The Second Life User Interface Design Contest
July 23, 2008 3:27 amAs you all might know, Dusan Writer promised a worthwhile bounty - 800 000 LS - for the best theorical new “GUI” design for the Second Life client. Today together with Keystone Bouchard, Eristica Strangelove, Ordinal Malaprop and Dusan Writer and an impressive crowd I listened (and read) to 5 of the 6 presentations of the contestant. Woot! and Impressive! Obviously a lot of thoughts went into these designs, and each of it had some great ideas that Lindens could implement. Shall Lindens do so? I don’t know. But as Marc Linden recently stated: ‘We also launched a new initiative to completely redesign the viewer from top to bottom – recognizing that new users don’t need such a dizzying array of features, and experienced users, land and business owners and content creators need better tools that are more thoughtfully designed and organized for their needs. Everyone needs better inventory management and search is due for an overhaul. We hear you. We’re on it.’ Contestants are McCabe Maxsted, Rheta Shan, Jacek Antonelli, Damien Fate and Roy Cassini. Links to their entries you can find at Dusan Writer’s blog.
Some of the great suggestions that dazzled me:
- Getting rid of the taskbar below, using the sides of your screen more, to accommodate the mass that is using multimedia widescreen monitors and laptops.
- Making it possible to change perms on objects from within the inventory window, not needing to open properties for each and every object.
- Grouping all communication options in the lower left corner. (A constant throughout the UI design suggestions.)
- ‘Send to’ option in inventory window.
- Option to ‘favourite’ inventory objects, and sort to see only fav items.
- Sort by creator for inventory.
Features/ideas that were not mentioned in the presentations but that I would love to see added:
- Sort friends in groups, need be this information is stored locally.
- Option to ‘colour code favourite’ objects in inventory, sort objects by colour. Eg. Only show items that are annotated as blue, as they are work ones. Or green, as they are personal. Or pink as they are SLex related. Etc.
- Return a full functional record film/machinima recording function.
- Client functionality is skinnable. Content creators can in some way distrubute a viewer that is kept up to date by LL. Certain functions & menus can be disabled (eg. fly, rezz objects, chat, … compare it to the restraint life client), LM’s & objects added to library, arrival points set, windlight settings, etc. When the viewer needs to be updated, it keeps the information from that file about functionality. At any point a user can click ‘revert my viewer to the standard one’, or return to the presets, which can be multiple from different companies.
- Buying and selling L$ in general to be more prominent present in the Second Life UI.
What about you? What do you think about the entries, and what would you like to see changed in, added to or taken out of the Second Life client as we know it?
Tags: contest, second life client, user interface
15 Responses to “The Second Life User Interface Design Contest”
I already traded sex to my husband for
1. name tab completion for avatars either within the sim or within chat range, and in session windows. Similar to IRC client style nick tab complete.
2. Ability to drop inventory into IM windows or at least be able to access a profile from anytime an avatars name is displayed so i can drop inventory easier.
–
I need to add: batch permission editing.
I think that is all. :D
You wrote: “Contestants are McCabe Maxsted, Rheta Shan, Jacek Antonelli, Damien Fate and Roy Cassini.”
You forgot about me, Vincent Nacon. :/
Awesome suggestions… they make my mouth water!
I wrote down some of my big wishes for SL (many of the UI-oriented) on my blog, and these suggestions are giving me even more ideas.
http://virtualversion.wordpress.com/2008/06/12/my-second-wishlist/
Up-arrow in the chat window and the input bar. Autocomplete and other IRC features would be amazing.
@chaddington
OH YES, also control U to clear the chat field.
Excuse me while I put those on the list :) Thanks!
/clear that used to be, no?
What was the IRC abbreviation again for ‘parents looking at screen over shoulder, don’t typ anything dirty’? =D
/clear is IRC client (or the 3 i used did that) I am used to control U due to Linux.
But, I’ll take a /clear instead. I’ll take anything to clear the whole field. :)
@ Chaddington
oh so if you hold control and tap up arrow…..that will do what up arrow does in IRC.
The strange reason is that apparently up arrow will move the avatar despite being in chat mode. long story short the change has to be made there.
Thanks to my husband who showed me that.. I’m happy now!
Thanks, Kesseret, I did not know that either! =)
The VERDAMMTE IM window which just gets in the way of everything. Would it be beyond the realms of possibility to make it like the chat window, ephemeral but able to be called up in case of the need to indellibly record or even just revisit undying declarations of love.
Or was this included in one of the multitudinous SL reiterations and just passed me by?
I’m confused. You can’t close the IM/Communicate window?
[…] My quick write up of the first presentation of the contestants of their user interface design to the… […]
What I would like to see in the UI is maybe not possible (you tell me). A screen thats too crowded with too many things in one small sapce is the problem. Rather than try to find better ways to fit too much into too smaller space why not rethink the issue. How do we get more space?
I would like the option to use a second PC screen/monitor. One PC screen/monitor would contain the view of the SL scene that I am looking at and nothing else. The second one would contain all the controls and pop up windows. This way I can see where I am going and do stuff and chat at the same time. For building especially this would be great. Lets face it many people have PCs that can control 2 monitors and maybe even old screens that could be used for the second one.
Is this a radical enough redesign for you!.
Maybe the second screen could have an option for begginer, normal and expert mode, allowing new users just the basic options to get started and expert allowing all options. Also given a whole screen to play with gives more scope for laying out controls in an easy to use way.
I am sure that there are many reasons why this will be difficult to do but my first question is if it can be done should it be?
Feel free to pull this apart or adapt the idea as you see fit guys. Laterall thinking is needed here.
[…] Bob Wellman: What I would like to see in the UI is maybe not possible (you tell me). A screen thats too crowded with… […]
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