When I hear “usability” and “Second Life”, it’s usually applied to work Linden Lab needs to do in order to smooth out the inworld experience, whether it’s tweaks to the viewer user interface or changing the layout of registration pages on our website.

Usability consultants for products and services within Second Life are scarce; I’ve done various searches but found no one’s who’s really made a big splash improving a variety of Residents’ creations. Let’s use a simple example: say you’re a brilliant scripter who’s come up with a HUD gadget that fulfills many needs, but “how to work it” sucks — you know this because you ask some friends to try it, but they can’t figure it out. Even worse, you’re not much of a manual-writer either.

When you can’t do it yourself, trusted help and sage wisdom is the way to go, and so, you’d consult an expert — not a self-proclaimed blowhard but someone who knows doing this will build word of mouth and is passionate about making inworld creations more usefun (useful + fun). They’d give you actionable advice which you can apply, including a few simple steps to make your HUD much more user-friendly. They might be able to make hands-on changes too. The end result is a win for all: the usability consultant gets paid his/her/its worth, you’re more proud of your offering, and your customers can enjoy it more, too.

The lack of inworld usability consultants is a key example of where grand openings are going overlooked, and where there may be some genuine talents who either haven’t sniffed this out yet, or haven’t considered it seriously enough. It’d be a challenge to get rolling, but with some proven improvements under your belt, establishing credentials and a solid track history is a straightforward matter of experience.

I’ve used 100s of SL products/services firsthand, and continue to do so because it’s important to understand what’s happening. Here are some key painful areas that I’ve noticed are common problems, and which we could all benefit from bettering:
 

Hard-to-search for object names

And missing descriptions! Some vendors are great about creating a unique tag for their products so that everything they make can be searched for via Inventory, e.g., “*TAW*” . (Since we can’t search by creator name yet.) But if you make a wonderful new type of sculpted footwear branded “Lucidique”, don’t just call it that: helps to also add “shoe” or “high heels” or whatever’s appropriate. This isn’t as much of an issue as it used to be because creators have lifted fine inspiration from each other (quality copycatting), but it still calls for much improvement.
 

Chairs/seats not using sit-click actions

OH, THE PAIN! Why bother right-clicking and selecting from the pie menu when a simple left click can do? This video illustrates it clearly, and until we have an even better system-implemented method in place, every chairmaker can benefit from this. It only takes less than 5 seconds.

I’ll make a similar case for opening boxes and click actions in general — watch how marvelous it can be:

Ugly typography

When people refer to “ugly signs”, this is often because of poor font choice and design. As neutral as I try to be about this, unless you have an exceptional gift for meta-satire, Comic Sans MS isn’t going to cut it! And neither will poorly-kerned Helvetica. Ads and product packaging can be made much more effective by changing the typeface and paying attention to the optical flow of the letters. Learn from Smashing Magazine and be wowed; some of SL’s brightest designers weave first life sources into their own tapestry, e.g., Detect Surface’s signwork which is reminiscent of collectives like Designers Republic:

Too many prims

I coined the term “primficient” as a portmanteau of “proficient” and “efficient” with “prim” referring to a Second Life object. To this day, prims are wasted when they need not be: careful shaping of some prims can reduce the usage of 2, or even 3 into 1 — this is especially important with vehicles and physical objects which must be 31 prims or less. And also since prims are tied to parcel size and also relate to geometric complexity (viewer-side lag), there are other factors which should be considered. You can make a barstool with a single prim!

Furthermore, since the advent of sculpties and sculptie clip art, there are further avenues to explore in terms of making your creations look better with less prims. A knowledgeable usability consultant could tap you into this stream of non-bloated, primmy goodness.
 

Shiny objects that lack textures

While more nitpicky than a sticking point, and more about aesthetics than usability, think about brushed aluminum and other real-world metallic surfaces which have grit, however subtle, and aren’t totally perfect. A light grain, as I’ve shown, can add new depth. Don’t let your shiny objects be stuck on “Blank” unless you’re absolutely sure. Similarly, the old proverb of “don’t overdo it” comes to mind: don’t add 0.10 worth of glow when 0.02 is enough to provide a shimmering, vibrant accent.

Scripted objects that look like ass (and similar cases)

I’ve known great scripters who lacked building skills. Or builders who can’t script, because it goes both ways. Some learned, others couldn’t find it in themselves. Don’t be ashamed or shy, there’s an opportunity to collaborate. To this day, there’s a disconnect between builders, scripters, and social hosts — which is why gorgeous clubs continue to be rare. I suspect they’ll always be a rarity, and the people who can connect and bridge the gaps will create winning experiences. It’s true many people don’t appreciate quality design, but if you can, you can lift up others so they never want to go back down. It should be part of your mission to enlighten others and raise the standards.
 

Dialog menus from hell

I wish we had more ways to customize them. But since we don’t and since touch dialogs and their brethren can add a lot of functionality, one of the first things you could and should do is draw out a visual map of their structure: what the first palette of choices will look like when someone clicks on your gadget, and where further hierarchies will lead. Too many choices? Trim them and/or bury the lesser-used. Reward someone early on and they’ll be more tempted to dig in deeper after they’ve attained the confident to use your stuff and even show it off to friends they invite over. Demonic touch dialogs are a fiendish problem for certain beds with animations and movie players, because they try to stuff in as many poses or films as possible… at the sad expense of usefulness. Strip your design down to the bone and focus on what’s essential. Make sure you never lose sight of the core, and only then you can add supporting flourish.

An instance from my own Second Life are the movie players on Here island made by Geaven Gall. I requested a dialog reorg so the movie choices are shown first instead of after the options. Being able to select a movie to play is the most important, and primary function of a movie player. Come visit and try ‘em out, they look like this:

(My neon handwritten signs are an intriguing usability point for another day.)
 

Poor manuals

Documentation counts for a lot. A LOT. It’s one thing to have a manual that doesn’t get read, and another thing to have a manual which can’t be read because it’s error-prone, shoddily-formatted, and a tragic eyesore. This is a great opportunity for a consultant with type & graphic design skills to polish up the docs, even within the limited confines of notecards. Or better yet, as with Clever Zebra’s Presenter and some other products I’ve been seeing, why not make a video tutorial or tour? There are a lot of visual learners inworld, and since SL is visual, by showing your goods as they are, it gets the message across a lot clearer. And saves time. I know this many times over!

Don’t forget internationalization either: the market for linguists is a ripe one. See Damien Fate’s Loco Pocos for an excellent example of a product that has localized documentation, and is well-put-together in just about every other way you can make of.
 

I reiterate it’s true that some things can only be fixed by Lindens behind-the-scenes, or as I’m glad to see continue, welcoming open source contributions into the fold. But right here, now, in the present, there are so many opportunities to reduce what I term “ambient suffering” and make the inworld experience more enjoyable.

In case I missed you, I’m eager to hear from you if you’re finding success as a usability consultant for Second Life content. Drop me a line or leave a comment.