Widgets come to the Official Linden Blog!
Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 5:50 PM by: Torley Linden[UPDATE - Nov. 29 @ 9:43 AM PST] Categories confirmed fixed. Further blog improvements coming, I’ll detail them as they arrive. Thank-you.
[UPDATE - 7:38 PM PST] Pass-1 done. Going home to dance in the snow and spend quality time with my wife. Maybe I’ll build something too. Viva la Second Life! This is an ongoing process, expect to hear more from me tomorrow. Thanx graciously for your patience. 
[UPDATE - 7:18 PM PST] By popular request, “UTC-8” (equivalent to GMT and Pacific Time Zone, what we standardized Second Life on) has been added next to timestamps.
[UPDATE - 6:54 PM PST] I’ve noticed some kinks, like our Categories continue to not work. Pardon for this, it’ll be remedied ASAP.
OMG I’m so excited — Jose Linden and I just spent the chunk of our day digging through WordPress‘ innards. With the help of Andy, we’ve returned — with Widgets gems! If you’re asking why they’re important, it’s simple: they allow us to dynamically reconfigure our sidebar *points to the right* and add all sorts of kewl content.
We’ve wanted this for a really long time ‘cuz it’ll help us communicate with you better. So first things first, I’m going to re-add our email subscription form, then investigate putting in notification of future Linden events, makin’ our Guideline for Blog Comments more accessible, better search, etc.
I’ve gotta check some of this stuff in quickly because WP undergoes database maintenance in 3 hours, lockin’ me out of the database.
November 28th, 2006 at 5:57 PM
YAY!!! Widgets are the BOMB! ;0 I’m working on changing my template to a different widget layout for each page ;0
November 28th, 2006 at 5:58 PM
Oh you just added that image.. no fair ;0
November 28th, 2006 at 6:01 PM
Nice to see the categories are working at last. Tags still aren’t, mind, but you can sort of find things now.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:03 PM
I ARE BEING WATCHEDLY
November 28th, 2006 at 6:06 PM
lmfao @ yayzerama
November 28th, 2006 at 6:14 PM
Oh dear god it’s like the Lindens have regressed into 13-year-old MySpacers…..
…but still, maybe a good thing. o_o;;
November 28th, 2006 at 6:16 PM
Say…anybody working on packet loss out there?
November 28th, 2006 at 6:22 PM
Locke a part of me is still in that area. I have many Torleys, I am multiple personalities all at the same time, check my profile inworld.
Prokofy OF COURSE.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:27 PM
Woot, now I can sort through everything with relative ease, TY Torley, this is quite a useful item.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:27 PM
Prok, it’s Linden Feature Stratification: Trivial things get pushed up front while system-critical fixes are worked on in the background.
Although, widgets are teh hawt, and bold text for posting guidelines is gooood.
Cool beans, Torley.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:30 PM
Sorry for double posting, but a good thing to have on the sidebar would be a grid status indicator and possibly a link to the latest grid status update post. ^_^
November 28th, 2006 at 6:31 PM
^ That is a fine idea for a future widget. Hrmmm I gotta get together with our Creative Services Lindens ’bout that Thx Jesse. Yer welcome Baron.
Onwards…
November 28th, 2006 at 7:07 PM
So you’re finally getting around to adding configurable content blocks? Didn’t we have those back in… 2000?
November 28th, 2006 at 7:15 PM
Widgets? Only now the widgets where found? C’mon guys. Widgets have been around WordPress for months. Do you need to actually get one guy just to set it up?
November 28th, 2006 at 7:17 PM
I use a mac OS X power PC. Is this widget a windows only application?
it says word press 2.0 is required, where do I get that?
Word press does not have any user instructions, no contact info, and no system requirements for this new soft where.
November 28th, 2006 at 7:24 PM
Ah! That’s where I HAVE A STORY FOR YOU ALL.
Mmmkay, wordpress.com has Widgets standard, yes. So does my personal blog, which many of you know. But our old blog migrated here (read through history), and didn’t have ‘em. Suffice it to say — I love keeping it simple but it wasn’t as easy as first thought due to some complexities via WordPress VIP. (I’ve never heard the word “SVN” so many times!)
Crux being, it’s done. We roll on.
Widgets display cross-platform… WordPress is signed up for via http://wordpress.com or you can roll your own install frum http://wordpress.org
Unspooling…
November 28th, 2006 at 7:34 PM
Yay!! It’s shaping up quite nicely now Tor!
November 28th, 2006 at 7:35 PM
What the hell is this?
November 28th, 2006 at 7:43 PM
Thanxies Baba!
Zipper, it’s the Official Linden Blog! You’re warmly welcome! =^_^=
November 28th, 2006 at 8:39 PM
I am suppose to be thanking LLabs for this? Not a chance how many times are we going to change? Forever it seems.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:59 PM
So um, cool, when the grids down, or when the lag is so bad I can’t actually do anything in SL I can come here and play with a widget, sweet, great, thanks
November 28th, 2006 at 9:28 PM
ahhhh ok now I get it, this widget is an admin tool only. My mistake.
November 28th, 2006 at 9:45 PM
Rascal is that what it is? Thank you for the relay. I tried to ask what it was and I did not get a answer? Only a snot reply. Thanks for the clear it up.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:01 PM
Nice work.
BTW– news flash: Before criticizing every new little thing that is not the top of your own personal priority list of Things That Are Wrong With SL, ever think that SOME of this stuff is being worked on by people with other expertises? I don’t think everyone at Linden Lab works on packet loss, or time dilation, or, as software companies are designed– is allowed to touch that code. At my job, I’m not a developer, I don’t touch the code– I’d screw it up if I did. Cuz. I’m. not. a. developer.
So again, nice work Torley & Jose.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:22 PM
For the glory of SL-1!
November 29th, 2006 at 2:14 AM
Any possibility of inserting the drop down navigation menu above the sidebar so we may return to another portion of the site easily after we have viewed and posted to the blog?
November 29th, 2006 at 2:15 AM
Yes Prokofy, dont think Torley would otherwise work on packets loss or other “hardcore programming work”, or would you want to see SL with some nasty watermeloney drop down menus?
November 29th, 2006 at 2:54 AM
Widgets aside, I would like to recommend the following extension:
http://www.mikesmullin.com/2006/06/05/ajax-comments-20/
This extension basically uses ajax to allow users to make comments without any page refresh - this could save a lot of time and possibly bandwidth to the blog.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:36 AM
Feras Nolan
Just wait for XUI
wandarich
People would prefer to be able to preview comments made before being able to make comments quicker.
Now- does that Ajax comments plugin keep the blog post updated with new comments coming in while the current one is being written ?
November 29th, 2006 at 7:08 AM
Hmm. Nice to be able to filter the blog for different posting topics. What would be even nicer though is to be able to reply *in threaded format* to keep the conversation more on-topic. You’ll have noticed many of us residents - and you Lindens! - use the blog as an opportunity to discuss, debate, explain and correct - but in a post with over 100 comments, even over 25, having no ‘reply to comment’ feature severely hampers that kind of multiway communication.
I certainly don’t have the time to go back again and again, trawling through the whole slew of comments just to see if someone has responded belatedly to something I’ve said halfway up the page, let alone what everyone else has had to say, and I think I must often miss some pearls of wisdom - which is a shame and lets down those who do make an effort not just to comment, but to converse. A blog should really be a two-way tool, otherwise it’s just going to turn into a self-congratulatory exercise on the posters’ part, and a venting of spleen on the part of commenters.
Am I just missing some wonderful but obscure method of following up comment tags here, or am I right, and there aren’t any? Please, please do incorporate this feature as soon as possible, I think it would be such a valuable tool and increase the worth of this blog one hundred fold
November 29th, 2006 at 8:11 AM
‘Grats on the new toys, Torley & Jose!
Suggestions:
- Lose the UTC-8 text and say PST or SLT. Better to be consistant with the rest of the website and more people will know what they mean
- Include the current (or page generation) timestamp. Less math-in-the-head to figure out how long ago the updates were posted
- PHPbb code doesn’t seem to work. A link to what does work with WP would be nice
November 29th, 2006 at 8:13 AM
I agree with Fledhyris, if you keep adding uself features you might just end up with a forum!
November 29th, 2006 at 8:13 AM
I agree with Fledhyris, if you keep adding useful features you might just end up with a forum!
November 29th, 2006 at 9:07 AM
Torley, will UTC-8 become UTC-7 during Daylight Saving Time? UTC-8 is only PST, not PDT.
I have a hard time believing there was popular demand for this change. I should think PST and PDT are much clearer for most, even if less scientific and/or geekish.
November 29th, 2006 at 10:26 AM
I always thought it was called GMT-8. Is UTC a new term or something?
November 29th, 2006 at 11:27 AM
Neither UTC or GMT should be adjusted for daylight savings time, but I’ve found lots of services still adjust GMT anyway.
All time currently sucks -SL should use digital time since it is truly a global application.
November 29th, 2006 at 11:28 AM
I would also like to know what is being done about packet loss!
I had some things disappear from my inventory that I paid good money for! I keep hoping they’ll show up in my Lost and Found folder, but i seriously doubt it.
Does anyone know if we can expect to recover these expensive, vanished items? It is very frustrating to see something I would like to buy, but scared to spend the money for fear of losing it in the SL black hole!
Sincerely,
MAH
November 29th, 2006 at 11:48 AM
What’s that have to do with the blogging software, Blake (and others) ?
November 29th, 2006 at 11:48 AM
Torley -
If blog widgets are all it takes to get you excited, you must not get out much.
Prokofey -
Adding MORE programmers to a project is not always a good thing. Maybe they distracted Torely with the blog widgets to get him out of their cube so they could get some real work done.
November 29th, 2006 at 11:49 AM
The text content has always been the magic for me. Teh blawg - is it a game, or is it a world? *grin*
Been ages Torley, come by and visit again when we both have a break! I’ll tentatively pencil you in for some time in 2012… by then we’ll be able to virtually shake hands…
Desmond in Caledon
November 29th, 2006 at 12:00 PM
It does my heart good knowing that y’all are having so much fun.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:15 PM
BTW– news flash: Before criticizing every new little thing that is not the top of your own personal priority list of Things That Are Wrong With SL, ever think that SOME of this stuff is being worked on by people with other expertises? I don’t think everyone at Linden Lab works on packet loss, or time dilation, or, as software companies are designed– is allowed to touch that code. At my job, I’m not a developer, I don’t touch the code– I’d screw it up if I did. Cuz. I’m. not. a. developer.
BTW, news flash yourself, Spin: I’m well familiar with this tekkie argument we’ve heard ad nauseum for years. And duh, I realize that programmers who work on stuff affecting packet loss are different than the community department Lindens who do completely different work, and can be preoccupied comfortably on things like blog widgets and have them work out well even as some other section of SL doesn’t work. I’m *quite* able to hold these two contradictions in my tiny mind, Eric — news flash!
But that’s not the point. The point is that when performance is this bad for many people, when they cannot even log on and go to land they purchased; when their sims they’ve paid a lot of money for crash all the time on the hour; when they can’t even move for all the red bars of packet loss, they feel like thrusting blog widgets in their face is like pouring vinegar on a wound.
And I’m not one of those who bitches about performance. I tolerate it very well. I have lots of sims where I see how mixed it is, how difficult it is to keep all the tops spinning. I work with it, and I do my part and I wait with patience.
So if even I complain and make the classic gamerz’ lament of “how come you give us this shiny new toy when this other thing doesn’t work,” it’s because I’m getting pretty concerned myself on behalf of my tenants at how lousy the progress is.
Adding more programmers isn’t the answer for insolveable problems sometimes, we realize this. But I wonder if Urizenus Sklar’s concept isn’t the answer: 1) get a new game engine, 2) make a new Second Life, 3) have somebody buy it if LL can’t run it; 4) move some or all of us there, depending on what is involved in shaking loose people from the old broken SL.
And frankly, even with all this widgetry, I don’t see the basic thing we used to have: the *names* of individual Lindens which we associate more with content than lame clouds or tags like “creativity” or “resident experience”.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:24 PM
OH Goody more Toys for the programmers, and New bugs to chase rather than fix the ones in the system. Fix what you have first before starting on playing with NEW TOY’s boys!
And your spending time playing with WIDGETS rather than fixing what’s broken in the game.
Someone on the development staff needs to LOG the amount of hours WASTED this way. I would think they might find enough to cover customer service out of that RED INK.
Wonder if PHIL ever watches these BLOGS?
November 29th, 2006 at 12:39 PM
I for one would love to have watermelon drop downs. Could we get a selection of “skins” for SL?
Suggestions for skins:
BurningSL, Watermelon, hippo, pie, !quit, Impeach Bush
November 29th, 2006 at 12:42 PM
@Blake Jervil
(Apologies for the off-topicness but the guy deserves a response…
An earlier blog entry said to contact Live Help if objects have disappeared *from your inventory* - apparently there have been some [more] database issues for a minority of residents, and they will follow up on anything which hasn’t been restored. Today’s update ought to sort that out, let’s hope
If you lost objects from your parcel, however, forget about it. Sims may crash and burn more times than fighter pilots in WWI but LL will never accept responsibility for such losses, because… well they have a different policy from other MMORPGS and similar platforms, and here, real money spent is a risky investment =^.^= Says so in the TOS so there’s not much point complaining about it. My advice to people is not to buy no-copy expensive items because as we have seen, the stability of SL does not support such foibles.
I’m hoping that more and more creator/vendors will realise this and **STOP MAKING THINGS NO COPY** for this very reason - the only logical reason for making an item no-copy is to make it trans, and the only reason to make something trans is so it can be given as a gift. Personally, I’d rather someone take me to the shop and hand the money over for me to buy the thing, than risk losing it altogether because it’s unique and the platform devours it.
Again, apologies Torley et al. for off-topicness, but the question was raised and I don’t see anyone else making these kinds of comments in the blog - it’s about time someone did.
November 29th, 2006 at 12:59 PM
“Widgets”? I wonder what Steve Jobs will say about that…
November 29th, 2006 at 1:11 PM
Some people will complain about anything.. wow ;0
November 29th, 2006 at 1:44 PM
I’m sorry all you widget freaks, but the problem of packet loss is a serious issue that we who have spent hard-earned lindens for have had no answer or solution. I have been waiting MONTHS for items to be returned and the only recourse is to chalk it up as a loss and stop buying expensive items. Part of the fun of SL is being able to buy and use our toys too. I don’t know how much you guys pay for widgets (I suppose it’s $L0.00) but I would much prefer to stop losing my stuff and having to swallow the out of pocket loss with the glass of vinegar we’ve been getting to wash it down.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:53 PM
And while I’m at it (may as well go for broke) I don’t understand how a few known troublemakers are allowed to make SL miserable for others at will. There are some really malicious crazies in SL and why they are allowed to remain is beyond me. A ‘three strikes you are out’ policy ought to be in effect. Right now TOS should be renamed ‘OUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY and we take no responsibility for anything’. At least then it would be very clear and eliminate wading through all the fine print.
November 29th, 2006 at 2:17 PM
While I’m waiting to find out where the hell my answer to Meade Paravane’s question went…..
Fledhyris Proudhon
That would be Brian’s Threaded Comments.
Dale Luna
And that forum would be bbPress
November 29th, 2006 at 2:19 PM
Some people will give praise where praise is due, and highlight causes for concern which they would like to be addressed, yes.
Is this strange behaviour where you come from, Baba..?
I really don’t see how the blog will help the Lindens to achieve anything if the only comments they receive are ‘w00t, bravo, well done, everything’s ticketty-boo and I’m as happy as a clam’ - not when clearly so many people are NOT very happy with one problem or another. I guess I’m just happy for you that you don’t have any issues - though I have to wonder how much time you spend in-world at all for that to be the case…
And to add a positive note to this comment, I’m actually quite happy that today’s update is taking so long. It shows that they’re being careful. One day out of every week in which we can’t log on doesn’t seem such a big sacrifice to me. Go, grid monkeys
*Offers coffee and donuts*
November 29th, 2006 at 2:30 PM
@SignpostMarv
I’m sorry, I fail to see the link between that and Second Life o.O
I want *this* blog to be threaded, so that people can get more out of it. If it isn’t possible to thread comments in this style of blog, then please would LL switch to one where it is.
If you’re being technical, you’ve lost me (and doubtless 50%+ of other residents).
If you’re being satirical, then you’re being too clever for your own good, because you’ve failed to make your point ^_~
November 29th, 2006 at 3:02 PM
@Fledhyris Proudhon:
The plugin I linked to is the one commonly used to enable threaded comments on WordPress blogs.
bbPress is the forum software made by Automattic, the company behind WordPress.
I was being both technical and satirical.
As Dale jokingly suggested, if Linden Lab were to add so many features to the WordPress blog that it turned into a bloated blog trying to mimic a forum installation, then bbPress would be the way to go.
That said, simply installing the threaded comments plugin does not turn the blog into a forum.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:23 PM
I’m glad to see a sprinkling of NAY responses in here!
Seems the coitel experience has a majority of folks having orgasmic episodes - but truth be told folks - with the continual rash of grid failures - rolling parcel resets - super lag that kills the flow of communication - avatar inventory foul ups - way too frequent updates - can you really put such a high mark on this service (paid for or not) in comparison to other online busineses that exist?
I personally find it pretty telling when the entire SL web presence goes down instead of just key modules of the system. IMHO - this thing has a long way to go before exiting the busch league category…but who am I but one voice and what does it really matter…it’s a business (income stream) for Linden Labs and the vast majority of participants/customers don’t give a rats ass about quality and performance.
November 29th, 2006 at 3:32 PM
Torley,
I understand the recent extras on the blog are neat but as you see under the current situation a lean and mean blog if often key to save some accessibility. Please do not overload it. Act wisely on this, big boy.
All the best!
November 29th, 2006 at 3:59 PM
*does a scanpass*
OKAY THANXARAMA for what I learned that I didn’t already know (because I abhor negative redundancy). As a time traveler, I have seen much of this before, so I’m always grateful when I pick up new tidbits that didn’t get through on the first voyage.
So, in summary:
* I’ve got a shortlist of suggested plugins I’m bringing up with the WordPress folks. Some AJAXy goodness on there. There are also some improved comment-flow ones.
* Agree about the PST, actually, I just tried to change “UTC-8″ to “PST” but even after reading Formatting Date and Time, I can’t get it the way we want… wish it were simpler. If you know how to in WordPress, email me please.
* Support questions, as always, should go to our Support Page please! Now it says it on the right sidebar, we’re also going to make that clear on da comment form so U CANT MISS IT. =^_^=
* I get excited about many things. Watermelons ranks much higher than blog Widgets, but… it’s a close call. Hey, after coming close to death, you get pretty grateful for life — especially a Second one, y’know? It’s like a happy version of that movie, SAW.
* As witnessed today, if our blog wasn’t working right, noone would know what’s going on.
Keep in mind, the addition of Widgets opens up doors to future improvements.
And to all of you who wished you saw me more inworld, I apologize, I’m working mainly behind-the-scenes nowadays on the blog, forums, and scaling support. It’s like one of those rollercoasters, tho… I shall return.
November 29th, 2006 at 4:05 PM
Aha — figured out how do the “PST” thing. Thx Andy @ WordPress.
Okay… time to write another post…
November 30th, 2006 at 2:19 PM
[...] A: They can be, and they can also be nutritiously substantial. Leading off from earlier, Widgets were added because we need to make a diversity of content changes rapidly. They’re a necessity for our blog to adapt more flexibly, and update more frequently; it’s been a long and winding road we’re still traveling. [...]
December 4th, 2006 at 5:56 PM
[...] Widgets such as the red Hot Notices and the easy Grid Status Updates feed [...]
December 5th, 2006 at 7:01 AM
[...] Widgets’such as the red Hot Notices and the easy Grid Status Updates’feed [...]
December 6th, 2006 at 1:08 PM
This is a repost of the missing comment made a few days ago.
Meade Paravane
As someone who recieves complaints for his use of HTML comments, I think I’m the best person to answer this question
[b]bold[/b] becomes <strong>strong</strong>
[u]underlined[/u] doesn’t seem to work, although the equivalent would be <u>underlined</u>
[i]italic[/i] becomes <i>italic</i> or <em>emphasised</em>. Semantically, the latter is best.
although the equivalent of [img]http://example.com/foo.jpg[/img] is <img src=”http://example.com/foo.jpg” />, images cannot be injected into WordPress comments, so you will have to link to them.
[url=http://example.com/]example.com[/url] becomes <a href=”http://example.com/”>example.com</a>
[quote=Meade Paravane]- PHPbb code doesn�t seem to work. A link to what does work with WP would be nice[/quote], becomes
<cite>Meade Paravane</cite>
<blockquote>- PHPbb code doesn�t seem to work. A link to what does work with WP would be nice</blockquote>
[code]llOwnerSay(”Hello World”);[/code] becomes <code>llOwnerSay(”Hello World”);</code>
[size] has no support
[color] has no support
depending on the configuration of a wordpress blog, [:-)] can be done without the []- e.g. :-) and will automatically be converted to images if the option has been enabled.
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Nice!
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Cool…
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