February 2025 SL Web User Group summary

Meeting Overview

• The Web User Group exists to provide an opportunity for discussion on Second Life web properties and their related functionalities / features. This includes, but is not limited to: the Marketplace, pages surfaced through the secondlife.com dashboard; the available portals (land, support, etc), the forums.
• As a rule, these meetings are conducted:
  • On the first Wednesday of the month and 14:00 SLT.
  • In both Voice and text.
  • At this location.
• Meetings are open to anyone with a concern / interest in the above topics, and form one of a series of regular / semi-regular User Group meetings conducted by Linden Lab.
• Dates and times of all current meetings can be found on the Second Life Public Calendar, and descriptions of meetings are defined on the SL wiki.

General Updates

[Video: 1:27-10:21]

• As reported following the January meeting, the dashboard page (secondlife.com) received something of a refresh, utilising the new colour scheme, banner, etc., but not offering a choice of themes.
• Featured News Blog feed:  the Feature News blog widget on the default viewer log-in screen (“Linden News” on Firestorm) has been fixed to display correctly, the the Event screen on that splash screen has been enlarged.

• Second life web maps –  fixes to several issues, and a basic refresh (change of colour to the teleport button); however, web maps still do not provide meaningful information on places highlighted, which has previously been noted as something the Web Team would like to address; nor does it search by region name.
• A new “secret thing” which, at the time of the meeting, “could not be talked about”.

Marketplace

• [Video: 13:37-18:51] A suggestion to allow people to “subscribe” to their favourite stores, allowing them to see a page for those stores listing all of the recent new items added to the stores.
  • However, this functionality already exists (albeit it with a limited display) using the Marketplace Favourites > Newest First; so rather than adding new functionality which effectively repeats what is there already, why not:
    • Refresh the existing page so it can display more than just 4 items per store  – such as by using a left / right scrolling display a-la the Related Items section of the listing pages (and add an RSS feed based on the listing order selected via the drop-down options).
    • Surface this page better, so users are aware it exists and can access it quicker. , and perhaps make that page more accessible/visible and (if required) add an RSS feed to it which pushes information based on the selected drop-down?
• [Video: 19:56-20:14] Marketplace: a request for an update on Marketplace Styles (aka “variants”) –  e.g. allowing multiple colours of an item in a single listing – was made. This was functionality Reed Linden indicated would likely be deployed at that start of 2023, but which is (for whatever reason) still “not prioritised” for finishing / deployment.
• [Video: 20:29-21:00] It is know that the keyword blocking on Ad Blocker (and similar tools) can actually block Marketplace listings.
• [Video: 36:56 -38:17 ] Marketplace Shopping Events: having shopping event pages on the MP creators could register to join and on which have their nominated products listed. The pages could be set-up by creators on the MP for creators on the MP (like in-world shopping events), rather than jus LL-created events.

In Brief

• It has been repeatedly noted across multiple meetings that the What’s Next pages (accessed via the menu bar at secondlife.com) are in need of update. This message has been repeatedly heard by LL, and noted as heard, such that updates to these pages should hopefully be deployed some time in the next month.
• [26:35-36:30] A request from the web team for suggestions on what people would like to see added  / improved. Suggestions included:
  • Making secondlife.com more dynamic (something I’ve directly discussed with Brett Linden and Philip Rosedale).
  • Making the websites feel more an extension to users’ in-world lives.
  • Web-based inventory management capability for carrying out basic inventory sorting tasks (moving items between folders, etc.).
  • Ability to respond to / send IMs from the web, rather than having to log-in via the viewer / SL Mobile.
  • Ability to carry out basic Group task: see notices, etc.
  • This discussion tipped into 3rd party tools such as browser extensions (such as Marketplace Enhancer – note: link does not indicate endorsement – for Firefox / Chrome / Edge) people use alongside of any SL web properties.
• A request for some Last Name updates to include more “regular/international” names, rather than only rolling out updates based on a specific theme and / or holiday/event (e.g. as with the current crop of “Valentine’s Day” themed last names).
• A suggestion for LL to promote resident-organised events celebrating notable days / holidays outside of those marked by the Lab as well (Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, etc.), such as by a category in the Destination Guide.
• Request for more genuinely international themes of Linden Homes (e.g. “Alpine”, “Victorian” and “Mediterranean” are all US-centric versions of such buildings, and not necessarily representation of their European equivalents).
•  Also with Linden Homes, the promise to make the Premium Plus ability to request specific locations for a home more streamlined, rather than relying on Support tickets, has also slipped down the priority list.
• An informal discussion on the Web team – all are remotely based, rather than office-based, they do have occasional get-togethers in person (although the formal annual full-staff meet-ups the Lab used to have – as noted on more than one occasion during Ebbe Altberg’s time with the Lab – have not been held “in a while”), as well as regular in-world team meetings/meetings via Zoom (or similar).

Next Meeting

• Wednesday, March 5th, 2025.