User Interface Facelift

How about a live update on total bandwidth cost when changing bandwidth settings. Currently, you either have to do the math in your head when setting numbers, or hit ok then re-hit the preferences button to get the total to update. If you can't do a live update, how about a button to re-calculate the bandwidth total? Thanks

an option to invert mouse for the flight-sim ppl

color coding for object names in my inventory that are (no copy) and / or (no modify)
ie. if an object is (no copy) (no modify), the name background would be gold to signify it's "unique" (any Diablo 2 players out there? =] )

some ppl mentioned tabs like DAOC (which i've never played or seen) here
/13/9e/2134/1.html

Apologies if someone else has already said this... another thing I'd like to see is some more options for object permissions. Specifically the ability to set up a percentage split between two or more people when the item is sold. This would make commission sales a lot easier.

Another nice feature along the same lines would be this.. if someone buys a chair I made and has it in their home, others can buy a copy of the chair and the money would still go to me. That would solve the problem with people reselling things they bought from someone else at a markup. This feature should be optional.

you can now edit your own posts <fixed>

The whole Make Outfit thing needs work. I can't count the number of times I've lost my av because I messed up and didn't copy enough stuff to the new outfit first.

I've been in-world 2 weeks. So I can probably look at this as a new user.

I feel that the notices of people signing on and off are sometimes a problem when you are attempting to follow a learning session. Also if your hope is to cut and paste the chat into a note card, having these unrelated comments is un-necessary. If the ability to turn off these notices exists, I have not found it yet.

I agree with the previous post about the tabbed window for the inventory. I am so unclear as to where to find things and how to move them.

I find the deleted items folder about worthless. If you have been building and deleting for awhile and by mistake deleted the wrong object your in trouble. When I go there I have 30 deleted items called object, I have to recreate each one to find the problem one. Maybe some type of date and time deleted would be an answer, maybe some type of preview of an item before rezing it. We need some option that new people like myself can use other than putting all of the 30 items back out there to see what they are...

My comments above may have solutions, but to me, it is not obvious how to solve them.

Posting design direction thoughts from Randy on the UI. As you'll see, there is a desire to split our consumer and builder functions. For example, you shouldn't have to go into edit mode to get objects out of a container. The separation isn't just "basic" vs. "advanced" user but has more to do with creating a distinction between being immersed in the environment vs. actively modifying/creating in the environment.

Comments welcome (and expected )
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Design Approach

Create two user interfaces: Consumer and Builder.

Builders create objects, places, and events.
Consumers interact with (and/or buy) the builder-generated content.

The Consumer UI places special emphasis on the first few user-sessions in Second Life. Staff observations indicate that play style may change rapidly during the first session, as many users spend the bulk of it customizing their appearance (some while in the entry gazebo), completely missing the depth of activity and creativity in the world.

The Consumer UI is oriented around “Discovery” while the Builder UI is more about fulfilling a user’s “Dreams.” Moving between the interfaces for the first time is like “stepping behind the curtain” in Oz or, in more contemporary terms, “stepping into the hallway of back-doors” in The Matrix.

Consumer Tasks

To decide which of Second Life’s features are required in the Consumer UI, we need to model the tasks they will perform during game play. These tasks have been grouped into four categories: Myself, People, Places/Events, and Things.

Myself - The user’s interaction with the software and their avatar
How do I move? Where can I go?
How do I interact with that object? What does it do? How do learn more about it?
How do I make friends? Can I trust you? Do I know you already?
How do I communicate with others? How do I gesture/wave/make noise?
I’m uncomfortable with another user’s actions. What can I do?
How do I customize my avatar? How do I get the cool clothes people are wearing?
How do I make my own t-shirt? How do I trade with other people?
How do I get money? When will I get more? What can I spend it on?
Can I sell my custom textures/sounds? What have I sold?
How do I make a house?

People – Other’s avatars and the people behind them
Where is everybody? Where/who are the helpful people?
Where are the most people right now? Who is that (on the map)?
Who/where are my friends? Where are some new folks I can meet?
How can I find the friend who referred me here? Is (s)he online now?

Places and Events – Persistent and ephemeral community infrastructure
Where am I? What can I do here?
What does the world look like, today? Where are the most popular events?
Where are the most popular locations? What are the rules [t]here?
Where can I shoot things, party, shop, etc.? What games can I play?
Where is some land I can buy?

Things – Managing constructed objects and their customizable resources
Where are my things? (Where do I live? How do I find lost stuff?)
Where can I learn more about this place/object?
Where can I get avatars, clothing, props and/or furnishings?
How do I customize the color of my objects?
How do I apply a different texture/sound to my objects?
How do I apply a custom texture/sound to my objects?
How do I add premade behavior (scripts) to my objects?

i'm not sure what kind of feed back you're looking for but here goes.

first, they're probably obvious but could you also list the Builder UI tasks?. also, i think some of the consumer tasks might better fit in the builder task UI. like:

Under Myself---
How do I customize my avatar?
How do I make my own t-shirt?

Under Things---
How do I customize the color of my objects?
How do I apply a different texture/sound to my objects?
How do I apply a custom texture/sound to my objects?
How do I add premade behavior (scripts) to my objects?

just my $.02. and btw I really like the idea of splitting the two areas of creating/changing, and just using/exploring the environment.

A clarification (Thanks for raising the issue Ope):

Presently, we are thinking that we will enable Consumers to 'customize' their appearance (change colors/textures) but not have them deal with 'creating' objects from scratch. If you look at all the 'stock' houses out there that have a custom color/texture applied, you'll see why.

Keep up the good submissions, all!

Consumer -> Customizer
Builder -> Creator

Oracle Omega (UI Guy)

Did I mention "keep the debug menu"?

Well... Keep the debug menu please

I didn't spot this thread when it first came out, but here goes...

I also think some of these have been mentioned, so consider these "seconds"...

(1) This might not belong in this category but: I'd really like to be in First Person mode most of the time. I litterally hate 3rd person mode. Except for the occasional check to make sure my pants are still on, I have no use for it. I would stay in mouselook mode all the time but when there I don't like the movement options. I'd basically like to be able to see out of the eyes of my avatar and still move around using the standard keys for up/down/forward/backward/turn. Even when building... If I could position my AV to the point of view I was after and then just work from there (or at least start from there). I'm no ace builder, but I spend a lot of time maneuvering so that my avatar is not in the way when I build. Using focus helps, but sometimes I'd really like to rotate around a point where my avatar is (usually in the air), but not have my avatar in the way. I could go on....

(2)Separate viewport from other windows. I'd like the world view to bu uncluttered by other windows. That means having the world view in its own window with the chat, IM, inventory (at least) outside it. The map window might make sense still in the viewport, but even that would be just fine with me outside. As with item 1, the various windows that it is convenient to leave open often end up in the way when building or even in conversation. By the time you subtract the space taken up by the sub-windows and then subtract the space taken up by your own avatar (item 1) your view of the world is very chopped up. I spend a lot of time turning from side to side to manipulate the view so that various things or people are visible. No sooner do I close all the extra windows to get a better view than I need one or more of the windows opened up again.

(3) I think the menu items could be better arranged. Preferences under edit makes SOME sense, but having a main menu item for preferences, with sub categories for building, graphics, network, etc makes more sense to me. I'm not sure if the debug prefs are going away or not, but along with all the others there are a LOT of options to diddle with. Would be nice to have it all in one interface, be it a dropdown menu item or a big tabbed window of some sort.

(4) Related to (2) I think, the sub-windows as they are now seem to be done with graphics (ie they don't use fonts on my windows system for example). There is nothing wrong with this except that I find it makes some operations slower than I'd expect them to be. Cut and paste operations come to mind. Also sometimes I click the corner of a window to move it out of the way but somehow that gets handled as if I had clicked on a distant object and suddenly I'm flying toward it. The only thing I can think of is that my clicking and dragging is lagged so much that a pie pops up without my even seeing it and gets selected instead. Doing item (2) will fix this though (I think).

oh I strongly agree with Mac over the first person view. I also don't like having to use 3rd person.

Oracle do you have an idea of what these two UIs will look like? or are you just gathering ideas at this point? theres already a lot of good ideas in this thread.

Also, I was wondering where you will draw the line between customizing and creating. For example is linking considered creating? Let's say I buy a nice painting and i want to link it onto my wall( just for arguments sake). This seems more like customizing. But linking is a big part of creating so which would it fall under? I'm sure there will be some things that fall into this grey area. How will they be handled? Will they be included in both UIs. If so will they work the same in both or differently?

Ok I know I'm just providing more questions than feedback here. I would just like to hear more about whats in the works for the new UI, specifically in terms of this builder/consumer split that was mentioned.

Don't know if anyone said this just glancing through. But a think that would be awesome is a way to organize you IM list so that the people you use more frequently are at the top. And you could also make IM catagories for various group and things. I think that functionality would be awesome. With the world getting bigger IM's will play a bigger role than ever.

Expanding on what Skippy said I want a way to select which Avs it tells me log on or off instead of just everyone I have a calling card for. I basically ignore the online/offline messages because there are so many. There are a lot of people who I want there card to get ahold of them etc, but don't necessarily care to know every time they log in or out.

Ope - you touch on a good point. It is my thought that in the Create mode you should be able to do everything in the Customize type mode. I don't want to switch modes to change the texture on an object I just created.

On what Ama and Skippy said, i think a friend list could accomplish that, wouldn't it? You'd havea specific list that you could add friends too(the people you talk to most frequently or wish to know when they come online etc). And those would be the names that would appear, instead of ALL the calling cards.

I would love multi monitor support. I use 2 monitors when doing my Photoshop work and it would be great to have my SL build menus in the other monitor.

I don't know if this has been mentioned or if there are any plans, but is there any way NOT to have the inventory window pop open when you get a card? This is really disturbing at an event or a chat, or when something is going on in the foreground.

Another thought, the names above the avs - could they be changed so that in a large crowd, you see more than a big jumble of undecipherable stuff? Like change color if they overlap or shrink to avoid overlapping?

I really like the 3rd person view, you see so much more going on around you, maybe a toggle switch for those who prefer one over the other?

fen-

Just an idea. Any chance of a 'Save chat to logfile' feature. Maybe a toggle button so you can switch it on when needed?

How many times have people been in the middle of a lesson only to get logged off / crashed and when you return there is no trace of previous instructions.

This would also help with meetings and making notecards for lessons.

Any chance?