[vos-d] notes from IRC

[Peter Amstutz]

Notes from some initial discussion of the interreality 3d interface.
Participants:  winterk, zaharazod, tetron

- Should be more like "stuff people expect"
  - Splitting and merging panels is likely to confuse casual 
users

- Casual users should not have to mess around with the interface 
(splitting, creating new panels, changing modes, etc)
  - Suggested having a "basic" layout and an advanced layout to help 
casual users
  - Discussed implementing different layouts as UI "skins" which set up 
a particular panel/mode configuration for a particular task (browsing, 
editing, programming, etc).  Skins could hide customization buttons like 
splitting.

- Mentioned that even in a virtual worlds like Second Life where 
building is emphasized, the majority of users don't want to create, just 
use other people's prefab stuff.
  - But still important to make build tools accessable to ensure that 
curious users can get into it easily.

- Suggested adding right-click context menus to 3D mode (good idea).

- Suggested initial 3D panel after "login" should include chat panel 
(good idea).

- Discussed different input schemes for controlling avatar movement.
  - Suggested that first person shooter "WASD" + mouselook is most 
immersive
  - Drawback is that it requires grabbing the mouse, which is 
incompatible with other user interface modes such as editing, where you 
want to stay in one place and grab and move things around with the 
pointer.

- Discussed that the goal is for UI controls to be per-world 
configurable
  - The idea is that when you join a world, you download a bundle of 
scripts and key/mouse bindings which provide a customized the user 
interface to that world.
  - So the issue of what 3D controls to use is primarily an issue of 
preference or what makes sense for a particular application, and not one 
of policy
  - Key and mouse bindings could be reconfigurable by the end user.

I think this idea of reconfiguring the UI for different worlds also fits 
nicely with the idea of beginning/advanced/task-specific UIs discussed 
at the top.

-- 
[   Peter Amstutz  ][ tetron at interreality.org ][ peter.amstutz at gdit.com ]
[Lead Programmer][Interreality Project][Virtual Reality for the Internet]
[ VOS: Next Generation Internet Communication][ http://interreality.org ]
[ http://interreality.org/~tetron ][ pgpkey:  pgpkeys.mit.edu  18C21DF7 ]

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