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Welcome to SLHandbook.com
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SLHandbook.com is just now being built.
Ultimately the hope is to allow a common place for searches, browsing
and links to everything the world of Second Life has to offer.
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| Changes to the Second Life Home Page Portal |
10/10/2006 |
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In order to consolidate things I am moving all forum discussion related to SLHandbook
to the SHLomePage Forums. I will start a group
of forums there as I finish some new functionality for SLHandbook.
The Feature Voting Tool Prototype has been updated
with some new features so check it out and join the discussion here:
http://forums.slhomepage.com/showthread.php?t=175.
In addition, due to reported problems with the LSL-Wiki I have added a copy of the mirror
from October 6, 2006: SLHomePage LSL-Wiki.
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| Feature Voting Tool Prototype |
9/30/2006 |
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With a bunch of hub-bub related to Linden Lab's Feature Voting Tool for
Second Life I have begun a project to deliver a code and data complete
alternative to the company using suggestions from the community. You can
access the prototype here
and there are discussions going on at the
Second Life Home Page Forums.
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| SLHomePage.com Online! |
8/16/2006 |
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With the pending close of many of the standard forums, I have launched
SLHomePage.com (which also redirects from
SecondLifeHomePage.com). This site will attempt to act as a common portal
for all users of Second Life and includes a root blog, a full copy of
the current Second Life Forums structure, and a Topsites area for
anyone to add their websites that cover Second Life. Check it out!
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| SLHandbook's Future |
8/12/2006 |
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Despite the fact that I am mostly leaving Second Life because of decisions
made by Linden Lab (see this post for details)
I will be updating and expanding this site. Thanks to the many great
residents who contributed to the Region Parcel Survey Jobs we now
have a base of data to work from, and I will try to add the features
for anyone to advertise their location and/or products shortly.
This website has been paid for a year in advance with an anticiapation
for the amount of data and traffic it might need to handle both the
current Second Life community and those interested in joining.
Please watch this space for announcements shortly, and take advantage of
the current features to maybe get a little more out of your Second Life.
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| Additional Small Updates |
8/2/2006 |
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I am still working on the methods for parcel browsing and searching.
In the meantime I have added "Parcels" to the navigation bar
(which can also be accessed here)
which will show you a count of each "Find Type" discovered and a random
parcel for each of the types. I will probably add a temporary drill-down
structure around these types, but given the sheer number of "None"
settings I would prefer to develop the category and sub-category
structures before going much further. I have also updated the
Region Map to take some of the extensions
to the mainland into account. A finall full scan will be made before
the SLCC to pick up as many additional island as possible. I have
split the coloring to denote the Northern and Southern continents and
will use additional colors to highlight other private continents such
as "Dreamland" and "Azure Islands". Please contact me if you own a
large chain of islands with a common continent name.
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| Small Updates |
8/1/2006 |
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With the new Parcel Surveys coming in I had to change my directory structure
slightly to accomodate the original surveys and am in the process of updating
the location of images. With over 300 regions now surveyed I am in the process
of adding the browse features for Regions and Parcels. I invite everyone
who has not yet signed up for the Forums to do so and help me design
the Category and Sub-Category Trunks for Parcels. While surveyors have been
recording the "Show in Find Places" locations, these are fairly broad. The
hope is to have a true master Category list and subsequent Sub-Categories
(of which a parcel can belong to more than one down a Trunk). Please use the
Forums to help me with these if you have the time. As the Browse structure
comes online the ability for anyone to add more detailed Parcel information
will also be added.
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| Small Update, Continued Delay |
7/9/2006 |
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Trying to cover all the data entry variations has been an exercise in insanity
so I am stepping back and streamlining things just to get things rolling. In the
meantime I have added part of an additional photo gallery and a way to access the
current ones in the system. Look for a larger update tomorrow night.
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| Sorry for the Delay |
6/29/2006 |
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What started as a friend asking for a little help with tier and startup money
spun wildly out of control and took my focus off the project. I am only a few
hours from completing all the data entry pages and hope to have a full update
by this time tomorrow night. There will be new jobs available as well as the
ability for any SL user to add parcels, rentals and products to the system.
Hopefully voting and events will only be slightly behind.
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| Multiple Updates/Additions |
6/8/2006 |
As I drive towards online automation I am manually inserting data for testing
purposes hoping to get feedback either on the SL Forums or the SL Handbook Forums.
To this end the following has been added/changed:
- New Navigation Bar with added items on top of every page.
- Regions page displays all regions that have has parcels added to the database
either through surveys or gallery entries.
- Parcel Directory implements one Category, Galleries, that will hopefully
have sub-categories such as Painting, Photography, etc.
I believe I am on target to have region/parcel/gallery/snapshot functionality
available for users, and of course user sign-up, by this Saturday.
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| Webmap Functionality Updated |
6/7/2006 |
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The WebMaps, which are displayed when you view a region, now have added
functionality. Double-clicking anywhere on the map will create a marker and
open a window with two links: one to jump to that region in the SLHandbook
database, the other to open the Second Life map and teleport to that location.
For those of you without experience with the Webmap API, you can do the following:
use the four arrow buttons to pan; the plus and minus button change the zoom
level; holding the left-mouse button and dragging allows you to quick-pan
around the map.
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| Initial Region Grid Posted |
6/7/2006 |
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An initial scan of the Second Life "grid" has been posted. This scan was
made to populate the database Regions table to being the survey process
without requiring the surveyors to add regions as they reported their findings.
This scan covers grid markers from 900 to 1100, and region ratings are not
set properly (all are by default "mature"). There are bound to be more
regions outside the scanning area and I will try to identify those over
the coming days. In addition I only made a quick sweep
to identify the "Mainland" from private islands and will attempt to mark the
mistakes shortly. In the meantime green blocks are intended to represent
Mainland Regions while gold blocks are intended to represent Private Regions.
I don't know if this raw data (2,686 regions) is of interest to anyone but
figured I'd post it for your viewing. Because of the sheer amount of data
be prepared for a bit of a wait as the web page itself is nearlt 1MB.
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| New Gallery and Random Snapshot Added |
6/6/2006 |
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A second snapshot gallery has been posted from photographer
Selaras Partridge including 15
wonderful locations for you to explore. I have also added a random snapshot
display to the home page so hopefully each time you visit you may find a new
location or Region to check out. All photo gallery submissions will be
included in this randomization with photographer credit.
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| Webmap API Implemented |
6/5/2006 |
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Soon I will be opening up the input forms for everyone to add their own
parcels to the system. While I will have surveyors out capturing entire regions
at a time, both would require capturing dated snapshots of the Second Life
map for display on the region page. Thanks to the Linden Labs folks we have
a better solution, the
Webmap API.
Except for the lack of display elements like region names and active map/avatar
markers, this API produces nearly the same interface as the in-world MAP
interface. It allows click-dragging, zooming and panning of the map. Now when you
view a region on SLHandbook instead of the static map image you get
an interactive view into the world of Second Life. This interface has been
certified for Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 1 and Safari 2. If there is a general
consensus that there are compatibility issues for a great number of users
I will offer a Settings page to toggle between static maps and the Webmap API.
Leave your feedback on this feature in the forums.
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| Island Survey |
6/4/2006 |
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While the initial surveys will be of mainland regions, as soon as we
move out of Alpha anyone will be able to survey regions or parcels.
The nice owner of Alquimia, Curt Kongo, donated towards the mainland surveys,
so I put together a quick survey of his huge island mall which features
full-size pre-fab builds and plenty of merchants and rental space.
You can check it out here.
Sorry for the lack of subjective survey comments, I'm a bit
tired and need to get the other surveyor's work uploaded!
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| Our First Photo Gallery |
6/3/2006 |
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To complement region surveys we will also have photographers scour
Second Life looking for interesting builds and landscape. These photos will
be linked directly into Region and Parcel information. They will also be
viewable in gallery form organized by the photographer.
You can see the first gallery submission here.
If you like the photographer's work consider them for your future in-world needs!
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| Survey Jobs |
6/2/2006 |
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I am making an initial database design to cover the
listing of regions and parcels. I have listed job positions on the
Second
Life Forums. I hope to have a full description of the site and its
goals shortly. The Forums section is now active for feedback and design ideas.
This site will be free for all, allow uploaded user content and
item/parcel control, and all support LSL scripts will all be open source.
When the Handbook is complete it is my hope that while a great tool for
in-world use, and also drive users to the wonderful world of Second
Life through demonstrations of the massive potential and creativity of
the world and its residents.
I am having 20 sims (or "regions") surveyed to flesh
out the database. These sims are all on the north of the Mainland and
hopefully show enough diversity of layout to cover as many database
categories as necessary for launch. Below are the reports that have been
filed so far. I left the job description vague on purpose so I could see
how people responded to its requirements. I will construct a more
detailed job requirement for future surveyor jobs.
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