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Jan 1, 2004, 6:49pm

Several explosions are all that's needed to parse the current
referrer (explode() in PHP).

If the things that are missing (rating level, language) were in any
header in any form.. believe me I would find a way to parse
and use them.

[View Quote]

Jan 2, 2004, 11:29am

strtok() is your best friend in C/C++

[View Quote]

Jan 2, 2004, 1:24pm

That would be cool.. assuming the rating and language are tossed in there
somewhere too.

Knowing the location isn't that useful to the OP path. Once it gives
someone an object, that object is cached so you can't change it if
they move somehwere else.

The cit number would be awesome though. You could have a list
of cit's on your OP path who can 'see' new stuff for example, so
they could build things that don't get unveiled until later.

You could also ban specific cits who you don't want to ever see
any of your content.. although that's not very nice.

[View Quote]

Jan 2, 2004, 2:32pm

Good examples, but they lie in the area of enforcing building
rules, and that can be done quite nicely with some kind of
bot.

But though I don't personally have a need for the location,
I wouldn't cry about having to ignore it.

[View Quote]

Jan 2, 2004, 5:54pm

That's good if the whole string is seperated with the same tokens,
but when the seperator changes from word to word it could get
ugly.

It is a bit of a pain though if you get half a line of valid tokens
and things fall apart in the middle somewhere.

At least you don't use scanf... that one is ugly. Having to work
with other peoples code who use it a lot has made me very
bitter.

[View Quote]

Jan 1, 2004, 12:05pm

This is a standard HTTP 1.1 header. Please support it.

Jan 1, 2004, 6:41pm

Generally for the purpose which it's intended... to deliver appropriate
content to the requester based on their lanugage preference.

Even with the built in web browser, the users language preference
is transmitted with GET requests via the Accept-Language header,
just as it should be.

The 3D browser however does not provide an Accept-Language
header with it's GET requests.

I feel that it would be very appropriate for it to do so.

AWI obviously feels strong enough about the international market
to allow for the buttons and menus and help files to be swapped
out with versions covering other languages according to a choice
the user makes in their settings.

The users settings should extend to the OP path so that the content
can also be sensitive to their choice.

[View Quote]

Jan 1, 2004, 8:13pm

It's really dead simple. It's not 'deep' at all.

"stuff" comes from "op path"
"user" has "preferences"
"stuff" depends on "preferences"

Now put your mind to work figuring out how "op path" delivers
correct "stuff" according to "preferences"

The answer?

'put it in the ruddy string'

Now.. you can look deeper if you want to, but you will waste a whole
lot of time coming to the same conclusions....

The OP path needs to know what the preferences are, or it can never
deliver dynamic content according to the users preferences.

The user selects their language and rating preferences inside the browser.

Therefore, the browser should transmit this information to the op path
server with each request.

[View Quote]

Jan 5, 2004, 9:46pm

One of the benefits of a formal developers program is that the
developers need to register in order to obtain the SDK, and
many developer programs have a testing component to them for
third party materials.

The 3D tool vendors are a good example of an industry that
thrives by encouraging and incorporating third party technologies
into their product (if Microsoft is not a good enough example).

Given that an AW world is arguably non-functional without a
minimal bot of some sort (i.e. delete all your objects and try to
seed one with just your browser), I agree that they should provide
more in the way of a 'bot' toolkit for the general user and world
owners.

I also think they should have a formal developers program so
that any interested developer can register, obtain support for
creating value added tools for AW technology, obtain press
kit materials to help publicize AW technology along with any
value added products they create, and list and distribute any
value added tools through Activeworlds.

While AWI may not have the resources to certify everything
that would be submitted, the people who would register for
such a program would most definitely have the means and
willingness to check out any new bots and report any trojans
or other issues.

[View Quote]

Jan 5, 2004, 9:52pm

I just wanted to add..

Everyone has seen that whenever a new bot is posted in the newsgroup,
half a dozen people have looked it over within an hour and ensured
that there is at least no obvious virus or trojan.

If, as you suggested, AW simply had a page where you could obtain
bots, then it could be a reasonably safe place for most people to obtain
one **provided that the bots were served from AW servers and not
links to offsite locations**.

Jan 11, 2004, 1:30am

Yes.. we're talking about real virtual worlds here.. let's not
drag abstractions into it :-)

[View Quote] (the number of objects in the current cell would be a nice abstraction
to see somewhere in the browser interface)

Jan 11, 2004, 1:27pm

> To me, your question looked pretty rethorical. In any case, I did answer
> you. It's not my problem if you don't like my opinion. You still haven't
> answered mine, which was a non-rethorical question. I'll repeat it: *What*
> properties would a cell have?
>
> KAH

Wether it is 'passable' or not.. so you can restrict movement
to only the cells you want.

The local water level.. lakes would be cool to have as well
as an ocean.

A bit indicating if water even exists in that cell so you can have
water but turn it off inland and build depressions below sea
level.

The aforementioned # of objects it contains... just a readout
so you know ahead of time when it's near full. By a slight
stretch.. the number of polygons in that cell, the number of
textures.. perhaps even the # of bytes they all add up to.

Possibly a bit indicating if it is one of your 'build' cells if they
decided to let you scatter the 400 cells you get with a P10 around
within a larger area.

A bit that says wether or not it is a public build cell or restricted,
similar to the restricted radius feature, or possibly a cit number
indicating the ownership of the cell.

A bit saying wether the terrain in that cell points up or down,
or is double sided.

Sorry Kah.. couldn't resist throwing those out there... plus...
it was actually within my power to grant someones wish on this
list:

Jan 11, 2004, 3:45pm

> Codewarrior? I wish I had a sack of money. *bats eyelashes* : )

If you pay the shipping, I will send you eighty pounds of Canadian
pennies.

Jan 7, 2004, 7:29pm

Widen your experience Scuz.

Check out Deus Ex II...

Light bulbs swinging from the ceiling.. shadows moving along with it..
and if you knock things over the shadows do 'the right thing'.

These are definitely not 'baked' textures. These are made to order, while
you wait... and you don't wait long at all.

[View Quote]

Jan 10, 2004, 3:12am

ZZ Top is back in vogue?

Do they have shades and pinstripe suits too?

[View Quote]

Jan 13, 2004, 3:05am

It would be cool as long as it doesn't fog up transparent objects
when it gets really cold.

:-)

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Jan 14, 2004, 3:20am

... so you can just turn it on and drop.

Call it 'unfly' if you have to.

Jan 15, 2004, 5:09pm

Excellent suggestion. It should make it very easy to add a button then...
all it needs to do is exactly this.

[View Quote]

Jan 15, 2004, 5:08pm

There is no reason the browser can't 'tokenize' the existing commands
into the much shorter commands you suggest, and then 'untokenize'
them when it's displaying them in the dialog box.

What you are suggesting could be done completely under the covers
without the users having to learn anything new at all.

[View Quote]

Jan 17, 2004, 1:37am

I know manpower is expensive, but I always consider arguments
based on alternative methods of accomplishing something a copout.

Time saving features for users and world owners pay big dividends.
Everyone who uses them will save time, and that will pay off day
after day.

If AW has to spend some time implementing such features once,
I consider it a good tradeoff. The more I can accomplish in a given
period of time in here, the more enjoyment I get out of it, and the
more value it has to me.

[View Quote]

Jan 19, 2004, 3:23pm

This is probably the best example of a case where someone at AW spending
five or six hours adding this could save many many users the hassle of
spending five or six hours *each* to configure and use a bot.

I often wonder how many new world owners delete their seed object, and
get a really bad taste in their mouth when they find out how much hassle
they need to go through to get one back.

I call it the "batteries not included" mentality, and it might have worked
for
toys, but you'll notice that when you buy anything targetted at adults
nowadays
the batteries are most definitely in the box. No more dissapointed
purchasers
because of that minor detail.

Most companies would bend over backwards to prevent new customers
from having a bad user experience the first day out.

[View Quote]

Jan 19, 2004, 8:26pm

Go and delete every single object in your world, and then try to build
something, and then you will know what we're talking about.

And just for fun, keep track of how long it takes you to get back up
and running afterwards and let me know. I'll even give you a hint..
read up on how to obtain, install, configure and use a bot. Choose your
bot carefully too.. some of them are just trojans that will give you a virus
and steal your cit.

I think you get the impression we are asking for some cool new feature,
when in fact all we are asking for is that they do exactly as you say...
make
what they have already provided work "out of the box" without **requiring**
the use of a 'bot' if you happen to find you've deleted your seed object
without realizing that it leaves you utterly and completely dead in the
water.

If you consider this a "waste", then you definitely don't understand what
we're talking about and maybe you shouldn't jump in and 'un' wish it.

I also find it ironic that you consider your money a resource but not your
time. I consider my time actually more valuable than my money, and I
don't consider new features that save my time as 'toys'.

I know how to get myself out of this situation just fine. I don't really
need
this feature, and neither does anyone else who has already figured out how
to use a bot. This wish is entirely for the benefit of new users, and
intended
to suggest a way that AW could improve their user experience.

But the next time someone who doesn't know how to use a bot asks me to
bail them out and seed their world for them, I will tell them to come and
find you to do it for them.

[View Quote]

Jan 19, 2004, 11:08pm

> I'll go sit quietly in the corner and think about what just happened here.

Here's what happened..

Some of us stated our opinions relating to a problem faced by world
owners.

You stated your opinion that spending time on what our opinion was about
was a waste of OUR resources.

I made a post that tried to illustrate the problem we were trying to suggest
a way to solve, why it is not a waste of OUR resources to solve it, how it
currently wastes OUR resources to not have a solution to it, and why you
should not make posts about wether it is wise or not wise for AW to spend
OUR resources on it without actually understanding what the issue actually
is.

I also tried to point out that time is just as much a resource as money,
and to some people far more valuable.

It is normal for people to suggest workarounds or raise questions about
wishes people make, and it is also normal that if you tell someone that
something they wish for is not needed or a waste of time, they will make
further posts if they feel they need to justify it, or disagree with your
argument against it.

Your post seemed to challenge the notion that this feature is needed. You
seemed to consider it a 'toy'. You should expect people who feel quite
differently about it to take issue with such a characterization.

You don't need to sit in the corner. If you don't think any of the wishes on
this list have merit, then speak up.. but expect the people making the
wishes
to defend and justify them.

Jan 20, 2004, 6:06am

Your monitor will only draw a certain number of times per second. If your
video card tries to go faster than that, you will see an ugly artifact on
your
screen called tearing.

Assume your monitor can draw the screen 100 times per second. If your
video card draws the screen 500 times per second, each screen you actually
see will have come from five different frames drawn by the video card. If
you are moving, or if anything else in the scene is moving (or just
changing),
you will see five distinct horizontal strips on the screen. This is called
'tearing'

There is not much point in the video card refreshing your screen faster than
between 60 and 100 times per second. If it is capable of doing so, there are
much better chores it could be tasked with such as rendering completely
different views as might be useful for say cameras, mirrors or possibly
creating streams of animation to use as textures, creating light maps
to simulate shadows, or maybe to render an animated envronment map to
simulate shininess.

Turn collisions off for as much stuff as you can. I doubt that the graphics
are what is killing the frame rate in dense areas.

[View Quote]

Jan 22, 2004, 11:09pm

The browser actually knows how many objects are in the current cell at
all times.

Would just showing that information somewhere do the trick?

[View Quote]

Jan 23, 2004, 2:08am

Way less 'cool' factor than a VU meter style bargraph ;-)

[View Quote]

Jan 22, 2004, 11:06pm

Woud a command that invoked the 'back' function in the browser do the trick?

[View Quote]

Jan 24, 2004, 9:19am

Great.. spend the extra ten seconds and add a command that can be used with
an object trigger and you'll have given him what he asked for.

[View Quote]

Jan 23, 2004, 2:44am

I would be ecstatic if the browser was smart enough to know what
a .cob and .scn file header looks like, and automatically figure out
what kind of model you are trying to use.

If you make a mistake, first you have to find the little triangle,
which might take you five minutes.

Changing the name once you've found it is simple, but then the
cache thinks this object was the other format so you have to go
and flush cache before it will show you the object correctly.

A lot of time and bandwidth would be saved if the browser
was just a little bit smarter. ".cob" abd ".scn" files identify
themselves... .rwx files don't

Why are they assuming a default when they support formats
that can easily be examined and correctly identified?

It should assume .rwx only after it's checked to see it it's a
..cob or a .scn

[View Quote]

Jan 23, 2004, 2:48am

When you add an object that causes an error, it would be nice
if the browser automatically reselected it and bought up the object
dialog box.

The browser could watch for the world server to return an error
with the name of the last object the person using the browser built.

if the person has not moved on and selected another object to edit,
then the browser could reselect the object that gave the error for you,
and it would save everyone a lot of time spent looking for black
triangles.

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