User Interface Improvement Suggestions

Creator and author: Jacek Antonelli

Date: June 29, 2008.

Goals

Pick low-hanging fruit. Make simple changes that offer large improvements in usability.
Keep your feet on the ground. Suggested changes should be feasible, not pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking.
Make it better for everyone. Improve usability for all users, and you'll improve usability for newbies as well.
Don't cripple the UI. Generally, avoid "dumbing down" the UI as a strategy for making it more approachable.

Note: It is not my intent to make any suggestions regarding interface style / theme, only usability and functionality.

Main Interface

I propose a substantial, but not infeasible, reworking of the main toolbar at the bottom of the screen. I'll let this annotated concept art do the speaking, as I'm running short on time.

Menu Bar

Second Life is a complex application, and its menus reflect that. Many users find the huge number of menu items intimidating; further, the lack of any sort of logical arrangement to these menu items makes the menus difficult to learn and navigate. I therefore propose a substantial reorganization of the menus to correct these shortcomings, by grouping related items into menus and submenus. The full listing is given in Appendix A.

The benefits of this reorganization can be summarized as such:

Menu items are organized in a more logical manner, making them easier to locate.
Top-level menus are smaller, so that the user is not overwhelmed by them.
Useful related functions (e.g. building tools) are located in sub-menus, which can be torn off for easy access.

Besides simple reorganization, a few new menu items are proposed:

"Logout", to log out your avatar and return to the login screen without needing to restart.
"Reconnect", to log out and then log in again without needing to restart.
"Refresh Avatar", which rebakes your textures and avatar shape.

Inventory

One of the timeless struggles in Second Life is that of locating something in your inventory. The tendency to accumulate a large number of items, combined with crude and difficult organization and filtering tools, can make inventory management overwhelming for newbies and oldbies alike. The task of finding an item has been made easier by the addition of the search feature, "Recent Items" tab, and the ability to filter the view by inventory type, but there are still a number of improvements that could be made.

Category Tabs

The addition of the "Recent Items" tab demonstrated easy access to items meeting a specific criterium. I propose two additional tabs, which would allow access based on two new criteria:

Favorites. This tab displays only items and folders which are marked as "favorites". An item is marked via the right click menu, as described below. The favorites list could be stored locally as a data file, or on the server (with Linden Lab cooperation).

Worn. This tab displays only clothing and objects which are currently worn / attached to the avatar.

Either category tab can be further narrowed down via the Search box or the Quick Filter selection box, described below.

Quick Filter

The interface for accessing current filter functionality is awkward and hard to find. Many users don't even know such functionality exists; many of those who do know about it find it awkward to use. Simple, prominent access to the filtering system would make it more usable, and allow users to quickly refine their inventory searches and views.

My proposed solution is the "Quick Filter" selection box, as illustrated above. The user simply selects an item type from the menu, and the inventory will display only items of that type. For item types which have more specific sub-types (Body Parts, Clothing) or multiple states (Calling Cards, Landmarks), the corresponding menu entry has its own sub-menu, listing the more specific types / states.

The Quick Filter selection box can be used alone or in combination with the Search box and/or the various category tabs.

Right-Click Menu Enhancements

I propose the addition of several new items to the menu which appears when an item/folder is right-clicked in inventory. These new items offer easy access to a number of organizing and filtering functions:

Send to... Allows the user to move the object to another folder: the folder for that item type (or a subfolder), any subfolder of your inventory, or any folder another item was recently sent to.
Filter this type. Sets the Quick Filter type to the selected item's type.
Search this name. Populates the Search box with the selected item's name, allowing the user to easily search for items with the same or similar name.
Mark as Favorite. Marks the item as a favorite, so it will appear in the "Favorites" tab. (If the item is already a favorite, this item changes to "Unmark as Favorite".)

Appendix A: New Menu Layout

Note: I did not list the Help menu, which I do not propose changing, and the Advanced menu, which is mostly unchanged and very unwieldy to list.

File

Preferences...
---
Buy L$...
Account History...
Manage My Account...
---
Toggle Fullscreen
---
Log Out
Reconnect
---
Quit

Edit

Undo
Redo
---
Cut
Copy
Paste
Delete
---
Select All
Deselect

View

Camera >

Camera Controls
---
Reset View
Mouselook
Joystick Flycam
---
Look at Last Chatter
Look at Selected Object
Zoom to Selected Object
---
Zoom In
Zoom Default
Zoom Out

Interface >

Close Window
Close All Windows
---
Show HUD Attachments
---
Set UI Size to Default
---
Toolbar
Statistics Bar

Hover Tips >

Show Tips
Land Tips
Tips On All Objects

---
Reveal Transparent Objects
Hide Particles

Avatar

Chat & IM >

Communicate
Instant Messages
Chat Bar
Local Chat History
---
Active Speakers
Mute List
---
Friends...
Groups...
---
Gestures...

Movement >

Movement Controls
Always Run
Fly

Appearance >

Edit Appearance...
Inventory
---
Attach Selected Object >
Detach >
Take Off Clothing >
---
Refresh Avatar

---
Set Away
Set Busy
---
Stop All Animations
---
Profile...

Explore

Search...
---

World Map
Mini-Map
---
Create Landmark Here
---
Set Home to Here
Teleport Home
---
Land >

About Land...
Region/Estate...
---
My Land...
Buy This Land...
---
Show Property Lines
Show Land Owners

Tools

Tool Mode >

Focus
Move
Edit
Create
Land

Photography >

Take Snapshot
Snapshot to Disk
---
Environment Settings >

Sunrise
Midday
Sunset
Midnight
---
Revert to Region Default
---
Environment Editor

Assets >

Upload Image
Upload Sound
Upload Animation
Bulk Upload
---
Save Texture As...

Building >

Build Mode
---

Selection Options >

Select Only My Objects
Select Only Movable Objects
Select By Surrounding
---
Show Hidden Selection
Show Light Radius for Selection
Show Selection Beam

Grid >

Snap to Grid
Snap Object XY to Grid
Use Selection for Grid
Grid Options...

Link >

Edit Linked Parts
Link
Unlink

---
Duplicate Selected Objects
---
Take
Take Copy
---
Save Object Back to My Inventory
Save Object Back to Object Contents

Scripting >

Show Script Warning/Error Window
---
Recompile Scripts in Selection
Reset Scripts in Selection
Set Scripts to Running in Selection
Set Scripts to Not Running in Selection