Filed under: News and developments, Research by Digado

With ‘Dazzle’ (click header image for a close up of the interface created by Torley Linden) now being the official interface skin in the Release Candidate (the test version of new Second Life clients) some Second Life users raise their concerns on this new look and feel. Amongst them is Trinity Dechou of Second Life News Network (SLNN) who takes a closer look at the new Dazzle Client, and has some very good argumentation why the blue and white color scheme is far from the improvement Linden Labs claims it is. She argues the new interface can cause “Migraines, color blindness and eye fatigue associated with bright User Interfaces…” and I am very much inclined to agree and wanted to point out some usability issues as well (as opposed to the accessibility issues in the article on SLNN):

Obtrusive interface - The one thing that immediately comes to mind when looking at the Dazzle interface is how it shouts. The shiny buttons and light panel colors make it really stand out from the actual virtual world content - something which should be the focus point of your attention. Instead the panels and bright colors demand your attention. This is amplified by the inactive panels still being very bright, hardly any contrast with the active panels, which makes the interface feel cluttered even with a few chat windows open. This is definitely a downgrade from the old Second Life interface whatever Linden Labs spin on the matter.

No prioritization within the interface -Apart from prioritizing itself in an obnoxious manner, the actual options within the interface have poor priotirization. Not just between the active and inactive panels, but most noteworthy in the row of buttons at the bottom of the screen. This is not new to Dazzle but is just an example of bad design to me and should have been fixed in this new interface. The options all serve a variation of purposes, such as navigation (flight, map, search), secondary functions (snapshots and build) and interface toggles (mini map and chat panels). Main functions such as chat and search deserve priority over the others because these are the first steps you will need for navigating trough Second Life.

‘Build’ is a secondary function entirely and would probably be better of with a new location within the interface. For example linked to the build panel in a way creation software uses its priority creation tools in moving sidepanels. People who want to build already have a specific task in mind, and chances are most users are not interested in build when they first get acquainted with the interface. Overall the interface just not focuses enough on the learning prioritization: ‘What do people who see this interface for the first time in their life want to know?‘ Answering that question efficiently with the interface will make for smooth learning curves and easy, gradual adoption.

Bad Color Scheme - As addressed by the SLNN article, and above by the obtrusive nature of the shining, light, low contrast interface the color scheme is simply a bad choice. Aesthetics aside it poses a problem for such a large, general userbase. If Second Life wants to be for everyone, it has to open up their interface to everyone, and make it as accessible as possible. Considering this should be an upgrade, its hardly a good result when you end up excluding more customers rather then inviting new members.

No customization - There is no customization of the XML interface supported at this time. You can modify the interface (skinning), or even the client (and some have) but each modification will be overwritten with new clients. This means these customizations are usually for private use only, and usually temporarily. It would certainly work in LL advantage to open this up BEFORE releasing dazzle. Firefox, Winamp, Windows Media Player, World Of Warcraft - they all allow custom interfaces created by users and are a valuable contribution to the client. The community can solve these problems and even make market specific ’skins’ as has been done before with other applications.

If Linden Labs continues to press Dazzle as a mandatory ‘upgrade’ i feel their recently launched ‘user experience improvement program‘ (which so far has led to a more prominent position of the ‘Get Started’ button on the home page) is of to a bad start. If you are a Second Life resident, you could show your concerns by voting on these JIRA issues: VWR-5080 & VWR-5059.

Posted on: April 20, 2008 | Share on: