Ciaran Laval of Your 2nd Place points out a feature in Second Life's internal search interface that's gotten little attention up to now (it's not even mentioned in the most recent Linden update on search functionality):
There's a new "GO" link next to items now that should in theory take you to the said item. My extensive testing of two items landed me perfectly at one item and outside the store for another, so it's not perfect but I'm sure it will be helpful. However right away it raises the issue of fixed landing points, because if you have your teleport routing fixed then this won't work, although your customers should still get the red beacon to help them find the item.
I just gave it a go last night, and it worked pretty well. Needless to say this looks likes a powerful added function for in-world search and navigation, especially for content creators. But like Cieran, I don't even recall when it was added. (As with many things in the Second Life user interface, it's not immediately obvious.) I put to Residents actings as consumers and content creators -- do you use "Go" as a part of your SL experience?
I LOVE the go feature. It only helps when someone has an object listed in search though. But it's helpful if I know exactly what I want because then I don't have to spend time wandering around trying to find it it.
Posted by: Delaynie | Friday, January 08, 2010 at 01:47 PM
Typical bloody Linden Lab. They add a killer feature and don't mention it. I'll have to try this next time I login and stay on...
Posted by: Fecal Varnish | Friday, January 08, 2010 at 04:17 PM
Thanks for mentioning it, Hamlet. I will now.
Posted by: Doreen Garrigus | Friday, January 08, 2010 at 05:15 PM
Have been using this feature for the last couple of weeks and really love it - it seemed to come in with the new server release.
No longer is there the need to make a note of the x/y/z co-ordinates of that item in a store that has 1000 items in it, and try to wander round bumping into various aisles only to find out you were on the wrong floor or a wall is in the way. Even if you don't go straight to the item it is so much easier to follow a beacon.
But it is a shame it wasn't adevertised better so that more sim owners could make sure their content listing reflects what they actually have, but hopefully word-of-mouth will get it in use where word-of-linden has failed.
Posted by: Hitomi Tiponi | Saturday, January 09, 2010 at 03:45 AM
The day Torely posted a tutorial on the new search he mentioned how badly this feature was needed. What? A year ago? Sort of goes to show you how LL doesn't actually use Second Life since it took so damned long for what should have been an obvious mandatory feature to get put in. At least they added it. So kudos for adding the blatantly obviously needed navigation link instead of expecting us to copy paste coordinates in the map.
I'm not going to back off on the problem of LL not actually having to use SL to build SL. An example is LL not using the events system to schedule their office hours. Obviously they don't. because IT SUCKS and LL apparently has no plans to fix it or enforce the associated policies.
Eat your own dog food LL. It will make you grow big and strong and smart.
Posted by: Ann Otoole | Saturday, January 09, 2010 at 07:02 PM
I've used it, and it's quite nice. I'm glad they added it in.
Posted by: Harper Ganesvoort | Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 06:21 AM