[Sigia-l] Second Life: The other side

[Ziya Oz]

Paola Kathuria:

> Last Dec, Linden said the modal age was 35

I was being facetious. :-)

>> What's the Ajaxy equivalence (contextual interaction) in SL?
> 
> The question doesn't apply to SL as it's not a web interface.
> AJAX came about, in part, to solve web page load problems
> and to bring in application functionality to web sites. SL
> is already an application. It'd be like asking what AJAXy
> things there are in Windows apps.

Although it's getting better, there are lots of places Windows apps could
better avail themselves to more Ajaxy way of handling data/info/navigation.
A prime example being, for instance, wizards with multiple tabs, endless
'pages', modal views, etc that apply settings only at the end in a single
pass...not unlike the long forms with the Submit button on the web.

More more seriously though, my point was about Andrew's query regarding
navigation and info arch in a virtual world and if we should duplicate the
web paradigm of navigation in 3D somehow, with doors/hallways being the
navigational conduits, for example.

Do we use Ajaxy *equivalence* (what I termed as contextual interaction) of
*bringing in* people, objects, tools, etc into proximity of focus (as we can
in a 3D spatial environ) and let users act *in situ* rather than take
people/objects/etc and fly them around in more of a navigational paradigm?

The web so far has been extremely hierarchical in both architecture and
presentation. In 3D, do leave that behind? Would that be too much of a
departure for SL users? (Hence my radio play for TV quip.)
 
> SL is hyped only because you can show it. It's that simple.

Well, that's the question. Is SL simply hype? Some people think the iPhone
is just hype, and their phones already do all that stuff. Others think the
iPhone ushers in a new paradigm of UI and interaction. Where's SL on that
scale?

----
Ziya

The constraint is the design.