[sldev] Landmarks and Navigation Project Update 2008-05-22

[Felix Duesenburg]

Argent is right... I think there are some great ideas brought up in the 
landmarks project already, but so far either their proposed 
implementation or their limiting on landmarks looks like a bit of 
patchwork here and there, but not really like the big project that 
deserves its own namespace in the JIRA. We need to think broad, 
holistic, outside the box.

A few opinionated points:

I'd hate to see landmarks go out of the inventory. There simply is no 
menu or other structure that can replace the tools you have with the 
inventory to organize things. The idea to be able to elevate any folder 
to a tab view is great. I'd say why not go one step further and offer 
what Mozilla's email client has: Save a search as folder - translated to 
SL inventory, save a search as a tab. I'm sure many would like to keep a 
tab with worn items, or a content creator one with items belonging to 
the project they are currently working on regardless in which folder the 
things actually reside. In database terms, this is a 'logical view' on 
top of the 'physical view'. The search criteria should be improved to 
make every conceivable object property available to search; not only 
full text in both filename and description, but permissions, asset type, 
stored attachment point, top folder where to start searching and whether 
to include subfolders, etc etc. I think the way Thunderbird presents 
message searching is a good starting point. Implementation wise, this 
would require a decision whether to make this a client/viewer only 
feature, or whether these parameters get stored somehow on the server. I 
can't quite make up my mind, but think I could live with a client-side 
solution.

On the other hand we should limit our tendency to draw analogies with SL 
  and a web browser regarding the navigation user interface. For 
instance, I don't think I need 'back' and 'forward' buttons/keys to 
hasten through my recent teleport coordinates. I can't imagine anyone 
jumping around in SL as wildly as you would between web pages when e.g. 
gathering pieces of information from different sources. At least not all 
the time so that you would need access to this functionality on the very 
top of the UI.

For the menu option, I recently proposed something with the teleport 
history and favourite locations, see VWR-1422. The code needs some 
improving and updating to work with the latest RC sources. I'm still 
awaiting a reply to the question whether any further work on this would 
be futile or not? I got this started shortly before details of the NAV 
project became public.

As Argent mentioned the map, coincidentally that's what I'm working on 
at the moment :) The map is getting an inventory view replacing the 
landmarks combo, just like the texture picker, only filtered to the 
landmarks asset type. I'm just a bit stuck understanding how the thing 
works; thought I ported all the code from the texture picker, but it 
still shows no content. Bit more digging and I'll crack it some time 
soon, hopefully. Sneak preview attached - JIRA to follow when I have a 
working patch.

Cheers,
Felix


Argent Stonecutter wrote:
> On 2008-05-28, at 22:27, Kitty wrote:
>> Wouldn't adding a "Landmarks" tab to the inventory floater (rooted at the
>> Landmarks folder) make more sense than the proposed Landmarks menu?
> 
> Better would be the ability to make *any* folder into a new tab. 
> Independently of any landmarks issues.
> 
> But speaking of which, the sidebars in IE do nothing for me, I never use 
> the favorites sidebar, and it actually bothers me that I have to use the 
> history sidebar at all. So I prefer a Landmarks menu, that just gave a 
> view of the Landmarks folder in my inventory.
> 
> Which doesn't mean that I don't think that your idea isn't great. 
> Just... not *instead* of a landmarks menu.
> 
> Actually, I'd like the landmarks pulldown on the map to ONLY show 
> landmarks under the landmarks folder. Make that the landmarks menu.
> 
> (And, please, no HUDs)
> 
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