Better Chat operation

Here's a simple feature that would be a boon to chatting. In the current SL UI, in order to chat you have to click the chat button to allow you to chat. During this time you can not move, walk or anything else.

This often times leads to people suddenly saying "wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" or "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" as they try to move, but forget they are in chat. They must remove thier hands from the keyboard and back to their mouse, unclick the chat button or click somewhere in the world before being able to move again. This is extremely clumsy.


The better UI solution would be:

Hit Enter/Return to go into chat.
Type chat
Hit Enter/Return again to send chat.

This allows chatting at any time by simply hitting the Enter key and exiting it at any time by simply hitting the Enter key a second time. Remove the mouse Chat button entirely (or change it to the History button) and just leave the Chat text field up on the screen 100% of the time. This would be a much easier and more intuitive way to chat and move around the world, without requireing users to constantly move thier hands from the keyboard to the mouse, back to the keyboard, etc. Many other MMOGs that I have played uses this technique and it works very well.

Edit->Preferences->Chat

[] Close chat after hitting return

That doesn't fix the problem of getting into chat. The objective should be to not have to use the mouse just to go into and out of chat. And you don't want to "close" chat, you just want to go into movement mode when you hit return. Often times you are trying to move around with other players and chat at the same time. The current UI design makes it so you really can either chat or move, but not both which is clumsy. You should be able to do both from the keyboard transparently.

That's the way things currently work...

Hitting enter will put you into chat mode and, if you have that checkbox I mentioned enabled, hitting return at the end of chat will send what you typed and exit chat mode. You dont need to use the mouse.

-Code

I think what Code Smith posted does exactly what you want?

I use Close chat after hitting return, and I NEVER have used my mouse to close/open chat.

Ctrl+H opens and closes Chat History (toggable) too, so if I'm around alot of people, or will be talking for awhile I open that up.

I believe you can also use the arrow keys and type at the same time while moving (haven't tested this, but it seems like you should be able to) if you have your little chat bar up (aftering hitting return/enter once to bring it up after having clicked Close chat after hitting return int he preferences), then to return to using WASD to move just hit Enter/Return again and switch back to move mode.

I find it incredibly hard myself to move and type at the same time.

Oops my bad, yes it does pretty much what I want. My only nit would be that it would be nice if it stayed up and simply changed mode, rather than closing it entirely. its annoying to see it jumpping up and down like a jackrabbit. But thats a minor thing.

And if you've already started typing "wwwwaaaaa" then instead of deleting it all and hitting return when the box is empty to close chat, just hit ESC. Though this also returns your camera to default over-the-shoulder mode and cancels edit mode, etc...

If you use the cusor (arrow) keys and page up/down then you need never close the chat

But the arrow keys are freakishly unnatural to those of us who play FPSes.

That's a matter of preference. Everyone I know uses the number pad for FPS movement.

I'm pretty certain Code's comment is what you want since you don't have to click to get into chat, you hit enter to start chatting, type, then hit enter again closing chat.

Does anyone seriously try to chat and move simultaneously? How do you type when your hands are tied up with movement keys?

Considering the "how can I make lots of Lindens?" thread, I'm sure we have a good number of one-handed typists.

I don't chat and move simultaneously, but I often need to issue commands (such as turning on/off speed boost or resetting the movement odometer) to my attachments while flying around. I use one hand for the arrow keys and pageup/pagedown, and the other for typing.

Might I suggest you turn off NumLock and use the keypad for movement? Your standard arrow keys are there, Fly and Jump are mapped to 7 and 9 respectively and 3 is crouch. It's very convenient and it leaves your other hand to type without interfering with movement.