New Look and feel of client for users with multiple monitors

I am currently proposing in the voting area an optional modification for the SL that would allow you to switch between single window view with all your optional panels in one window, or Multi-window view with the optional panels in their own window. This would be something similar to Photoshop or dreamweaver where you can have the chat history, map, mini map, statistics bar find window ETC in their own separate windows that can be arranged on your desktop.

I currently use 2 monitors and it would be nice to have the above utilities on one monitor with my game view in the other and nothing obstructing the view of the game.

Please visit my vote in the proposal area I will attach a link in a future message.

KDL

The proposal is located at
http://secondlife.com/vote/index.php?get_id=1070

Please remeber the vote above does not count towards the OFFICIAL vote only if you actually vote on the proposal at the URL listed.

I would love this.

It may seem like the same thing to just maximize the SL window, but it's not. As a scripter, I hate constantly having to jockey the objects I'm working on to fit in the narrow slits among the script windows I have open. If I could move aside the main viewer in a small window and have the script editors, notecards, inventory, etc. floating on the desktop, this problem would completely disappear.

I know this is technically not trivial, as SL uses OpenGL for all its graphical output -- even the text editors. This will probably require making new windows that can work in Windows MacOS, etc, but I really think it's worth it. Besides, using OS-provided widgets for editing text, managing inventory tree, etc. will mean much faster performance.

One other cool benefit would be I could make better use of my two screens. One for the world viewer and the other for miscellaneous windows.

Heck, do us all a favor and replace the chat text box with a regular text-box widget on the bottom of the main window. Then we might actually have fewer typos

Thanks for opening up to listen. SL rocks!

-Lavanya Hartnell

Rather than allow the various windows of SL to be external windows over our desktops.... I wonder if it'd be more simple to put the main SL 3D view inside it's on built-in window. In effect, the 3D view would be a window within the main SL viewer (or maybe have a tear-off option similar to the IM windows).

With this solution, anyone with large enough or multi-monitors could then stretch the main SL window across both monitors, and resize the 3D view window into just one of those mons.. while positioning the various other SL windows (maps/inventory/IM/scripts/edit) into the excess space, yet still within the main SL client window.

I'm all for this !

Anything that helps declutter the main window.

I always use 2 monitors, I'd use 4 if I could.

That seems like it would be the easiest way for LL to do it. I run two monitors at 1024x768 and it drives me crazy to be limited to one monitor when I have Find, acct history, inventory, chat history, a notecard, and the IM window all open. I can't see a thing and half my mousing is wasted shuffling things around to get to the thing I need at any given moment.

Yes! Detachable windows now!

(And a costomixable UI while you're at it. )

except stretching won't work if you have monitors of different/sizes resolution. Also having one huge open GL window across both screens would tax the video cards so severly it woudn't be worth it. Specially like me, where I have a relatively poor quality 32MB PCI card running the 2nd monitor.

I work with Adobe Creative Suite all day long. If I couldn't distribute the pallettes across two monitors I would go absoluetly nuts. I think this would be a great interface change for SL.

I may find such a thing dandy for myself too--I'm on a single CRT but am under "positive pressure" to get dual LCDs. Great to see you splashed this out and did a proposal too, KDL!

I've done SL stretched across two monitors, it worked fine with no discernable change in FPS.

The problem is that SL keeps avatar in the middle of the screen, which is right in between the monitors.

If you could adjust the horizontal positon of the avatar it should work fine.

The monitors were different sizes, by the way, it didn't make any real difference from a functional point of view, of course it would be nice to have them be just alike.

There are some decent looking dual LCD monitors, I was looking at ads today, for 800 bucks, that would be nice way to do a double wide SL.

What you're describing here is ActiveWorlds. The big difference interface wise between AW and SL is that AW looks like a web app with a chat window, a contacts window, a 2d web browser window and err... oh yes, a 3d window.. whereas SL is centered on the 3D space, it isn't even a window.

I agree it is annoying that all the dialogue boxes in SL are placed on the flat 2d plane that is the glass of your crt and that is the main reason SL doesn't work very well with 3D vision systems like shutter glasses. The dialogue boxes either get in the way of your view of the 3D world, or they kill the effect entirely.

A better option (and I'd have it as an option in prefs) would be to have the dialogue boxes set in 3D space so they appear to be floating infront of you (or wherever you move them). Sat here at my RL desk at work I have loads of paperwork in the 3D space infront of me and it's easy to just look around and see all of it. The same should be true in SL with dialogue boxes. HTML on prim faces anyone?

Eww, no way. People have being trying to use windows in 3D for ages - it just makes things more difficult.

I propose that LL give out 3D vision peripherals to all SL users.

And 3D spacial interfaces like the P5 glove or the revolution controller.

(Oh, and make it so they work in SL.)

This idea of wanting to extend the Second Life display across two monitors would work fine if we could just split the screen into a "world view" portion and a "tools and dialogs" portion. Similar to how one docks things in other programs and the system knows to use only the leftover space to display the drawing in.

Or if we could simply set where the centre point is.

*stamp* Make it so!

I could even live with that... As it has been stated when you strech across 2 monitors your AV appears in between with your center of vision split between the 2 monitors. This makes for a rough experience... My main concern is to unclutter my active world view area.

KDL

That's easy to do, just close AW and run SL instead..

I heard this many times about two monitors........I believe its been stuck down before....So i highly doubt it will happen.

I ment my world view area....I have never been to AW..

KDL

Someone suggested a single window streched accrost the 2 monitors with a world view area and then a auxillary area. Even this idea is better than what we currently have with the cluttered world view.

KDL

grr you people i voted for this months ago!
http://secondlife.com/vote/index.php?get_id=197
this is my biggest beef with the feature vote tool. slightly different wording of the same thing and there's 8 million different versions of the same proposal out there. votes spread all over the place, and it's usually not the suggestion poster's fault...you never know what key/wording someone else might have used when they came up with a simmilar idea *cry*

that said, YES i want this!

It would be a welcome addition!

Imagine playing one one screen and having a world map and IMs on the other!

Great idea!

Seconded. Or whatevered.

I proposed docking of the palettes a few months ago myself.