Dazzle is here to improve your interface!
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 3:30 PM by: Torley Linden
Linden Lab continues to work on key areas of importance for our Residents, and alongside performance and stability is usability. We’re pleased to announce First Look: Dazzle, a “refresh” for the Second Life viewer’s appearance which makes the UI (User Interface) more accessible and pleasing. They say pictures are 1,000s of words, so have a look:
Is Dazzle just a color change?
No. Dazzle includes a new color scheme, and also has revised icon art (e.g., the build tools and Inventory window) and under-the-hood changes/cleanup which will make future customization easier.
How is making stuff look better going to improve my experience?
Aesthetics matter. Seemingly small changes make a big difference. A simple psychological exercise: think about eating a steak in a prison cell with harsh fluorescent lights. Then, think about eating that very same steak in a posh restaurant by candlelight. Which experience would you prefer? And which would you regard as the higher quality?
In a similar way, even if actual inworld content looks the same (like the steak), if the environment you use to experience it — the user interface — looks awful, you’re likely going to feel uncomfortable and annoyed, even if you can’t describe exactly why.
We’ve already had numerous instances of small changes clearly making big differences: some of you may remember when no-modify notecards were difficult to read because they had dark gray text on a somewhat lighter gray background. Changing the colors, a straightforward tweak, helped a lot. And in Dazzle, it’s even better.
What’s this mean for me?
Dazzle is especially beneficial if you’re new to Second Life, but its increased legibility will also help veteran Residents enjoy extended inworld sessions with more fun, and less fatigue.
Some history behind this: over the years, we’ve heard a lot about how difficult SL can be to use, notably how scary the “old-style” UI looks. Cryptic icons, low contrast, and “things you click on that don’t do what you expect them to do” are all frustrating to newcomers, and at last — Dazzle’s here, because we want to make it easier for you.
What’s a First Look?
A “First Look” is an optional download which tends to be a technology preview of a “themed feature”: in this case, it’s a better user interface. Over the next stretch of weeks, we’re giving you time to try Dazzle out and share your feedback with us, so we can improve it before it’s included in the main viewer.
For examples of earlier First Looks, see WindLight and Voice.
What if I don’t like Dazzle?
This is understandable, particularly because Second Life’s UI has basically been the same for several years. Change can be hard if you’re accustomed to the way things currently look and have been with us for awhile. (We appreciate it!)
We recommend trying Dazzle out and giving it at least a week to get used to — don’t just glance at screenshots, use it in your everyday Second Life — and let us know your feedback. As part of the “First Look” cycle, we’ll pay attention to your constructive criticism and use it to refine Dazzle further.
(And to be fair, there are a few Residents who prefer the viewer UI when it was green years ago!)
Will I be able to revert to the older UI?
For now, First Look: Dazzle is not the main viewer, so you can run them side-by-side.
When Dazzle is in the main viewer, then no, you won’t be able to revert easily. If you’re so inclined, you can manually change the .XML files, but this isn’t user-friendly for the uninitiated. Context: before this easy-to-install First Look, Dazzle was available as a patch-it-yourself demo, and we got great help from some enthusiastic and technically-minded Residents. Now, we’re opening Dazzle up for our whole community.
Does Dazzle mean I can easily add my own skins?
Not yet. But as a first step in that potential process, Dazzle paves the way for improvements to come. For further technical details, see our User Interface Roadmap.
Does Dazzle have any major functionality changes?
Beyond user interface aesthetics, not really. Second Life looks and feels better, but doesn’t behave radically different. We hope it’ll be pleasantly seamless for you.
But since Dazzle affects the appearance of the whole UI, these changes support and complement usability projects in related areas, which we’re also working on. (Stay tuned for more news on that.)
What can I do to help?
Glad you asked! Please report Dazzle-specific bugs on our Issue Tracker so we can fix ‘em.
![Dazzle- [EXAMPLE BUG]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2062/2259968898_be1ab1586c_m.jpg)
- Go to jira.secondlife.com and login.
- Create a new issue in “Project: Viewer” and “Issue Type: Bug”.
- Make sure to set it to “Affects Version/s = First Look: Dazzle” or else we won’t see it!
Thanks in advance. 
Need more help? We’re here for you. Watch the “How to report a bug” video tutorial.
What’s next? Where can I learn more?
Team Dazzle will be following up on Dazzle issues and releasing revised First Look versions, so look for updates on this blog.
We’ve also got the Dazzle info-page on the Second Life wiki, which we anticipate expanding over time.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:07 PM
Will there be a Dazzle First Look for us Windlight devotees? I use Windlight because it has scalable performance levels via adjusting graphics quality. The standard viewer is just too laggy in some sims.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:14 PM
Will this make muting annoying object easier to do? Since last summer (or so) muting annoying/spamming objects became extremely hard to do, and you only have a few moments to do it before it disappears from the list in chat history, and you end up muting someone/something else!
February 19th, 2008 at 3:17 PM
Why not make this, and a number of the other major UI changes, more configurable? I like the more muted colors of the current skin - and that glossy blue is so over done! If you’re going to the trouble of creating a new theme - why not do it in a way that opens up the possibility of having a selection of styles available?
Since most all of the UI seems to be in XML, anyway - perhaps one of the XML gurus in the OpenSource community could make a simple way to edit the XML?
And if it were small enough - perhaps that XML could be uploaded to a notecard (containing pointers to other notecards?) and the client could record a UUID to pull from the asset server to skin itself. You know, something like that might work for exchangeable WindLight environmental settings…
February 19th, 2008 at 3:17 PM
WOW finally is real :O
fantastic
thanks everyone for make this possible
and if you are thinking on try it or not
try it is a fantastic experience !!!
February 19th, 2008 at 3:18 PM
I know you’re prepared for all the “bring us a stable grid not new shiny’s, blah, blah, blah” comments.
Just wanted to get in before those that I think this looks great. As much as I stare at SL all day, I’m happy with anything that makes it easier on the eyes.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:20 PM
How will WL users be affected with this? will we still get WL if we change? cause THAT UI looks like something i could use
February 19th, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Which version is this based on - 1.18.5 or 1.19?
February 19th, 2008 at 3:29 PM
Cool! I already used an earlier Dazzle version by replacing files in the main viewer, but of course that got lost in the next viewer update. And I just didn’t install it all over again. So I’m happy to see it as a complete package now, I’ll surely try it out
February 19th, 2008 at 3:37 PM
Already (almost) everything in SL is some kindergarten primary color? Do we really need to paint the UI to compete with it?
February 19th, 2008 at 3:39 PM
cool but i would prefer if they fixed bugs instead of pimping out the interface…
February 19th, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Looks like a nice development. This seems like a great time to consider refining the back-end of interface development, for future interfaces to have greater flexibility (e.g. Being able to shift ‘close’ and ‘minimise’ over to the top left from the top right, OS X style)
Keep up the good work.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:42 PM
ohhhhh! i like the look of it.. PLEASE put this into windlight<3
bit if i have to choose between beautiful skies or a pretty interface, I’m going to choose skies.
tbh I’m not too hot on the name “dazzle” though…
February 19th, 2008 at 3:43 PM
Aesthetics matter. Crashing, TP of Death, and content loss will now feel 20% less annoying. That translates into a 5% gain in user satisfaction. How can anyone argue with that?
February 19th, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Uhmmm hey guys…Why not do something EVERY resident would love you to do? FIX THE GAME!!!!! No one asked for this crap you keep throwing at us!! Fix the game!! That is why we pay you!!
February 19th, 2008 at 3:46 PM
Once a Windlight version comes out, then I will be happy to test it out. But no matter how cans of paste and how many sparkles you toss onto it, nothin’s going to make me give up render glow.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:49 PM
I wanna try it but I’m not leaving Windlight. In fact I’m currently running the Cool SL Viewer Windlight version because I prefer the old IM and Friends windows (Hmm, does anyone else feel this way… I wonder…?) and so I guess perhaps I’ll have to wait until the cool people that do the Cool Viewer can be persuaded to produce a version for Windlight that includes Dazzle but with the old arrangement of buttons… Now THERE’S an idea. Pleeeeeeease?
February 19th, 2008 at 3:54 PM
I’ll give it a chance, but from the screenshots it looks like the UI is now -competing- with the imagery in-world. Kind of like if you were watching a movie, and the theater (or your TV) had colorful glowing decorations all around the image. The UI should have muted colors and be unnoticeable. It shouldn’t attract attention to itself.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Several facts are wrong above. The interface before this new change (not the stupid Dazzle one) was crap, because you all changed it to be very difficult to read, from the UI before that, which was hard to use, because a lot of functions weren’t supposed to be there, but the one before that, and before that, were great. They were easy to use, and nobody had a problem with them, until you changed them to the previous 2 or 3 types of UI. This Dazzle UI looks like utter crap, and even harder to use then the current UI.
Change my user interface to that of about 3-5 months ago, and do not change it ever again. Except to add whatever meaningless crap that you’re going to force down our throats, no matter how much people contest. Changing the colours, the way we interact with it, and the style of buttons is terrible. Change it back, and quick screwing with it, work on the game.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Thank you guys!
One suggestion: GIVE US BACK THE PREFERENCE BUTTON on Login Screen…
Sometime we want to come back to the last (crashed) location.. Others we want to go home… and other to select a location…
The Offiline Sand Box is on the way? :)))
(Hability to create and edit in offline mode)
VERY IMPORTANT
***** PLEASE, STOP COPY-BOTS! ****
February 19th, 2008 at 3:57 PM
@14
Do you honestly think it takes the same skill set to fix some of the crashing issues as it does to create a UI?
I can not believe that people still don’t get the fact that not everyone works on the bugs because its not what they “do”.
I get so tired of the constant “fix the bugs” comments, and I don’t work for LL, imagine how they must feel?
Perhaps LL should just auto post the first 40 comments full of the same whinge on each blog post, save you all the hassle
February 19th, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Your intro seems to translate as “We know it looks like crap, but you’ll get used to it” rather than “It’s so much better, you’ll love it immediately”.
Sorry, but It makes SL look like it was just taken over by Fisher Price.
February 19th, 2008 at 3:57 PM
What about simple things like cut and paste into the in world browser?
February 19th, 2008 at 3:57 PM
Will Windlight be available on this client?
Anytime soon.
It’s amazing.
I reccomend everyone reading my comment try it out
♥ You Linden Labs.
(Except for all those extra faults your not paying attention to… and starting projects and not completely finishing them.. ANYWAYS ♥!)
–Malifico [TG]
February 19th, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Its about time you redid the UI…whats it been 5 years?
Itd also be nice if you added more attractive buttons (maybe with a glass or shine appearance) rather than the old blue buttons.
And how much did you change? I mean adding a transparent window and modern tabs shouldn’t take more than a day(for you guys) at most.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:00 PM
It looks great, it really does, but what has given you the idea that this is what the residents want?the vast majority of us would like to see a more stable grid. Aesthetics don’t matter if you can’t stay inworld long enough to see them.please *gets down on his hands and knees and begs* fix the grid before you add more aesthetic improvements.I have a dream, that one day, new users and old users can play side by side in a stable grid, without crashing every 5 minutes, and actually being able to tp.But, I doubt that will ever happen, take a look at the previous blog entries,
It is the apocalypse! Run, run while you still can!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:00 PM
An Edsel with a new paint job is still an Edsel.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:03 PM
Wondering if they picked the name Dazzle to appease everyone demanding a Ginny holiday.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:06 PM
I don’t mind the improvements to the graphics. I like my “dazzle” but unfortunately as people mentioned months ago, having a very bright interface is VERY DISTRACTING from the grahics in-world. Especially at night (in world) and especially especially at night in world and in a dark room.
The low light level grey graphic sceme you have now is one of the very few things that was done right from the begning, PLEASE don’t screw that up!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:08 PM
Nice - but…
What is it with you guys and that danged RELEASE KEYS button?
Wouldn’t that be better placed under TOOLS menu? Or even replaced with STOP ALL ANIMATIONS or something more useful? I can’t even imagine a scenario where someone would even need that on a regular basis. If you say “Slaves and collars” or something idiotic like that, I’m gonna…
complain.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:11 PM
I’ll take a look at the new UI and will probably hate it at first, because it’ll look and feel differently. However, in due time I’ll either get used to it, tweak it to my own liking or revert back to the old look till we get it in the main client.
New UI’s always make me think windows 2000 -> Windows XP -> Vista. It went from sober and classy to a collection of colors and gadgets screaming for attention. I still run 2k style on XP
I’m open minded about it all though, and won’t discredit it before I tried it for a couple of SL sessions.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:12 PM
I’m going to wait for the Mono Havok Windlight Puppeteering Dazzle version.
(Torley has a pretty decent sized monitor: (1919 x 2346) !!!)
February 19th, 2008 at 4:13 PM
[...] Dazzling you seenseless So it is finally out of the closet (err, I mean dark recesses of LL development. Anybody noticed how much of that stuff actually surfaces since Cory is no longer CTO ?) : Dazzle is here to improve your interface!. [...]
February 19th, 2008 at 4:16 PM
[...] Dazzling you senseless So it is finally out of the closet (err, I mean dark recesses of LL development. Anybody noticed how much of that stuff actually surfaces since Cory is no longer CTO ?) : Dazzle is here to improve your interface!. [...]
February 19th, 2008 at 4:19 PM
I too wish there were a way to include Dazzle in the Windlight First Look rather than making us choose between the two. I had played with the earlier Dazzle release but it left me stuck in the regular client. Other than not being able to check out Dazzle the only thing keeping me from using WL at the mo is the fact that it seems to be more crash happy than the regular client again (and I really don’t believe most of my “Region Restart” crashes are really because the region is restarting).
February 19th, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Looking at the side by side, I’d take the old one any day. Reasons…
1) Dazzle is far less transparent, I am not here to look at the UI, but the world and it obscures it.
2) Too damn bright…why must everything look like it was designed by Playskool.
3) Another ‘ram it down your throat’ change. How hard would it be, since Torley said they are .xml, to have a toggle to use either old or new?
IMO, just a distraction geared to bring out the LL fanboys in an attempt to mute justified criticism about stability.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:22 PM
I’ve already tried out Dazzle, and the bright interface is completely inappropriate for Second Life. It draws attention away from the world (which is what SL is about, after all) and actually makes it harder to see what’s going on because a light colored semitransparent window is harder to see through than a dark colored one.
And the first thing that seems to have come out of the new UI look, the new icons in the title bar, don’t look do good.
PLEASE work on functionality first, and then worry about the color scheme later.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:25 PM
#19, Moll: Preferences is still there-just look at the top, where the pull-down menu is!
Um, somehow, this Dazzle UI isn’t my cuppa tea at all. It looks so….Mac!
I like my UI non-distracting, but these buttons look like candy. I’d like an option such as WinXP has-use the “classic” interface or the new one (and no, I don’t use classic Windows style, but I try to avoid these candy-like skins)
February 19th, 2008 at 4:26 PM
Thanks, moving buttons around again, and you still haven’t gotten rid of the completely redundant Search window up in the corner. I want my lag indicators back!!!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:26 PM
Hah! You write “Context: before this easy-to-install First Look, Dazzle was available as a patch-it-yourself demo, and we got great help from some enthusiastic and technically-minded Residents.”
And ignored a lot of other enthusiastic and technically minded residents who suggested that bright colors were a bad idea…
Next: “A simple psychological exercise: think about eating a steak in a prison cell with harsh fluorescent lights. Then, think about eating that very same steak in a posh restaurant by candlelight. Which experience would you prefer? And which would you regard as the higher quality?”
Dazzle is the prison cell with the harsh fluorescent lights, and the existing color scheme is the dim and comfortable candle-light.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:27 PM
Is there a way you can get the floaters outside of the SL window, similar to photoshop? It would be very useful to be able to have the build tools and inventory on a second monitor and a primary monitor for looking at stuff.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:31 PM
I find the reference to eating a steak by neon light or candle light quite interesting. If your using WL then the opposite is usually true. I think we all know how bad WL looks if you are actually inside a candle lit restaurant.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:35 PM
I am beginning to wonder if LL developers work in an extremely bright office environment? The new icons etc. are great, but to my eyes, both this UI and Windlight (using default settings) suffer from excessive brightness, which has the effect of washing out contrast in what I’m actually trying to look at … the textures within the game. Or perhaps LL’s user experience people are unduly influenced by Torley’s bright bright vision?
I don’t know why colors and ambient light in SL need to be so extreme.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:38 PM
Okay, so let me see here:
Got SL Dazzle First-Look
Got SL Windlight First-Look
Got SL Havok4 First-Look
Got SL Release Client
Am I missing anything, or is it safe to log in now?? Sheesh, I remember when the SL Client download was nothing more than a 9meg setup file.
— TM: A Mind is a Tiny thing to waste.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:40 PM
@42
Havok 4 is not a client, noob.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:40 PM
Clean looking and fast seems less hungry on pc graphics card and system ect. Nice work :}
February 19th, 2008 at 4:40 PM
sorry torley but after starting it up , looking around, i couldn`t look at it longer then 30 seconds
colors: bad to bright
ui: my world feels like “where`s the other half? off screen”
icons + inventory: cartoonish, i hate cartoonish
chat color background: ugh
buttons on popups: un-needed places to just make the UI even bigger then needed
general: i went puking
why does everything needs to be foloowing microcrap style? nothing wrong with the ui
February 19th, 2008 at 4:43 PM
“A simple psychological exercise: think about eating a steak in a prison cell with harsh fluorescent lights. Then, think about eating that very same steak in a posh restaurant by candlelight.”
Wow if you got a steak in a prison cell I bet your going to appreciate it much more than some nerd in a restuarant, I usually rate my food by it’s taste not how it looks, the proof is in the pudding, man…
February 19th, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Okay, I’ve seen some alternative clients with fixes Linden can’t or will not add. Where are the alternative clients that fix back or even improve the UI?
I got bored of WOW after a year, but the UI was pretty good. Everything defined in XML and fully scriptable… that I dream of for SL.
February 19th, 2008 at 4:49 PM
/me scratches head as he thinks
I can’t enable ripple water?
I can’t enable bump mapped and cloth?
While I applaude your efforts on the interface I do feel that wearing sunglasses at night detracts from my overall SL experience. Dazzle is an unesscary viewer, don’t we have enough viewers to look through already?
Windlight with the 1.19 interface is still my fav viewer in this case, this UI is just to obtrusive for me, especially sitting in a dark room, it makes my $80.00 Saitek lighted keyboard obsolete, damn you! :p
Great town meeting today btw!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:59 PM
As others have stated, I’m going to hold out for the windlight version.
I will also agree that the UI should Never detract from the in world experience. The UI should be subdued and not glaringly obvious. But, I will reserve judgment until I actually try it.
Additionally, PLEASE have some consideration for us average users with somewhat limited budgets who do NOT have the luxury of giganta monitors with mega-pixel resolutions. My 17″ is perfectly capable of handling 90% of what I use my computer for. If I can’t see the SL world because of all of the excess and mostly unnecessary screen clutter, then I may as well not bother logging in at all.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:01 PM
I love the new look. Some of the text is a little too bold.
Bold text ( currently worn clothes, etc ) in inventory is much too bold because of it.
Other than that… No complaints.
Much easier on the eyes and generally more legible.
Im hoping at some point you will consider making the UI appearance a single file that goes in a UI Themes folder.
Then LL and Residents can make different themes and put them all in that folder and choose what one they want!
Great work!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:03 PM
Well willing to give it a try but puhlease - steak analogy really caught in the throat of this vegan lol
February 19th, 2008 at 5:14 PM
I’ve been hoping for a user interface improvement, but honestly this new design is a bit too in-your-face. The great thing about the current UI is that it doesn’t interfere as much with in-world objects.
This would be great for a custom theme. But for default use? I’ll pass.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:15 PM
Cool - but like so many others, I dun wanna give up my Windlight to do it!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:18 PM
Oh dear god. Just when I was under the mistaken belief that things couldn’t possibly get any worse, my daily experience has to crumble further by seeing this announcement of a new UI being forced upon us at an undetermined point in the future, and I can’t stress enough how abhorrent I find it. Really, I’m stressing quite hard here, and it’s still just not enough.
The main viewer: Simple, clean, effective, and a dark interface that isn’t a strain on tired eyes. The new viewer: Trying so hard to be Windows Vista and failing utterly as one might expect, a horrible attempt at being cutesy and shiny while ultimately degrading the entire experience to yet another new low. But then, I suppose that’ll go along great with the new no-build/no-fly/no-script/no-push icons, which are suitably inferior-yet-cutesy, along the lines of this travesty.
For the love of all that is good in the world, leave an option to use the old style interface, when the day comes to force this atrocity on all of us, for the sake of those of us who still value function over form, and tire of being spoon-fed this Fisher-Price trash.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:19 PM
WOW! just WOW!!
No wonder you call Dazzle!
I love the new look! can’t wait for it to be included in the next main release.
I’ll have to get back yo you on stability and rendering and other performance issue that may be present.
I have to do more testing.
more to follow…
February 19th, 2008 at 5:21 PM
Having recently experienced food poisoning, I tend to be a bit cautious about my food, hence I generally prefer flourescent lights over candlelights
February 19th, 2008 at 5:23 PM
I hate to burst your bubble guys, but a bright user interface is BAD ergonomics, and will cause greater eyestrain, especially during SL nighttime. Ergonomics vastly outweigh aesthetics. The latter is always going to be a matter of opinion, the former is a medical necessity. Consider the effect of an overly bright car dashboard on driver fatigue for a comparative example.
This is not just an “I don’t like change” comment, I have tried Dazzle, but went back because it was giving me migraines, and no, that’s not overstating it. This is going to have a serious negative impact for a lot of people.
Enforcing a new colour scheme before making the UI skinnable is the wrong way to go about this anyway. Could someone please explain the rational behind the decision to do it in this order? Especially as the UI road doesn’t explicitly mention Dazzle. I presume it encompasses the whole of step one, PLUS a change of colour scheme, which should really be an option in step 2?
Please please please see how close you are to another PR disaster here.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:31 PM
@43
Hey, Dumb-quat. I very much know what Havok4 Physics is, as no doubt I have been with this game longer than you have. And I mentioned it because there is a completely separate SL Client for testing it out on the H4 Beta Grid. That makes four different SL Clients I am mantaining on my Desktop. Now go back and eat your oatmeal and stay out of the Sandboxes.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:36 PM
Good idea, it makes things more subconsciously shinier overall and more vivid to the memory, if it was easy to include the same user interface in the WindLight viewer (which i find, and is, graphically even more shinier and realistic) also this would be even more greater to experience both previewed feature at the same time.
Cheers and goodluck..!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:39 PM
The viewer UI has long been highly critisized for its poor functionalty, not its aestetics. If this is mosty “under the hood” changes to prepare for improvments to functionaly and customizability then thats great, but this skin/scheme here sacrifices legibilty for flashyness and i hope its not pushed to release before there is an option a more subdued color scheme. (most users cant be expected to edit the XMLs manualy)
My biggest UI wish would be to use standard windows controls and my windows classic theme, but thats not going to happen =(
And about the silly new icons, SL is AIM now?
February 19th, 2008 at 5:42 PM
wow they are going to shut people right out who dont have the computer big enough to do this, i have a crappy computer with one gig of memory small computer, one of these days, i wont be able to get into second life,some of us cant afford the high end computers we are poor.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:44 PM
This looks like a huge visual UI improvement! Yet it’s nice that basically it is the same interface just looks way nicer. It should not be difficult for anyone to switch to. The transparent stuff is great this way can see what is behind the stuff you are looking at. I can’t wait till it’s released! I don’t tend to risk trying first look stuff but look forward to the finished version of it!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:45 PM
oh man I feel sorry for any one with sentive eyes like mine I am so not going to liek this… this thing better not be a reqirement.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:46 PM
I can’t wait for the pink version for my niece… My 14 years old boy nephew is delighted. Ha!
February 19th, 2008 at 5:47 PM
FIRST: ergonomics… No more than 1/3 ratio in contrast against environment (night included) is reccomended unless you want to get sued sooner or later for making eyesores.
THEN: @24 latest UI change was with introduction of voice when we got that horrible communicator window.
FUTURE? Either make a decent contrast on it or make it fully skinnable so everyone could make their own settings (wich would be best to get everyone satiesfied, wouldn’t it?)
BOTTOM LINE: Get the prevoice UI back
February 19th, 2008 at 5:48 PM
it can be done, just download the dazzle viewer, copy the skins (ui) folder over to the windlight installation and bobs ur uncle
February 19th, 2008 at 5:51 PM
we want the FRIENDS WINDOW back
no communicator window it sucks
February 19th, 2008 at 5:54 PM
we want a WATERMELON skin too
February 19th, 2008 at 5:56 PM
Can we get blood red… or scarlet red
February 19th, 2008 at 6:06 PM
@67, etc: The communicator window in the latest Windlight can have the friends/groups section torn off finally.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:07 PM
Well, so far I like the new look. It’s now easier to distinguish between the UI and the in-world image, particularly at night. A small change, but IMO a worthwhile one.
Of course, after a week I may be sick of it…
February 19th, 2008 at 6:11 PM
A simple psychological exercise: think about eating a steak in a prison cell with harsh fluorescent lights. Then, think about eating that very same steak in a posh restaurant by candlelight. Which experience would you prefer? And which would you regard as the higher quality?
So what does this mean, we are paying for steak in a posh restaurant, but we have been locked up in a prison cell for the last 5 years.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:16 PM
oh I am going to get real sick of it realy fast if we can’t chang the color it one thing to put up with a dark blue… it anther thing to put up with a bright baby blue.
Please SL give us a option to controle the colore befor we have to start clawing are own eyes out.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:18 PM
Sorry Torley - This is terrible. WAY too bright!! The minute you go into a dark area, be it a castle or night time, all you see is the UI. If you run with all your windows closed, maybe it is okay, but if you like to have the mini-map, maybe your camera controls and an inventory window open, the UI totally overpowers the world.
I completely understand that many will love this. Great. Choice is good.
BUT PLEASE… LL… Please DO NOT make this the main UI screen without giving those of us who need or desire the darker skin to load a skin similar to the current one.
DRD
February 19th, 2008 at 6:19 PM
Ugly! Utterly ugly! It looks like windows! and windows looks like crap!
Please make a OSX UI version for us mac users as well.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:20 PM
It’s too bright, and washes out the environment.
Please, if you’re going to offer this, at least have a dark and light version of the UI as an option.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:25 PM
Thanks for another usless change to the UI. The majority of us would appreciate it if you would QUIT MESSING WITH THE FREAKING UI. I have not upgraded from 1.8.4(3) because of that freaking search bar you replaced the lag meter with. I would not have upgraded to the voice chat if you had not FORCED me to (something you said would no longer happen. Make these damn UI changes OPTIONAL and configurable from the menus.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:26 PM
omg what in the hell is this? oh well its a pass trend………….
February 19th, 2008 at 6:39 PM
Would like to add that I tried an early release of this a couple of months ago via Torley’s site…and there were a lot of issues in regard to proper contrast. One look at the full version of the screen capture comparison above and one can see the problem. With a lighter background of the menus, there is far less contrast between the text which essentially makes it harder to read.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:42 PM
@ Alyx Sands : Where do you see the sexiness of OSX in this crappy UI? Buttons are placed on the wrong side and are humongous. No shadows behind the windows, and those utterly distracting blue borders don’t look anything like the minimalist look of OSX
Please fire the person who made this, he still lives in the 90’s I suppose.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:43 PM
Why is Dazle not running on the latest stable version? Same Q for Windlight… but for Dazle even more… The latest Windlight seemed to have a few IO graphics improvements also… why is this all getting so mixed up? would be soo cool a viewer with different thems and windlight on/off button…. i know it can only get better!! =)
February 19th, 2008 at 6:45 PM
One more time, after reading through the postings, I have to ask the question- LL, Who are you talking to when you make these changes?
Lets see where we stand as of late okay?
1) Comm window. Everyone I know hates it, everyone who blogs hates it.
2) Lag meter gone, redundent useless search bar instead. Totally dispised.
3) Silly Release Keys button - another one ppl begging to see gone.
4) Lost ability in last client upgrade(?) to change Avatar Renderings.
5) Voice - enough said on that.
These are all things that the majority of ppl I know and have spoken to, or read here in the blogs, never wanted and certainly when asked said so.
Okay, now the wish list
- ……
1) More stability - yes, over 4 times the ppl in world then when I started, so def some positive changes. However I still freeze, TPs or offering TPs often results in a log out. Moving between sims often causes - off into the void.
2) A way to allow scripts to create none volalitile storage.
3) Stable asset services
4) Better Physics - An A+ for effort there - a D on timetable though
5) End to bots - period
6) Fix some of the major building bugs like prim drift or llTargetOmega
7) Some form of PROPER verification of identity for age and griefing issues
So, what about the above list…?
Time and time again I read in this blog, other rezzies blogs, forums, etc., the things that people want to see in SL, the issues that are important to them.
No where did read - Brighten up the UI PLEASE… or Mess with the UI some more - its far more important than bugs.. or I don’t really care if I crash a lot so long as I can have voice in the client since I am too lazy to sign up for skype…
One more time LL, I have to ask… Who in the SL World do you talk to, and who sets the priorities…?
DRD
February 19th, 2008 at 6:50 PM
Ebleargh, and my 15″ monitor is apparently too small to “appreciate” this ergonomics nightmare….
I didn’t want to insult any Mac users!
*gets sunglasses*
February 19th, 2008 at 6:52 PM
Again, I have to wonder why in the world Linden Lab has been working on EYE CANDY when BASIC GROUP CHAT doesn’t work, GROUP NOTICES aren’t getting to all members in the group, and we still can’t cross sim boundaries or teleport without crashing several times a day.
Linden Lab’s promise to stop working on new toys and instead to focus on core issues appears, as expected, to be totally hollow.
Where are your priorities people? And you wonder why people post negative blog responses? Scuse me for being blunt, but your company acts like a bunch of irresponsible teenagers who are more interested in playing and having a good time than getting the job done… and your playing on our nickle.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:53 PM
I’d say that despite how mixed the opinions in here look, I think the majority is leaning toward disliking this change you have planned for the UI. I for one am not going to bother with it. Forgive me for saying, but it just clashes with the graphics of the actual SL environment. I suggest leaving it in the neutral gray scheme. Leave the flashiness for your SL tutorial vids.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:54 PM
@ Alyx Sands apologies accepted
February 19th, 2008 at 6:55 PM
Oh and just as a note… did you folks even think to ask end users what we thought about Dazzle? From what I see in the above examples, IMO Dazzle kinda sux.
February 19th, 2008 at 6:59 PM
Windlight Viewer, Firstlook Viewer, Release Candidate Viewer, Havok sytem test….
/me head spins. Getting dizzy. Just decides to absolutely ignore all of it and watch a DVD.
Oh wait.. BlueRay vs HD vs upconvert vs….
I have a suggestion. Fix one thing. Release it. Fix the next thing. Release it. Fix the next thing.
That idea works for me.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:02 PM
Hmm, Dazzle still does not work correctly with the current Nvidia drivers…….but I am sure you will fix that
February 19th, 2008 at 7:05 PM
I like the viewer update but I think that the new IMs color change needs to be better. When you receive a new IM, the tab just becomes brighter but perhaps it should still blink or something more noticeable.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:12 PM
about time lol. gratz on the release.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:13 PM
@84 because they have to use their staff in some manner to prove their worth :/
“Where are your priorities people? And you wonder why people post negative blog responses? Scuse me for being blunt, but your company acts like a bunch of irresponsible teenagers who are more interested in playing and having a good time than getting the job done.”
This is not only correct but a big brother world we been living in for the past 2 years now. Its not what you know as they say but ” WHO” you know……..
February 19th, 2008 at 7:17 PM
btw… i think a steakhouse themed in a grungy jail might be pretty cool.
and i still want my alt-zoom capability in other software user interfaces.
the UI shrinks will know what i mean in respect to UI acclimation.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:17 PM
Increased legibility?
This is a horrible visual design. It’s too bright, lack internal contrasts, and too monochromatic. Steve Jobs would fire someone for this.
Adding to Bobo’s comments.
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/
Dazzle Team, with all due respect, you need to read and apprehend this big time! The new functionality is ok (besides the fact that we are still waiting for you to split that communicate window apart… and I’ll keep mentioning it until it’s done) but when it comes to the color schemes, it’s just terrible and close to be dangerous.
Come back again when you have done your homework!
If such incompetence in the design team has to remain, please DO release an easy way for graphic designer to add our own skins before you force this eyesore on. Thank you for
February 19th, 2008 at 7:21 PM
graphic designers*
on us*
Thank you for your time*
February 19th, 2008 at 7:21 PM
/ finds these comments hilarious!
If Torley announced on this blog that LL would be giving every resident 10,000 Lindens due to a new annual profit-sharing plan I would bet that 80% of the comments would go something like this:
“10,000? Is that all? Wow, I am insulted that due to the mega profits they make, they can ONLY give us 10,000!!”
or
“Gee thanks Torley, now my Linden balance in the upper right hand corner is way too bright due to the increased pixels my monitor generates..thanks alot….punk.”
or
“How the hell am I supposed to spend 10,000 Lindens if I cant even stay logged on long enough to spend it!!! Also, sending this amount to EVERY resident will create a TREMENDOUS amount of lag, so count me out! Keep your silly Lindens…..punk!!!!
Have I made my point?
February 19th, 2008 at 7:26 PM
@ 96 : I believe your point is that way too many people seem to make it their life’s passion to criticize others. These people should simply:RELAX.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Looks great
I like that it’s brighter, the old interface is a bit ghetto and dark 
February 19th, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Well it dazeld me very pleasing to the eye and the skin colors are not as harsh well done.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:33 PM
i think the UI is a solid step forward. However I do think some color blind people will have issues with it. Might consider allowing users to select UI color schemes. in particular the dark blue text on light blue fields might give some people a problem. i know it is a rear-end pain because i had to accommodate color blind people for a UI once. a few users settled on this weird pepto bismol looking combo. whatever turns them on. they were happy with it. got paid. thats what matters.
when skinning is a reality this suggestion may be moot.
February 19th, 2008 at 7:41 PM
@96 This would be more likely:
LL announces that from now on all free accounts will be given L$1000 a week to stimulate the economy in SL. - Cheers ring out - Yea for LL
(In a tiny blog between a Windlight and a Dazzle annoucement) LL announces premium accounts will no longer receive their antquated stipend each week, and oh yeah, tier will go up 25% next week. )
The point is, an improvment is not an improvment, unless the MAJORITY of users perceive it as one, just like a gift is not really a gift unless perceived as such. Want to prove it? Ask your wife how she liked the new vacuum you got her for Christmas…
DRD
February 19th, 2008 at 7:49 PM
Since everyone is still crying about the release button, theres a simple solution to deleting it from the UI entirely if you are interested ( sorry Lindens! ) and please only do so at your own discretion.
Shut down your Second life then on your computer navigate to :
C:/Program Files/SecondLifeWindLight/skins/xui/en-us/
Or whatever language UI you are using, then locate the file named :
panel_overlaybar.xml
Open this file in notepad or Dreamweaver then find and delete the following :
Save this file then load up Windight and the Release Keys button is gone.
It’s best to make a backup of the panel_overlaybar.xml by making a copy of it and storing it outside the Secondlife folder just to be safe.
Hi, my name is Hevenz and I’ve been Release Key free for over a year now. :p
February 19th, 2008 at 7:51 PM
oops, delete the following without quotations
“”