[sldev] Re: Second Life User Experience

[Kelly Washington]

Argent Stonecutter wrote:
>> A lot of the ideas make the UI more complex I think.  Add an option, a
>> checkbox, a dialog etc etc.  Right now our inventory is already too
>> complicated for new users with few items and not powerful enough for
>> advanced users with thousands of items.  In the end we end up with an
>> inventory that is not good for anyone.   At the same time, making it
>> more complex, adding filters and links and more and more is not likely
>> to make it really usable for anyone but the most hard core willing to
>> wade through options and try everything until they get something that
>> works.
>
> My first two suggestions don't actually make inventory more complex.
> All the components that I suggested (tabs, filters, folders) are in
> there already, and they have distinct user interfaces. Making the
> filters and searches operate by creating new tabs would actually
> simplify the user interface. The "filter" interface is particularly
> awkward, and changing it to "create a filter tab" that shows you the
> filter options in the tab itself, then shows you the results, would
> simplify things and help alleviate the problems of finding the results
> again after you remove the filter. Searches could do the same thing,
> or you could just have "save search as a tab".
I agree with the current filter being awkward.  In the design discussion
I posted I suggested replacing it with an icon menu to the left of the
search bar, that would drop down with the different filter options.  The
interface I am envisioning is like the FireFox search field where an
icon indicates which search engine is being used, clicking on the icon
pops up a list of search engines to search.  The cost is the ability to
search multiple types of items and search by date.  I think the first is
fine to lose - anything where you need to search multiple types
(textures vs snapshots) should be combined into a single filter.  As for
filtering by date, I believe that is a more advanced technique that is
half implemented (you can only search for new items) and better replaced
by other systems (an option in a menu to only show un-opened/viewed items).
>
>> https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Inventory_UI_Design
>
> Honestly, I think this is far more complex than is needed, and
> represents a lot of work that I don't think Linden Labs has the
> resources to implement... even if you just handle the server-side part
> of the work.
>
I disagree that it is far more complex than is needed, though it may be
a bit more complex than needed.  There are some take aways from it that
can be implemented in short order, there are not too many
interdependencies (it can be done in many stages), and some are viewer
only. 

Some big and fairly easy wins (from my perspective):
* Always sort 'system' folders to the top.
* The filters change mentioned above - can even keep the filter window
for now, though I would drop it personally.
* Automatic trash clean up

Maybe less easy, but probably possible with only viewer would be an
image preview pane.

A really big win, but not nearly as easy would be searching by more than
name.

The idea for the page is for design discussion, and already on the talk
page people are talking about easier ways to implement the features
along with other suggestions.  Feel free to jump in on the discussion there.

 - Kelly