/site-api/users/followers/USER_TO_FOLLOW/add/",data: {usernames: Scratch.INIT_DATA.LOGGED_IN_USER.model.username}})

Examples of New Features and Blocks

define Custom Block
say [This is a custom block.]

Custom Block
(☁ Cloud Data)
set [☁ Cloud Data v] to ()

change [☁ Cloud Data v] by ()

Gallery

See also: Category:Scratch 2.0 Images

• Scratch 2.0 Images
• 

  The Scratch user interface for Scratch 2.0

• 

  The vector image editor

• 

  The Scratch 2.0 sound editor

• 

  The Front Page

• 

  The search filtering

• 

  A custom block procedure

Trivia

• The Scratch 2.0 Overview video uses a cut version of "Scratch_Redux" by Ant Neely.