How do I dislike thee? Let me count the ways

July 29th, 2010 at 11:30pm Ryan Darragh

Things I hate about Viewer 2, in no particular order

Note: I actually wrote this somewhat ranty piece on Viewer 2 (in its greater substance, at least) several days ago, shortly after I more or less promised to do so. Unfortunately I was then unable to commit any time to testing out the StarLight skin recommended by Otenth Paderborn as I had also promised. Hence the regrettable delay in actually publishing this.  (I may also have been distracted by a shiny thing or two. It happens.) The opinions expressed here are of the out-of-the-box, virgin Viewer 2. I will be trying out the Starlight extension as soon as time allows and will follow up with further observations once I’ve done so. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!

As I mentioned previously, I’ve been fussing with Viewer 2 and trying to figure out just how LL intends for me to use it. In short, there are an awful lot of things I don’t like about it. Here I ramble, rant and free-associate about these in no particular order. Please remember that these are just my opinions; feel free to share yours in a comment. “You’re just a dumbass”—while it’s a valid opinion and others may well agree—isn’t really very constructive. In the spirit of fairness, I’ll try to mention things I do like as well as things I don’t, but I warn you in advance that my overall opinion is fairly negative.

The consolidated “fly-out” inventory etc. panel is bold and ambitious, and I think there might be a good idea in there somewhere. As it’s implemented, though, it’s confusing, it’s frustrating, and it fairly sucks. Although it’s clearly intended to be browser-like, it simply does not navigate in a sensible manner, and I think this kills it. Going “back” should return me to where I actually was before I went “forward”—but it does not, at least not always. For example, pulling up landmark info while on the inventory tab and then hitting back returns me to the Landmarks tab. Also, pulling up a profile’s info via an item’s properties while on the inventory tab and then hitting back returns me to the People tab. In both cases, I should be returned to the prior inventory tab. This is counter-intuitive and not actually very browser-like. However, although some friends hate this, I do actually like how it can “bump over” your view of the world when you open the panel and then restore it when you close. This is actually very helpful when editing an attachment, such as a hairstyle, or when flipping through wardrobe changes while modeling.

Speaking of inventory, must making an inventory offer be so complicated? I mean, really? Seriously. I had to IM Oscar the other evening to ask for help, and although I had had a cocktail (one!), I really don’t think I’m an idiot. Unless we’re missing something, you have to find (using Search or in your Friends list) the person to whom you want to offer inventory, then open an IM window, then click the Share button, then drop the inventory item(s) on that panel. Are you kidding me? I have to start an IM session although I neither want nor need to chat? Please tell me I’m missing something and it isn’t really that complicated. This seems to be an outgrowth of the new inventory panel which, due to the way it consolidates everything into a single view, can’t present both your inventory and a person’s profile at the same time. Oh, yes, that makes sense.

What happened to the More/Less button on the edit panel? Screen real estate is often at a premium, and more often than not I don’t actually need all the details. Usually I’m just modding a hairstyle or fitting some shoes. Why change something that works just fine as it is into something that does less rather than more? In fairness, this isn’t exclusive to Viewer 2—this change showed up in Viewer 1.23, and (along with the rearranged pie menus) it’s the reason I resisted “upgrading” from 1.22 until I had no choice.

Search is really not very intuitive. I’ve poked at it six ways from Sunday, and I can’t figure it out. Clicking on some things spawns new panels, others move forward and backward like a browser (which seems to be the general model that underlies Viewer 2, albeit with frustratingly inconsistent implementation), still others spawn activity in what I still think of my Inventory panel. The whole thing makes me dizzy.

As promised, installing Viewer 2 doesn’t replace or uninstall Viewer 1.23. But it surely does jack up my graphics and other settings every single time I switch from one to the other. Which I do fairly regularly because Viewer 2 makes me crazy, and sometimes I just need to get things done quickly. I do so love the constant recurrence of notices that “You are editing a sculpted prim” and “This parcel is playing streaming media” and such.  Let’s not even talk about how Viewer 2 overrides (ah, “remembers”) the outfit I was last wearing while using Viewer 2, yet somehow doesn’t let 1.23 do the same.  Or how Viewer 2 doesn’t remember things like the size and placement of open notecards.  Didn’t 1.23 do that?  Why yes, I believe it did.  *grrrr!*   *sigh*

What the hell is up with the pop-up info bubbles that are constantly getting in my way when I’m trying to edit something or check my own profile? I’m not for sale, and neither is the belt I’m fitting on my own avatar—so why are there info bubbles bobbing in and out? If they must be there at all, they should vanish instantly when I right-click. I’m still trying to figure out if these can be turned off, but so far no luck.

Believe it or not, I miss the pies. I do like some things about the new context menus—the nested sections for Remove, Detach and the like are actually an improvement. But still I miss the pies.

Anecdotally, I can report that I’ve spoken to a number of friends, including some who design and build. Almost without exception, they report that they do not (or simply cannot) use Viewer 2 for designing or building because of various weirdnesses for which they simply have no time or patience. “I don’t use Viewer 2 when I’m designing clothing because it often renders me invisible.” “I don’t use it for building because the build tools suck impossibly.” You get the idea.

There may well be more as times goes by, but I think that’s pretty much it so far. Note that for the most part I’m not talking about new functions here—these are things I’ve been doing every day for years, and now I’m IMing friends because I can’t figure them out. Truly, I am not an idiot—this shouldn’t be that hard. Please do feel free to share your thoughts in a comment, especially if you think I’m way off base on something and just haven’t figured out how to do it yet. Your helpful advice would be most appreciated.  :)

Entry Filed under: Commentary