Internet Support?

First off, nothin' fancy.

The big problem with doing website sorts of things on SL is that it gets pretty complex and it all comes down from the server. But what if... what if... we let the client's computer do a little work? Something like an llSetTexture:

llSetHTML (string URL, integer FACE);

Now, this would simply tell the client to load the page and apply it as a texture. If there was fancy javascript, text entry, etc, it wouldn't do that. It'd just make an image out of it and put it there when it loaded. Even if it just pointed to a text file!

So rather than bulky notecards, I make a text file on an ftp site. And then I put that page on a face. All the REAL work would be done by the client through the server where the files are KEPT, not the SL servers! And it would unlock so much kewl stuff: books, for example! We could have other applications modify and update txt files on the web and then they'd be mirrored in SL! Images would be nice too Have an updated .jpg that comes from a web cam. Have the script do llSetHTML (string JPG, integer FACE) in a timer() event, and BAM! We have a web cam in SL!

Just a dream. There's probably a hundred things that keep this from being possible... but I think it'd be nifty

This could be done on the client side with the HTML renderer in IE, or on the server side with some other HTML renderer.

BUT, I think this is a Bad Idea, especially if it's done on the client side. I don't need my SL client opening up connections to random web pages, downloading ActiveX bugs, etc.

What wednesday said

So then we don't let it do ActiveX. We let it do text, some simple HTML tags, some jpgs/gifs... and if by some mistake someone decides to allow anything risky, give users a checkbox to shut off loading anything risky.

There's always the risk that someone will take some really annoying JPG or ugly page and put it up... but don't we already have that problem with the freedoms we're allowed?

MS is aggressively phazing out client side ActiveX anyway. Over the internet it just never proved reliable and stable in anything but the most controlled situation.

The new thing is "user controls", which you use like an ActiveX control (as far as dropping it on a web page), but it is actually run as a server side object that spits out content based on default browser detection and/or other configurable properties (XML schema/XSLT transforms whatever). This is a .Net technology (in the MS world), and shows a lot of promise as it removes installation and security issues from the client, but still enables that intuitive manner of WYSIWIG development.

um... so does that mean 'yes'? _ That was a LOT of terms I just dunno anything about!

So with those restrictions - just simple .txt, .html, .jpg, and nothing security-provoking, does it seem like a good idea? I share your concern about living in a world where textures trap you into WAREZ sites, but I think that if we keep it simple we can do so much kewl stuff with content in-game without risking SL resources and without risking security!

Whaddya think?

I think that this could lead to much problems. Currently, the Linden's have control of everything on the game and if something it that distasteful, the Lindens can remove it. If you take control out of their hands, basically anything can and will be displayed IW. I think while this could be really neat, assuming everyone was mature, the unfortunate thing is everyone is not, and could turn plain disasterous.

given everything you just said alondria, i still think some simple version of html(not access to the external web) that allowed us to create pages of info would be nice. Currently if we want to display info, we need to do one of a couple things. make a texture. make an object with llSetText effects, make an object that gives out a notecard that we typed stuff into. The third one can contain the most varied amount of info, the only snag is getting people to trigger the object into giving them the card.

btw, where are those examples? heh, i know your motherboard isn;t fried any more, well it may still be but you have one that is working now

Oh poop... Caught me... Ummm.. the dog ate it. (Note to self, do homework. )

As far as content, a texture can pretty much do whatever a web page can. Text, ,graphics, animation.....

But textures are impossible to modify in-game, and are static. They're not good for giving out dynamic information.

Well, that is not necessarily completely true. While you cannot edit the texture itself, via layering and texture maps of multiple images, you can make a interactive and fairly dynamic object. (*plug*: See our product coming out soon as an example of this).

The web site would be static anyways if it is not going to have working forms/javascript/etc. The only real difference is saving the $10 to upload the texture.

Not quite. Because it is built on an existing scripting engine, you could render new pages on the fly. Its not as fast or fancy or smooth, but it would definatly not need to be static.

But you can do as such already in LSL, you just have to write the engine. Plus with an in world engine, it could actually interact with in world events. (once again, plug... 5742 lines of code, and rising... soon, soon...)

/edit: Okay, I suppose you could do some in world interaction view email, but the refresh speed would not be great....

Well, when compared to the other options of spending $10 to upload a new texture of text every time I want to change a sign, or to spend an unknown amount of cash on vaporware that may or may not do what I need, being able to refer to a natively-supported object that I can change on the fly sounds much easier.

How about THIS for an idea...

add an HTML inventory item. Just like you can put landmarks, notecards, objects, textures in a notecard such that a player accesses them /voluntarily/, there could insert hypertext in notecards. When clicked, the client would cooperate with, or hand off control to, your default browser.

In fact, I'm quite attached to the idea of SL interacting with the web and the player's other applications - although perhaps not without the player's general or even specific permission. Rather than uploading a full song in 9 sec WAVs, which is already a /little/ shady even if you set it no-copy and already own the original music, we could simply have a reference to the song. Anyone who /already/ owns the song would hear the song from their own computer. I know this brings us dangerously close to TSO, where a copy of everything is on the players' computers, but I still think this would be a nifty option to have!

I'm still dreaming of a day when we could have an e-space where a file of any sort has a real body. Just like that old cartoon, ReBoot. I could walk around with a .exe in my hand But that hardly seems practical, and it'd certainly put a quick end to SL. But I'll keep dreaming.